Chapter 20

Meg wakes in an opulent bedroom Lucille assigns to her, complete with a private bath and new comforts. Lucille instructs Meg not to tell the maid anything about Oxford or the orphanage, signaling secrecy around Meg’s origins. Meg explores the upstairs rooms and notices a prepared nursery, vowing to prove her worth over any potential baby.

Drawn by breakfast, Meg meets Willy May, the maid from the “big house.” Following Lucille’s order, Meg withholds her past and lets Willy May assume she is there to help with a future baby. Tom arrives, polite but cautious about the maid’s presence; Lucille appears irritable, insisting on being served and then leaving to shop.

Tom invites Meg to choose a book from the house library; she selects Huckleberry Finn. They spend a long, calm day in the yard reading and eating prepared sandwiches, and Meg briefly fights intrusive, shaming memories. Tom discusses his stalled career as a novelist, his and Lucille’s New York past, his admiration for Fitzgerald, and his progressive views on race and labor, which conflict with his family’s traditions. He promises Meg cousins her age will return soon.

Meg drafts lists of questions about her future and, after Tom reviews them kindly, she decides to use the Heidelberg name and will attend grammar school with the cousins. Tom cares for her attentively, sharing supper on the porch and carrying her to bed when she falls asleep, deepening Meg’s sense of safety and belonging.

Late at night, Meg is jolted awake by Lucille and Tom arguing. Lucille insists they can tell “her” whatever they please; Tom says they will return the rest of the money and claim lower costs. Meg hears her name, panics that she’s to blame, and then the quarrel shifts toward reconciliation, leaving Meg anxious about hidden financial schemes and the couple’s volatility beneath the household’s comforts.