Joy Street IV

Roger is learning his trade as a lawyer and feels that he will never be as brilliant at it as David is. David seems to be able, once he has a start, to get on well with Bostonians, and does not seem to need any further social help. Emily likes him but has an uneasy feeling that she is attracted to him, and that he is trying to make love to her. She does enjoy his company, but she is wary. She learns that his mother has remarried after his father died and his step father is Morris Brucker a well to do antique dealer from New York. Priscilla agrees to move into Emily's house to take part in the social season and she's more outgoing than the family expected. However, Emily worries that the girl has developed a crush on David and she is not sure if he's a suitable husband for a girl brought up to a simple life. There is tension between her and Priscilla as the younger girl is very determined, and Emily ifeels she has to hide her own infatuation for David. Roger gets an invitation to Brian's house in South Boston; Brian tells him that he wanted to say for some time that he's sorry for making a fool of himself on the night of the dinner party, that he really did think it was a poker night for male friends.. Roger agrees to go, and enjoys himself. The family is large, and rather Catholic, but he finds he likes them and they treat him as a friend. He has a game of poker.. gets to know Brian's siblings and parents. When he goes home however Emily is furious because he had forgotten to let her know that he was going out. Rogers rarely gets angry but he tells his wife that he likes Brian and that he intends to go on being friends iwth him.. Emily realises that he's serious and she breaks down and tells him that she is sorry that she got so angry with Brian over the dinner party. She knew it was a mistake on his part, but she felt annoyed and wanted Brian to humble himself to her. She admits that in spite of Brian's occasional rough ways, he is very likable. They decide to invite Brian and some of their male friends for a poker evening, one night when Emily is out, and the Irishman becomes a friend of the household. Pell De Lucca, the Italian Catholic lawyer, is not at all well off and says he cant afford to play poker, but Emily likes him. He does not socialise much, but lives in a shabby part of Boston and Emily wonders about a very beautiful girl whom she has seen with him once or twice.. is she a relative or something closer.