Book 1, The Family, Chapter 8-9 Summary

St. Peter and his family are in Chicago, and Louie Marsellus has arranged for St. Peter and his wife to go to the opera to see Mignon, a French opera that St. Peter enjoyed when he was a student in France. At the end of the opera, St. Peter remarks to his wife that it has been a mistake growing middle-aged, and that they should have died beautifully when they were young. She responds by saying that something besides age and children came between them.

After the trip, when they return to Hamilton, it is already cold. Mrs. St. Peter tells her husband that the study will be too cold for him, and that the stove he uses to heat his study is not safe. St. Peter and his wife briefly argue about this point...