Winter arrives, and Eilis watches as the city bundles up. She finds the cold worse than that of Ireland, and one day, when she returns home from work, Mrs. Kehoe calls her into her sitting room to tell her that she is getting the basement room, which she considers the best in the house, because Miss Keegan is leaving. She tells Eilis she is giving her the room because of her polite manners, but Eilis knows this will cause drama with the other boarders. The other girls soon find out and Miss McAdam tells Eilis that Miss Keegan left after a man followed her home and flashed her. Eilis hopes this isn’t true, thinking Miss McAdam only said it to scare her.

Father Flood begins hosting dances on Friday nights to raise money for the parish, and the boardinghouse prepares to attend the first one. Patty and Diana go out before the dance while Sheila and Miss McAdam remain home and wait for the dance to begin. Mrs. Kehoe disapproves of these dances, saying that Italians ruined the last one. Eilis stays with Miss McAdam and Sheila, and at the dance, she watches with envy as Patty and Diana have fun while she sits with the others and goes home early.