Chapter 17 Summary

Paula, Kate, Mary and Pierce are in town. They have traveled by train together and separated to go about their tasks for the day. Mary hasn't told anyone about where she is going. She walks along a road, remembering each house. As she reaches the end of the road, she sees the house she lived in with Alistair for the four years before he died. She thinks back to what the house looked like then and how they were together. She feels that she has shirked the past by not coming here before or talking about Alistair, particularly to Willy. Alistair had been writing a novel, but a publisher hadn't picked it up. She feels sick as she stands there. On the night Alistair died, they had quarreled and she had watched him go down the path and step off the pavement onto...