The Assistant Chapter 5, Section 2 Summary

  • Nat calls Helen, asking where she's been and what he's done wrong.
  • Helen wants to drop the subject. Her mother is eavesdropping.
  • Nat asks to see her, but Helen is disinclined. Some other time, she says to him.
  • Ida is flabbergasted that Helen isn't interested in seeing him.
  • She scolds her daughter for spending most of her free time reading.
  • Helen goes upstairs. She recalls Frank giving her a gift on the way home from the library the night before.
  • When she had gotten home, she had opened it and found a scarf and a book of Shakespeare's plays.
  • Feeling as though she cannot accept them, she returned them to Frank.
  • The next morning she finds the gifts in the trash. Not wanting them wasted, she retrieves them.
  • When she next sees Frank, she asks him why he threw the items away. He says he no longer has the receipts.
  • Frank is obviously upset at the rejection. Helen tries to console him.