Crossing to Safety

Chapter 5 is the shortest chapter in the novel. In generous detail, it describes the meeting between the Morgans and the Langs in the present day. Larry pays special attention to the environmental details, which borrows from his experience abroad in Italy: “All through among the larger trees, tall saplings as thick as a man’s arm or leg have been shade-killed, and many, in falling, have got hung up in the trees around them. They give the woods the look of an Uccello or Piero battle painting with long slanted lances; and those dark angled lines, with the bursts and patches of sun that penetrate the leaves, create precisely the illusion of depth that Uccello and Piero were after” (269). Hallie and Moe help Sally out of the car and point to Sid and Charity on the terrace. They see Charity first, and Larry’s own negative feelings toward her immediately come through in the narration: “Something in the set of her head and the stiffness of her neck says no, says refusal, says obstinate rejection” (271). These misgivings are overpowered by the enthusiasm with which Sally strains to meet them, hurrying on her canes. It is when Charity sees Sally, struggling to meet her, that his thought changes, and he cannot help but see in Charity’s eyes, “that incredible, gleaming, ardent smile, a transfiguration, a bursting to the surface of pure delight, uncomplicated love” (271).