Summary

In Chapter 1, photographer Henry Whitechapel photographed sisters Praxis and Hypatia Duveen. Henry spoke to their mother, Lucy, taking "down her name and address" (6). In September, he passed by the Duveens, and heard Lucy and the girls' father, Benjamin, fighting. Benjamin and Lucy were unmarried lovers. He had wanted to name the girls Praxis and Hypatia, because the names came from "a culture so far gone as to be meaningless" (9). Not long later, tensions at home inspired Benjamin to run off with another woman. Lucy and the girls were "unhappy ever after" (11).

In Chapter 2, Praxis considers these childhood memories. After spending "Two years in prison," she feels aged and forgotten (12). A new brand of woman has recently emerged. Praxis dislikes "the New Women" (13). This morning, one of them stepped on her foot on the bus. Praxis realizes these women are what she "wanted to...