Linda’s marriage to Tony is a failure from the start. The Radletts find Tony to be a bore, while the materialistic Kroesigs consider Linda eccentric and unhelpful to Tony’s career. The Kroesigs’ obsession with money is alien to Linda; when Tony’s father, Sir Leicester, gives Linda a £1,000 check for her birthday, she immediately spends it on a necklace. Sir Leicester is horrified, explaining the money was a “capital sum” (89) meant for investment or entertaining influential people. This cultural divide is further highlighted when Linda’s father, Uncle Matthew, rejects Tony’s advice to move money abroad before the looming war, declaring he would rather stay and die for England.

Meanwhile, Fanny becomes engaged to an Oxford don, Alfred Wincham. Soon after, Linda announces she is pregnant. The pregnancy is very difficult, and the birth nearly kills her; doctors forbid her from having more children. She gives birth to a daughter, Moira, toward whom Linda is entirely indifferent and dismissive. During a visit to the nursing home, Fanny is unsettled by Linda’s complete lack of maternal interest.

Now married and living in Oxford, Fanny sees less of Linda but understands that Linda fell out of love with Tony before Moira was even born.