Summary

As Mr. Prodger is about to leave, Mother invites him to have lunch with her, her daughter, and Miss Anderson the following Wednesday. He agrees, and departs the salon. In his absence, Mother asks Milly what she thought of Mr. Prodger. Milly is quiet, only communicating through facial expressions. Mother is excited by her lunch invitation, and keeps exclaiming how clean and well-kept Mr. Prodger's appearance was. She found him very charming, and assumes Milly did, too. The narrator explains that Milly hates when her mother rambles on in this matter, and that she wishes she could escape. She looks out the window and feels "a yearning – what was it? – it was like a yearning to fly" (5). Mother interrupts her daydream by asserting that they will eat a leg of lamb at lunch.

On Wednesday, the villa's cook, Yvonne, returns home from the market...