Rules of Civility

Katey begins her job with Mason. She meets the other assistant, Alley McKenna, who has a high IQ and wears glasses. Neither of them need bother with dressing provocatively, however. Though women dressing scantily might work with other men in other offices, Mason has already told them that “his affinities lay in another hemisphere” (162). Mason is all business, from day one, giving the two women tasks to complete ad nauseam. The women are encouraged to be as brusque as Mason so that they can also act as his guards, refusing entrance to anyone Mason doesn’t want to speak to or see. Alley tells Katey that, if they work together, they can make each other so necessary to Mason that he won’t be able to fire one of them come January. Katey agrees, and the two become friends. They go out after work often to have dessert, but, when Alley leaves, Katey changes her clothes and meets up with her new set of friends. On one such occasion, Dicky encourages the group to successfully crash a party at Whileaway, the summer home of the Hollingsworths. Dicky and the others find the party to be a bit more boorish than they had hoped. Katey marvels at her new friends. Though they seem aimless, they will indeed be coming into money soon enough and taking on roles of purpose in society.

Katey soon runs into Wallace. He explains that there are three Hollingsworth sons (one of whom Dicky knows). The sons are all allowed to throw a party, with an additional shindig on Labor Day. He had meant to contact Katey, especially as he had promised to at the dinner party. Before they can continue, Dicky interrupts and Katey leaves with her friends. Dicky drops everyone else off first. He then asks if she’d like to come up, and when she declines, he laments the fact that they didn’t even get to dance. She quotes Shakespeare to him and then goes inside.

Wallace takes Katey to the North Fork of Long Island to go shooting, to fulfill the promise he’d made at Eve and Tinker’s dinner party. Unsure of what to wear, Katey dresses as she imagines Anne would dress: in a white shirt and khaki pants. Wallace likes her new hair color. Katey sees that he wears a sweater with holes in it. Though the main thing they have in common is Tinker and Eve, they agree not to talk about the couple. The country club they go to appears rundown to Katey. Despite its appearance, however, the service is what one would expect from old money like Wallace. Wallace then shows Katey how to shoot different types of guns, including a machine gun like the one used to kill outlaws Bonnie and Clyde. Next, he takes her clay skeet shooting. On their way, they run into an old friend of Wallace’s, Bitsy Houghton. Bitsy is commanding and a bit of a tomboy. Wallace is friends with her brother, and she used to tag along with them. She calls Wallace “Hawkeye,” and he blushes when she speaks to him.

Katey finds that she likes shooting, especially outdoors, because she feels a connection to nature. It’s wonderful for her self-esteem, and she wonders why no one has taken her shooting before. The two then stop for a lunch of club sandwiches, which is unimpressive but serene. Katey notes how the two can be silent and feel comfortable, which is a rare thing among people. She also marvels at how Wallace knows the first names of everyone when she doesn’t even know the first name of her mailman. She likes his familiarity and simplicity. She also notes that his stuttering disappears as the day goes on and they spend time together.

On another outing, they go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art to look at old and rare guns. Wallace is in his element, talking about the guns with relish. The two then dine in a restaurant that’s housed in the building where he works. Katey sees that Wallace wears an interesting watch which has a black face with white numbers. He explains that the watch belonged to his father. His father was an officer, and the watch was made so as not to draw fire from the enemy. Bitsy joins Katey when Wallace is called to another table for a business matter. In her usual forward manner, she tells Katey that Wallace is shy, so if she likes him, she should make a first move and kiss him.

One night, Wallace visits Katey’s apartment. He seems interested in her books, and she explains the cataloguing system. The Russian novels, for instance, are placed under her bed like mushrooms, while the French books are in the kitchen and the epics are by the bathtub. She keeps the transcendentalists by the window for sunlight. She then explains her contract bridge game to him, and he asks her if she knows how to play honeymoon bridge. As he’s teaching her, she attempts to kiss him but clacks teeth with him instead. They fall over, laughing. Katey and Wallace immediately realize that they are comfortable being friends. They are essentially in each other’s life until a romantic partner is found.