Chapter 10 Summary

Mary hears a loud crash and runs up to Theo's room, where she finds him holding Mingo in his arms and Casie crying. His tea tray is lying on the floor with a mess of broken crockery and food around it. Mary sends Casie downstairs and then begins cleaning up the mess. Theo puzzles Mary, and she is surprised that no one else in the house seems to feel the same curiosity about him. She thinks that he paralyzes the others' concern about him and she ponders why that might be. She looks at Theo.

"Unlike his younger brother, to whom his resemblance was minimal, Theo was a gaunt man and rather tall. He was partly bald, with longish strings of greasy gray hair curling down his neck. He had a large brow but the features of his face were cramped and concentrated...