Chapter 21, The Altar Summary

Thérèse does not like the dressing room because Victorine and Antoinette discuss her mother's illness here. Thérèse asks to be given the bedroom upstairs instead. Léonie comments that the room feels like a chapel. Thérèse has added a crucifix to the wall and a statue of Our Lady on her table. Thérèse has left her "dead" baby doll near the base of the makeshift altar. Léonie suggests that they might save the baby if they operate. They pretend to practice surgery on each other. The girls play the game again, where the patient is tied to the bed and they both take their clothes off. Victorine calls upstairs, and the girls quickly abandon their game. They dump the "expired...