Part 2, Chapter 8 Summary

Another neighborhood boy, Michael Reagan, joins Ian and Colin at Sunday school. Although Ian initially teases Michael Regan about playing the violin, the two boys are seldom seen apart. They play after school in the fields behind their houses, walk to school together in the mornings and continue going to Sunday school together.

Mr. Reagan suggests to Harry that Colin should sit for examinations in order to go further in school. This begins Harry's latest obsession: helping his son prepare for the testing. He is relentless in his insistence that Colin practice each night after supper and is a stern taskmaster when Colin gets answers wrong. Harry has even brought a red pencil home from the pit office in order to grade Colin's tests. Harry's patience runs thin as the complexity of the preparation questions increases.

It doesn't take long for...