Summary

Filth woke up in Claire’s guest bedroom, and he was almost immediately thrown into a flashback triggered by her hatboxes, which reminded him of Wales. He remembered being beaten for wetting the bed; “she got Cumberledge almost every morning” (149). But soon Claire came in with tea, dispelling the memory. She explained that Oliver was coming with Vanessa. Filth had to be told who Oliver was, never having asked about nor met him in the 40 years since he had been born.

That afternoon, Oliver took Claire out, despite her protests about her weak heart. He took her to Cambridge, where she wondered at the fashion choices of the young people. They had tea at Oliver’s old college, where a “huge, gentle old man” who knew Oliver greeted them, “looked affectionately” at the...