This unforeseen event occurs at the beginning of summer, when Viola has just finished school. St. Winifred's, her "Alma mater", is an expensive public school which prides itself on turning out "ladies"—refined young women who are mostly "unemployable" and have certainly not been taught domestic subjects but who will nevertheless, it is believed, have no problem finding suitable husbands among their own social class. Secretly, Viola has already made her choice in this respect: She intends "to marry the Reverend Mr Chisholm and have ten children". Now she is waiting for Chisholm to respond to her subtle, ladylike advances.