Manhattan Beach

Anna and her mother take Lydia to Dr. Deerwood, the expensive Manhattan physician who treats her condition. Despite the doctor’s saccharine words, Anna has noticed her sister’s is getting worse; she has less capacity to laugh and talk. The doctor agrees that Lydia could benefit from more activity and a trip to the seaside, a suggestion which makes Agnes irritable. Later, as Agnes and Aunt Brianne gossip about the ill repute of their fellow chorus girls, Anna goes to join Lydia.

Agnes and Aunt Brianne see Anna as a paragon of virtue; however, Anna she lost her virginity, at age 14, to a neighborhood boy called Leon. Anna, who has been chaste ever since, wonders “when would she be allowed to know what she knew? Or when should she have forgotten it?” (139).

Dexter takes Tabatha and his mentally troubled sister-in-law, Bitsy, to Naval Yard. Dexter is at first troubled by the flirtation between Tabatha and her cousin Grady: He realizes that Tabatha has come to see Grady and not the working girls. When Dexter hears sex noises, he worries that it is his daughter and Grady; however, it is Bitsy and his other brother-in-law, George.

After they have given blood, Anna’s colleague Rose warns her of the dangers of being favored by