Circle of Friends Part V

Meanwhile, Nan has been seeing Simon Westward and has decided to let him sleep with her in hopes of luring him into marriage. He takes her to hotels but he's not really well off enough to keep on doing that. Nan however thinks of Eve's cottage, in Knockglen, which belonged to her mother and father, and which she has never really liked. It is empty most of the time and Nan suggests that they can go there to make love. Benny tries to work out if there is any way of keeping Sean from getting a partnership, and wonders if her mother might take an interest in the shop and get her mind off her loss. She is relieved when she tells Jack that she has to go home one day, to help her mother and he wants to go to a film, and Nan, who happens by, says she will go with him. After the film, Jack goes home and Nan runs into Simon Westward and they go to Eve's cottage. He is very attracted to her but he has no intention of marrying a Catholic girl from a not very grand background. He is still looking around for a girl from England who has some family money.