Chapter Eight Summary

The family prepares for the ball, with Maggie excited to dance with Coll. She admits to Serena that her childhood fantasies of him were idealistic, but she loves him now as a man even more. Serena has never seen Coll stuttering and acting stupid as he does around Maggie. Maggie says that if Coll does not make a move to kiss her soon, she will take matters into her own hands. She deliberately feigns a slip from a ladder as he walks in, and he rushes to save her from falling. She then pretends she has hurt her foot and Coll carries her to a chair. Serena is disgusted with the trick played on her brother, but Maggie feels it was just a way of making Coll feel he was needed. As she feigns helplessness, Coll asks her to marry him...