Circle of Friends Part VI

Benny tries talking to Sean hoping to catch him out, and she and their maid try and persuade Mrs Hogan to think about learning to manage the business. Sean gets uneasy and tells Benny, untruthfully, that if the books dont add up, it is because Eddie Hogan was a careless forgetful businessman.. and that he often took money out of the till and did not replace it. Benny has been looking through her father's papers and knows that her father paid for all her clothes by cheque, so he was not dipping into the shop's funds. She is not sure how she can prove this, however. But then she has to go to the rooms upstairs, where Sean lives, to get an old sewing machine, and she comes aross an old desk with numerous bags of money in its drawers. She finally has proof that Sean has been stealing from the business. She and her mother call in the local doctor as a witness and they confront Sean and tell him that they know how dishonest he has been and while they dont want to prosecute, they want him gone. Sean is furious and lashes out at them, insulting Benny.. and saying that the shop will close without him to run it. He leaves and goes to the local hotel where the owner-manager is a widow who likes him. She offers him a job as manager of the hotel and he decides to pay court to her and to grab at this opportunity to get a business of his own. Meanwhile, Benny and her mother prpeare to take over management of the shop. Benny notices that her mother seems happier with the prospect of having something to do, and they decide to sell their house and put the money in the business. Benny hopes that if her mother is occupied, she herself may become more able to spend time in Dublin and keep Jack company. Jack however has been a bit irritated by Benny's never being around, and he becomes friendlier with Nan. She has a crisis in her life, though and is driven to make a drastic change. She finds she is pregnant by Simon, and when she tells him, hoping that he will propose, he offers her money for an abortion. He tells her that she always knew they would never marry, and Nan starts to make other plans. She flirts with Jack and lures him to Eve's cottage, where they make love a few times. Then she tells him that she is pregnant by him.