Cecelia has never known her mother — she had left her father, Mr. Normanton, for another man, which made Normanton into a melancholy man. Her father never told her what happened, and so Cecelia assumed that there had been a tragic death. She was a lonely child, and grew up at home with a private tutor and maids for company, though her father often took her on weekend trips for father-daughter bonding time. Her father took the advice to send her to boarding school, to be among other girls her age. At the Amhurst school, Cecelia finds her place after a period of intense despair. She makes friends, and her father realizes that this was what she needed. At a hockey game one day, Cecelia notices two women, who stare at her from the sidelines. They make her vaguely uncomfortable, but she brushes it off. The two women are Miss Keble and Miss Cotell, best friends from the time they worked together in an office, and roommates. The day instills joy in them. Cecelia sees them again next spring, and they approach her, ask her name, and try to give her some flowers. Then they ask to take her photograph, but Cecelia hurries away. Elizabeth Statham, an older girl and a bully, teases Cecelia about the strange women.
Miss Cotell has recently had sex. Miss Keble takes pleasure in the knowledge that while she is less worldy, having never been with a man herself, she steers the ship of their lives, taking charge.
Mr. Normanton and the two women are both present at Cecelia's play, in which she plays Thisbe, and is a great success. Mr. Normanton knows that his daughter aspires to be an actress, and is pleased that she confides in him. The women bring Cecelia gifts the next day, and tell her that she can come to their house if she wants to stay. Cecelia is put off, and when Miss Keble blurts out that Miss Cotell is Cecelia's mother, she hurries away again, as the two women argue heatedly. Cecelia doesn't tell anyone about this. That summer, on their vacation in Europe, Cecelia and her father talk a lot, their bond having grown stronger over the years Cecelia has been away at boarding school. Though she doesn't mean to, Cecelia ends up telling him about the women. Her father tells her about how his marriage fell apart, and says he thought she might've guessed. He tells her that she is not his biological daughter, that he and his wife were unable to have a child. Cecelia is upset, her mind whirling. The next morning, her father acts as if everything is normal as they get on the train. Cecelia is still mulling things over, and realizes that her father has found a particular skill for living with distress. She imagines that perhaps the two women had indulged in fantasy, and that Miss Cotell was not her mother.