Summary
Reg and Dora's death becomes a sensation in the news and is widely covered. Back in the town of Macedon, Mike has dinner with his aunt and uncle as he prepares to leave for Queensland. After dinner, he goes out in search of Albert and finds him at the stables. They talk and share a drink. Mike complains about his aunt wanting to throw him a going-away party. Mike also invites Albert to come up to Queensland and visit him.
They begin to discuss their dreams. Albert describes how he often has strange, disturbing dreams about his dead sister. She appears as a mute, translucent presence. Mike becomes unsettled by his story and decides to turn in for the night. The next morning, Albert heads to the train station. A young boy comes up to him to give him a letter. It is from Irma's father. In the letter, Mr. Leopold thanks Albert for saving his daughter and encloses a check. He also says he is welcome to come to their estate and work at their stables, if he should ever be in need of other employment.
Albert heads to a local hotel and asks to be served a brandy at the hotel bar. Tom, the school's handyman, is also at the hotel and comes over to Albert. He tells him about the Lumleys and shows him a newspaper headline. He also discusses his engagement to Minnie, another member of the school's domestic staff. Finally, he says his horse is getting restless and that he must depart.
Albert reads over the letter several times and puts the check in a jam tin. After familiarizing himself with its contents, Albert burns the letter. He then decides he will take the money and use it to quit his current job and travel to Queensland. He writes to Mr. Leopold, thanking him for his generous gift. Then he writes a letter to Mike's uncle, Mr. Fitzhubert, giving notice that he will be leaving his job as their coachman. Lastly, he writes to Mike, informing him that he will head up to Queensland after all.
The next chapter begins at Appleyard College. The school becomes largely cut off from the outside world. It has lost a number of students and domestic staff. On her way to do chores, Minnie speaks with Mrs. Appleyard. Mrs. Appleyard informs her that Sara's guardian, Mr. Cosgrove, will be arriving later that day to pick her up. Later in the day, Mlle. De Poitiers meets with Mrs. Appleyard to talk about Sara. Mrs. Appleyard says that she left earlier that morning. Mlle. De Poitiers says this concerns her as she did not look well enough to undertake a journey.
They continue to talk and Mlle. De Poitiers becomes increasingly angry. Mrs. Appleyard says she helped Sara pack that morning. She goes on to make several unkind comments about her being a troublemaker. Upset by all of this, Mlle. De Poitiers goes back to her chamber. The rest of the day passes unremarkably. The boarders prepare to depart the following day for the Easter holidays. Mlle. De Poitiers talks to Minnie about weddings, as they are both engaged. Mlle. De Poitiers spends most of the day helping the staff with minor tasks.
Mlle. De Poitiers assists Alice, another staff member, with cleaning up various rooms. As they come to Sara's room, Mlle. De Poitiers expresses surprise that she didn't take several items with her, like a toiletry case. Mlle. De Poitiers notices Sara's oval frame containing a picture she painted of Miranda. They finish cleaning the room. Later that night, Mlle. De Poitiers looks out the window at the moon. She wonders if it really has the power to influence how people act. She thinks about how Miranda was the only girl at the school who made Sara smile and how she is now gone forever. She then recalls when Sara received the frame from Miranda and how excited she was about it.
Analysis
The supernatural is a significant theme in this part of the book. The unusual circumstances of the Lumley siblings' deaths as well as Albert's unsettling dreams about his sister suggest that something is not right in Macedon. Mlle. De Poitiers looks out at the moon and feels a weird sensation, wondering if it is casting some kind of spell on her, as she feels strangely awake. The supernatural quality of these moments is not stated outright, but leaves the reader to speculate. Lindsay frames these events as not entirely inexplicable but implies that their true cause ultimately eludes human understanding. She highlights the idea that occurrences like these offer no simple or obvious answers, as they are likely the result of something too great to explain away simply.
Fate and chance are also recurring motifs in this section. The narrator comments that Irma's father radically shapes the outcome of Albert's life with his passing generosity. The check he gave him allows him to leave Macedon and go up to Queensland with Mike. Similarly, the narrator also notes that Minnie and Tom narrowly missed Dora and Reg earlier in the week, as their trains briefly passed each other. They add that fate often acts in this way, with seemingly minor decisions having an outsized and unpredictable impact on the future. Here, Lindsay shows how even the smallest choice can have major consequences. If the Lumleys had stayed at another hotel they may not have died. Had the picnic been somewhere else, the girls would likely not have disappeared. In the world of the novel, each action carries weight, regardless of how inconsequential it may appear on the surface.
Propriety is also an important theme in these pages. During a brief exchange with Mlle. De Poitiers, Mrs. Appleyard makes a number of nasty comments about Sara. Mlle. De Poitiers is disturbed by the hateful rage that Mrs. Appleyard seems to go into while discussing Sara and is alarmed by her lack of concern about Sara's health. This moment is important as it offers an outside view of Mrs. Appleyard's callous cruelty. It shows, as had been previously suggested, that she doesn't dislike Sara because of her perceived lack of wealth or propriety; she simply hates her in a personal capacity. This ultimately shows what a poor headmistress she is. For all of her concern about rules and manners, she has forgotten to actually care for and about all of her students. She lacks the propriety and tact shown by the more compassionate Mlle. De Poitiers. Lindsay once again reveals how Mrs. Appleyard's fixation on propriety just serves to conceal her deep antipathy for her students.
Queerness is another theme in these chapters. Before going to bed, Mlle. De Poitiers thinks back on Sara's friendship with Miranda. She recalls that Miranda was the only girl who could make Sara smile. She also remembers Sara's giddiness about receiving the frame, as she ran up to Mlle. De Poitiers and told her about it. This sad moment reveals why Sara valued her relationship with Miranda so much and why her feelings for her were so intense. Miranda succeeded in making Sara feel loved and understood. While the other girls generally liked Miranda, Sara felt she shared a unique bond with her, as she was the only person who made her feel special. For this reason, it is one of the most affecting relationships in the book, as neither character wants anything from the other besides affection. Lindsay underscores the simplicity of Sara's love for Miranda while also showing what a tremendous loss her disappearance was for her personally.
This part of the book shows the school in a state of near-complete ruin. Having lost several students and staff members, the college will very obviously close soon. Between the scandal caused by the disappearances, the deaths of the Lumleys, and Irma's departure, the combination of dwindling finances and bad press makes it impossible for the school to survive. In the face of these tragedies, people fail to come together or care for one another and seem instead to remain caught up in their petty dramas. Lindsay effectively renders a portrait of the school in disarray, as people attempt to escape its seemingly cursed presence.
