Idyll
“After the tea” the little company “fell into groups” – “some out of doors beneath the apple-trees, others near the patio at which Virginia was playing Mendelssohn.” Monica ran around “with her five-year-old prattle, ever watched by her father, who lounged in a canvas chair” with “pipe in mouth.” “What a delightful old age” he would have! Dr. Madden was thinking how “happy” his girls made him. “These kind, gentle girls!” His love for them seemed to “ripen with every summer.” This imagery evokes a feeling of serenity, for Dr. Madden is clearly happy and content with the way his life goes.
Not that bright future
Dr. Madden had died and there was no one to support the girls before they would get married, so they hadn’t any other choice but find a job. They were not prepared for such a terrible life of constant self-deprivation in which underpayment often went with over-loaded schedule. Gertrude, Martha, and Isabel were dead. Alice, “if she had ever dreamt of marriage,” must resigned herself to spinsterhood. Virginia “could scarce hope that her faded prettiness, her health damaged by attendance upon an exacting invalid” when “she ought to have been sleeping” would attract “any man” in search of wife. Monica was “the best looking,” so “she must marry.” This imagery evokes a feeling of desperation.
Poverty
Dr. Madden’s worst fear became his daughters’ reality. They were so poor that hunger wasn’t unfamiliar to them. That day Virginia had a meeting with Miss Nunn who was lucky enough to have a place that provided her with sustainable food, a warm bed, and an access to knowledge. As soon as Miss Nunn caught “the expression in her visitor’s eyes,” she ordered to put “tea in the dining-room” and bring “some meat.” “Months of miserable eating and drinking” in Virginia’s “stuffy bedroom” made that simple invitation “a veritable delight to her.” The poor woman “brightened wonderfully” after the dinner. This imagery evokes a feeling of sorrow and pity.
