Blaise Pascal is a French physicist, theologian, and philosopher. He is in poor health, which is worsened by alcoholism. He depends on the care of his sister, Jaqueline, who is a poet. After their father’s death, Jaqueline left her brother to become a nun at Port-Royal Abbey. In their unsent letters, the siblings elaborate on the circumstances that led up to their separation. Blaise wonders about his sister’s faith and whether she still writes. He tells of magic number grids, a matrix of digits whose rows all add up to the same constant. In Chinese culture, this phenomenon represents the universe’s mysticality. While Jaqueline would’ve once been interested, she would now probably condemn such dubious spiritualism. Next, Blaise reports that he’s sold a Pascaline machine. Despite his tinkering, the calculator’s functions are limited. He sees math as an escape from humanity’s complexity, but numbers can be just as inscrutable. Even so, there is something awe-inspiring about the unknown. A more capable calculator would eliminate that possibility. Later, Blaise addresses the public’s criticism of his scientific theories. He feels that he’s accomplished nothing, and his drunkenness drove his sister away. He begs her to think of him as a fellow man upon whom she can confer the goodness of God. In her letters, Jacqueline reflects on the garden at the abbey. The conical shapes of the petals would inspire her brother to scientific theorizing, while the beauty inspires her to write. However, the nuns disapprove of it. To sharpen a talent is to glorify the self. Jaqueline hates the selfishness of her intellect. She knows she can’t come close to God’s creation, yet she longs to put pen to paper. The suppression doesn’t compare to her life with Blaise, though. She couldn’t spend the rest of her days pressing cold cloths to his fevered head. Jaqueline vows to commit herself to God’s work. Teaching, cleaning, and sewing in the abbey will give her the purpose that writing once did. She will love God instead of herself.