Circle of Friends Part IV.

Benny can't stand Sean and worries that her parents seem to be pushing them into a relationship. In the new Year, she goes to Dublin one Saturday, to meet Jack and her friends, pleading that she has an extra lecture. Eddie, her father, dies suddenly of a heart attack during the afternoon. Benny, badly shaken, comes back to Knockglen as soon as she hears the news and she finds that her mother is completely devastated by her husband's death. She is very upset but she can see that she is tied to her home even more than before. Then Annabel, her mother and Benny get a nasty shock learning from Sean that Mr Hogan had recently offered him a partnership. The business was not doing well, and he had worked there for 10 years with no prospect of promotion so Mr Hogan agreed to make him a partner. Benny is worried at the idea of Sean being master of the business and she begins to wonder why the business was doing so badly. This additional worry means she has even less time to spend with Jack, and she worries about losing him to a girl who is in Dublin.