The Professor's House

On Christmas morning, St. Peter walks to the old house, looking forward to a full day of work before a family dinner. He runs into Augusta, telling her how much he misses her company and seeing new dresses on her “ladies.” He thinks about past holidays in the old house as he climbs the stairs to his study; even when he was deep in work, he always knew that the preparations were taking place below. He eats lunch alone, remembering holidays he spent by himself in Paris and the experience of living with the Thierault family. He remembers sailing along the coast of Spain one summer and seeing the structure of his book take shape in his mind.

Rosamond wears her new emerald necklace—a birthday gift from Louie—to Christmas dinner. Louie is eager to praise her elegance, recalling the simple silver and turquoise bracelet she’d worn on their first date. Rosamond changes the subject. Louie announces that he and Rosamond are traveling to France for the summer and that he wants to take Lillian and St. Peter along. On their way home, Kathleen asks Scott whether he thinks that Rosamond is still in love with Tom—the turquoise bracelet had been one of his “trinkets.” Kathleen assures Scott that he’s the only man she’s ever loved.

Scott admits to St. Peter that he sometimes struggles to remember Tom as anything more than a “glittering ideal,” which prompts St. Peter to think back on their first meeting. St. Peter had been working in his garden on a Saturday morning when Tom appeared, asking for advice about attending the university at Hamilton. Tom had sought out St. Peter because of a magazine article St. Peter had written about the history of the southwestern US. The young man had an unsettled past. He lost his parents as an infant and had never attended school, though he did have a thorough understanding of Latin, thanks to a priest he studied with in New Mexico, and was clearly a capable and hard worker. During the next few months, Tom made quick intellectual progress, especially in mathematics, and he endeared himself to St. Peter’s family with his knowledge of the Southwest and stories of his adventures with his friend Rodney. Tom enjoyed the settled nature of the St. Peter home and the company of St. Peter’s young daughters. Looking back now, St. Peter feels nostalgia for the atmosphere of those early months.

Kathleen visits her father in the old house to ask him for help. Augusta has lost $500 in a bad stock deal. Although Augusta invested on Louie’s advice, Rosamond will not help her recoup the money—a move that St. Peter finds “petty.” Kathleen notices joyfully that her father still has Tom’s blanket from Mexico, which had been a gift from Rodney. Their conversation reveals that Rodney disappeared and that many of Kathleen’s childhood fantasies had involved rescuing him. She and her father fondly recall the years when Tom seemed like an older brother—a much different person than the one Rosamond and Louie venerate.

St. Peter has a visit from the wife of his colleague, Robert Crane, who had worked closely with Tom. Mrs. Crane wants to discuss the possibility of receiving some of the profits from Outland’s patent, especially since her husband’s health has been poor. St. Peter reminds her that he hasn’t received any of that money either, since Rosamond was the sole beneficiary of the estate, and that Tom did not mention Crane in the will. Mrs. Crane blames Louie, who came to Hamilton just after Outland was killed in combat, for having manipulated her husband into giving up any rights he might have had in the matter. St. Peter regrets that he can’t do more, but suggests that Louie was the best equipped to make Outland’s inventions profitable. He offers to speak to Rosamond on Crane’s behalf, but Mrs. Crane has decided to seek justice in court. Her visit to St. Peter was her way to let him know how she and her husband feel about the matter. When she leaves, St. Peter reflects on his “strange” friendship with Crane. Although they had little in common socially, they became allies against what they believed to be the State Legislature’s attempts to water down the academic mission of the university in favor of more practical—and financially lucrative—forms of education. When Tom graduated, he worked in the same building as Crane, a physics professor, and Crane had certainly been helpful to the younger man. St. Peter hopes that he can convince Crane not to take his case to court, and instead talk to Louie directly.

After dinner the same night, St. Peter visits Dr. Crane in his laboratory, hoping to find out more details about Crane’s collaboration with Tom. St. Peter quickly becomes frustrated by Crane’s vague explanations and his failure to have come to a more explicit understanding with Tom about the terms of their collaboration. Crane says the thought had never crossed his mind at the time, and admits that he is more interested in Tom’s idea now because it has proved profitable. St. Peter pledges to help how he can but recommends seeing Louie rather than going to court—or, if they insist on bringing a lawsuit, to engage the help of someone other than Crane’s bombastic brother-in-law.

Rosamond makes her father go furniture shopping with her in Chicago. By the time Scott runs into St. Peter on the train back to Hamilton, he can see that his father-in-law is exhausted, and he worries that Rosamond and Louie demand too much of St. Peter, who is getting older. Lillian also notices his weariness when he gets home. St. Peter thinks longingly of the story of Euripides, who, as an old man, lived in a cave by the sea to avoid the company—and the surveillance—of women.

Louie is full of plans for the family’s summer trip to Paris, in the hopes of pleasing both his wife and his father-in-law. St. Peter reflects on how both Rosamond and Lillian have changed since Louie came into their lives; they have “hardened” in some sense, even though Louie himself remains generous and kind. St. Peter’s refusal to go to Paris, saying he needs the summer for scholarly work in Hamilton, bothers his daughter and wife. Lillian worries that St. Peter is isolating himself from his family. St. Peter has trouble articulating his reluctance but insists that he needs the summer to rest in a place less mentally and emotionally “stimulating” than Paris.

Louie comes to the old house to insist on taking St. Peter for a drive with Rosamond. Louie effusively admires Tom’s Mexican blanket, remarking once again how much he regrets never having known Outland while he was alive. On the drive, Louie announces that he and Rosamond plan to give up their current house before leaving for Paris, moving their belongings to Outland (their new house). Louie plans to let Scott and Kathleen look over their furniture for anything they might want, but Rosamond is horrified by the suggestion; she assumes they’d reject the offer because it comes from her and Louie. She tells Louie that Scott blackballed him from the Arts and Letters Club, which hurts and confuses her husband. Louie plans to confront Scott about it but tells St. Peter that he doesn’t hold any ill will toward Scott. St. Peter admires Louie’s good nature.

As Lillian, Rosamond, and Louie sail to France for the summer, St. Peter brings his bed and clothing back to his old house. His main task is editing Tom’s diary of the six months he spent on the Blue Mesa and writing a biographical introduction to provide context. St. Peter thinks back to Tom’s senior year of college, when Lillian started to mistrust Tom because he kept so much information about his past hidden. The family had been surprised to learn that Tom had spent six months in Washington, DC, and had developed enough of an antipathy to the region that he turned down a graduate scholarship at Johns Hopkins University in favor of staying at Hamilton. That summer, while the rest of the family was in Colorado, St. Peter worked on the middle volumes of Spanish Adventurers and spent time with Tom, who finally opened up about his youth.