Lessons in Chemistry

Madeline asks the librarian for help finding the address of a boys’ home in Iowa. Wakely, who is a reverend now and is also at the library, overhears the conversation and helps Madeline track down the home based on the few details Madeline knows. They discuss how Wakely finds his job difficult sometimes, and Wakely explains the difference between secret and private to Madeline, admitting that everyone keeps secrets, including himself.

Once Wakely and Madeline find the right home—the All Saints Boys Home—they discover that there is no address listed, only a phone number. Wakely offers to call the home on her behalf and is astonished to discover that Madeline’s dead father is Calvin Evans. Wakely and Calvin had begun a written correspondence after Wakely had been impressed by some comments Calvin had made during a conference he was attending at Harvard. Although they disagreed on a number of things, Wakely and Calvin had liked each other. When Calvin had confessed to wishing his father dead, however, a shocked Wakely had no idea how to respond, effectively ending their pen-pal relationship. Years later, he had arrived at Commons upon his father’s death and taken over his father’s congregation.