Chapters 2 and 3 Summary

As Dom Grevase gives the abbess her last rights, Philippa realizes how deeply this death has affected Cecily Scallion, the newest postulant. Philippa has been asked to take the girl under her wing so she makes her way through the kneeling nuns to hold the girl's hand. The priviledged and dramatic Dame Veronica, who is cellarer of the abbey, is absent from the death scene, an action considered a disgrace by some of the nuns. Veronica is finally convinced by one of the older nuns to do her required work but not before others begin to wonder is something is really wrong. The sisters are busy with the work associated with the abbess' funeral.

There is a break as Godden pauses to describe the ceremony surrounding the entrance of a new postulant into the Brede community. The action of the novel...