Summary

Rosy and Peter live next door. Rosy claims that she will explain how babies are born. Lenny is jealous of Rosy’s three miniature glass jars, but will not ask Rosy to give them to her because it would give her the “power to withhold—or to grant” (81). When Rosy leaves the room, Lenny burns them in the fireplace and digs them out again. A “Chinaman” comes selling silks; Ayah buys many of them for the house. The narrative also describes another of her admirers, a Pathan named Sharbat Khan. Khan describes his mountain village, presumably in Kashmir, and promises to bring Ayah pistachios when he returns. At dinners, Mother strains to keep the conversation going while Father grows more quiet and distant.

In Chapter 10, Lenny describes Mrs. Pen, the English wife of an Anglo-Indian. Instead of learning from her textbooks, Lenny allows...