Chapters 5 - 7 Summary

In The Two Temples, the narrator visits two locales, and each is described in its own segment. In 'Temple First', the narrator travels to a New York cathedral on a Sunday morning but is prevented from entrance because of his shabby appearance and inability to produce a minor bribe. Turned away, he happens to note the belfry door is unlocked. Sneaking inside, he mounts high into the bell tower and watches Mass through a small circulation portal cut between the middle course of the bell tower and the highest reaches of the cathedral chamber. Although hot air blows constantly through the ventilation hole, the isolated and solitary narrator watches Mass from his lofty vantage point. Afterward, he descends to street level and is horrified to find the door now locked. Unable to escape, the narrator paces up and down the tower...