The denouement of Philip Winter's ill begotten engagement to featherbrained Rose Birkett is enacted in full view of Southbridge School's extended family during a holiday break. Everyone, including her parents, is rooting for Philip's escape which occurs when Rose breaks it off as the utter dullness of being engaged overwhelms her. Along the way, we enjoy the tea party where Rose, "through sheer want of personality brings the talk to her own level" and confounds her audience by insisting that Hamlet and Shakespeare are both names of plays (and probably the same one).

As in many of Thirkell's books, the characters refer to a body of literature, both classic and modern, with a casualness that would be improbable today; the assumption of a shared background and culture having been lost. The ceremony of the "Cleaning of the Pond" by Lydia, Eric Swan and a much improved Tony Morland brings the holiday to a satisfactory conclusion.