Part I, Chapter 4 Summary

Robert wakes up the next morning at ten o'clock. He has not set his alarm clock, and he is hung over with a throbbing headache. He opens his door to discover the body of a dead woman on his front lawn. He hears the remains of the mirror "fall out and shatter on his front porch." The "sky is gray and dead." Two cups of coffee and a drink do not settle his stomach. He alternately feels beaten and then restless, as if he were about to explode. On an impulse, he feels the need to escape his hated surroundings and drives aimlessly away in his station wagon, rapidly accelerating to 89 miles per hour. Without having planned it, he arrives at the overgrown cemetery where Virginia is buried. He regrets that he had followed regulations and disposed of Kathy...