Jacob's Room

With tears in her eyes, Betty Flanders writes to Captain Barfoot. She writes while sitting on a beach during her vacation in the southern English county of Cornwall. With Betty are her three sons: Archer, John, and Jacob. She is helped by the boys’ nanny, Rebecca. The letter, spanning several pages in a “horrid blot” (1), will be sent north to Scarborough, where Captain Barfoot is waiting for her to return. Nearby, Charles Steele practices his watercolor painting. His “exasperated” (2) efforts are interrupted by Archer, who wants to find his brother.

Jacob has clambered up onto a big rock. In a rockpool, he finds a crab and grabs it to place in his bucket. While doing so, however, he catches sight of a man and a woman laid down on the beach together. After a brief moment spent watching the couple, Jacob runs away. Beneath a tree, he finds the skull of a sheep. He wants to pick it up. Betty catches sight of Jacob and tells him to put the skull down. Jacob makes do with the jawbone, taking it home with him. Betty believes Jacob is a “handful” (5), even though he is still very young.