The girls wear all-white knee-length dresses, while the boys wear navy blazers, tan khakis, and Lancaster ties. They are a sea of sameness, and when Arthur rings the bell, Betsy watches as he steps through this window in time like Winthrops have always done and she thinks that the uniform and the moment seem to suit him better than most, and then she washes it out of her head, since she figures she will never see him again. Over the past couple of days since her swim test they have talked a few times, but nothing significant. She has forgiven him for what she believes he did to Russell, and part of her feels tremendously guilty about this, as if she is giving in to the larger forces that are this old school, but she also knows that Lancaster moves forward with the force of a river and that once someone is gone it’s as if he were never there. Lancaster has a way of dealing only with the living. In the fall Arthur goes to Yale, and she goes to Wellesley. That first year, there are a few boys, one-night stands, really, but nothing that ever evolves into a relationship.
