Bromfield maintains that Tom’s visits are meaningless, but Mrs. Corey decides she must call on the Laphams; afterward she is still more repulsed by their nervousness during her call. Nevertheless, she decides they must have a dinner.
Analysis
The Corey women, despite their repulsion, submit themselves to the inevitability of having to recognize Tom’s connection with the Laphams. They are Puritanical in their fatalistic view of life. They must submit, they feel, to what will happen even if they oppose it.
