The Last Days of Night

Paul’s plan is to take Tesla to Nashville to stay with his father. Agnes forcefully insists she accompany them on the journey. She postpones her dinner with the Jayne family, and her understudy gets some stage time. Agnes’s attachment to Tesla runs deep; she wants to make sure he is safe every step of the way. She even sings him to sleep, to Paul’s envy.

Paul wonders if Agnes is growing “bolder in her demands for a life outside a polished glass case” (217). Or perhaps Fannie is loosening her grip in anticipation of the Jayne courtship. Though she’s focused solely on Tesla, Paul enjoys Agnes’s company in their adjacent first-class suites. He doesn’t expect to spend close time with her again.

Erastus picks them up from the station with a horse Paul named in his childhood and an even older carriage. He politely and gracefully welcomes his guests, paying compassionate attention to Tesla in his catatonic state. When Agnes says how honored she is to meet him and that she’s heard much about him, Erastus says, “Oh dear, you mustn't listen to too much of what Paul tells you. He does like to exaggerate” (218)—to Paul’s embarrassment.

Paul has been anxious about Agnes’s perception of his family’s humble home.