The Murray girls like to go to church twice on Sunday, mostly so Rosalie can be admired and so they can walk home with various friends and suitors. Agnes finds these walks awkward because no one addresses her during the conversation, so she walks behind and pretends she is absorbed in her own reflections. As she walks in the sunshine, Agnes feels melancholy and longs for a different future.

Looking for familiar sights that remind her of home, Agnes spots three primroses growing on a bank above her reach. Mr. Weston approaches, picks the flowers, and gives them to her. He walks alongside her and asks questions about her favorite flowers—these include primroses and bluebells—and he says, in response to her homesickness, it must be a great comfort to have a home. He admits he sometimes feels jealous when he visits a cottage and sees a family gathered around their hearth, but he finds happiness in being useful. Agnes had heard that he lost his mother, and her heart aches with sympathy. She begins to think that it would be delightful to have a partner like him in life but cuts the thought off before she completes it, telling the reader in a