Lessons in Chemistry

Madeline grows up encouraged by Elizabeth to experiment and explore her environment at the same time as she is kept out of harm’s way by Harriet and Six-Thirty. Mother and daughter share a relationship of mutual adoration and learning.

Dr. Mason visits a year after the delivery, as promised, to check up on Elizabeth and to invite her to row with the team. Despite Elizabeth’s astonishment and assertion that she is busy, Dr. Mason insists, claiming that she couldn’t possibly be busy at 4:30 AM, which is when they would row. To Elizabeth’s further surprise, Harriet is perfectly willing to watch Madeline at this time, eager as Harriet is to escape her own home with her husband’s drinking and swearing on the rise.

As with the first time she rowed with the team, Elizabeth is met with mistrust and disdain by the rest of the rowers. Once again, she believes she did not measure up, but Dr. Mason reassures her that she did just fine and invites her to continue rowing with the team.