Chapters LI - LX Summary

Chapter LI is examination day for Ruth. She travels to City Hall to with a large number of other desperate applicants to apply for the one open teaching position. It is a ridiculous process, and Ruth does not win the position. In fact, Mr. Millet and Mr. Develin both vote against her.

In Chapter LII, Mrs. Skiddy returns a week after abandoning her husband. When Mr. Skiddy returns from work, he is surprised to see his wife holding their child as if she never left. Everything picks up exactly where it left off, but Mrs. Skiddy warns her husband never to mention going to California again.

In Chapter LIII, Mrs. Skiddy realizes that her husband has not returned from work. She goes looking for him, catches him trying to board a boat for California, and drags him...