Flower of May Part II

Fanny has Lucille to visit in Dublin, before they go on their continental trip. Louise, her sister is away on honeymoon. The young couple have gone in a car, which breaks down, as motor cars were very new then and prone to problems. Andre, Lucille's brother, has a job as a car salesman and he rescues the honeymooning couple when the car lets them down. He is attracted to Fanny and she is intrigued by him. Fanny goes off with Lucille and Julia, her mother decides to go back to her country home, where her elderly father lives with his spinster daughter. It is a small estate, as Catholics had for a long time been unable to buy property.. but it keeps the family in reasonable comfort and gives them status. Julia loves the country and does not like living in Dublin, but she puts up with it for her husband's sake. She is in increasingly poor health and longs to go back to her home. Before she goes away from Dublin, she sees a young couple in the city and gets an intuition that they are lovers, then realises that it is her own daughter, who is newly married. She goes to the country, and her health weakens. She is worried about her daughter. Fanny and Lucille enjoy their travels around Europe with Lucille's younger brother and her society obsessed mother. The family are kind to Fanny and she is happy to be seeing the world. She has been having religious doubts in recent years, but she is still interested in the Catholic culture of Europe.