Helen committed suicide after entrusting her two underage daughters, Ruth and Lucille, to her mother. My grandmother also died seven years later. My grandmother's two sisters, Lily and Nona, went on to raise two children. My aunt called Helen's sister Sylvie to look after Ruth and Lucille. The eccentric Sylvie was moody and the two sisters were disillusioned with her. The unbearable Lucille ran away from home and was taken in by a kind teacher, but Ruth, who was attached to Sylvie, stayed. Sylvie took Ruth on a trip, but when he came back, he had to face the comments and suspicions of the local "educated and respectable" housewives.
7.2
