The Song of the Lark

Thea moves around a lot because she can’t find a place she truly likes.

Bowers teaches two well-known singers named Miss Darcey and Mrs. Priest. Thea observes them as Bowers’s accompanist. She doesn’t like their technique, but she analyzes why they’re so popular with an audience.

Bowers’s former student comes back to town and returns to lessons. Frederick Ottenburg is the heir to a beer business, so his singing lessons are for pleasure. Fred is handsome and personable. He “had a way of floating people out of dull or awkward situations, out of their own torpor or constraint or discouragement” (129-30). Fred plays the piano while Thea sings for him. Bowers admires them together.

Fred arranges a singing job for Thea with the Nathanmeyer family. The Nathanmeyers are a wealthy family who host musical evenings. Fred assures Thea that Mrs. Nathanmeyer is well-established and will like her as long as she is herself. Fred takes Thea to the Nathanmeyers’ house so she can pick out a fancy dress from one of the daughters’ closets. Mrs. Nathanmeyer finds Thea interesting and different, but she’s not as impressed by Thea as Fred is. Thea sings for the Nathanmeyers, and Mrs. Nathanmeyer approves of her voice and technique.

Thea stays in bed sick with tonsilitis for a few days. She thinks constantly of Fred and misses seeing him in Bowers’s studio. A medical student who also lives in the house checks in on her regularly, but she is annoyed by the other residents’ efforts to show her kindness by leaving books and caring messages at her door, as she assumes they don’t truly like her. While she is sick, she realizes how much she missed her visits with Fred.

After recovering from tonsilitis, Thea looks and feels worn down. Fred asks her what she’s doing for the summer. Thea won’t go back to Moonstone without something to show for it—she believes that her year in Chicago has been a waste. Fred arranges for Thea to stay at his father’s ranch in Arizona to rest for the summer.

Thea finds relief in the natural beauty and peace of her travels to the Southwest. She isn’t sure she can return to Chicago because “[f]ailure was not so tragic as she would have supposed; she was tired enough not to care” (142). Away from the hustle of Chicago, Thea rediscovers happiness.

In this brief chapter, Thea spends her days exploring Panther Canyon. She finds a cave to relax in and is surprised at how much she enjoys spending days without thinking about work.

Thea observes the swallows, light, and lovely smells around Panther Canyon. She walks along old Indigenous paths and feels connected to the women who walked them in the past. Henry Biltmer runs the Ottenburg ranch and teaches Thea about the Navajo tribe who used to live on the land. Thea is inspired by Indigenous people’s pottery and connects their art to her singing.

Thea collects pieces of pottery found in Panther Canyon. She respects the pottery as both art and an emblem of how art can be used for utility. Thea feels connected to the past: “Not only did the world seem older and richer to Thea now, but she herself seemed older” (147). Fred sends word that he plans to visit soon. Thea is excited to see him. Traveling to Panther Canyon taught Thea about the expansiveness of the world, and she decides to move to Germany to study singing.

This chapter is narrated from Henry’s point of view, as he happens upon Fred and Thea playing around the canyon tossing rocks while he is out on a walk. After playing banter, Fred kisses her, Thea pushes him angrily, and he kisses her again. She tells Fred she didn’t mean to push him, he whispers something Henry can’t hear, and Thea laughs.

Fred admires Thea’s determination. He tells her that he believes she constantly has ulterior motives. He explains that many men wouldn’t like to be used the way Thea uses him because they want women to have the man as their ultimate goal. Fred asks Thea if she would like him to provide her with a comfortable life, but Thea wants her independence.

Thea enjoys having Fred around because they are constantly on the move, exploring the canyon and surrounding land. One afternoon, while they are hiking in the canyon, a vicious storm comes in and Fred and Thea hide in Thea’s cave. Thea wonders aloud if she is in love with Fred. Thea kisses Fred passionately.

In September, Fred asks Thea to travel with him to Mexico City instead of returning to Chicago. He wants Thea to marry him and suggests that the trip to Mexico City could be their time to figure out if she will marry him. Fred wants to make it his life’s mission to make Thea happy, but she doesn’t know that he is already married to another woman. He married his wife, Edith, on impulse, and now, years later, she lives in California while he lives in Chicago. Fred genuinely loves Thea, but he proposes the idea of marriage to her because he doesn’t believe she’s the marrying type.

Dr. Archie receives a letter from Thea postmarked from New York. Thea asks Dr. Archie to visit her in New York because she needs his help. Dr. Archie sells some of his shares in a mining venture so he can have money to bring to New York. He’s happy that Thea called on him for help.

Thea discusses Dr. Archie’s visit with Fred. Fred wants to be the one to fund Thea’s trip to Germany, but Thea trusts Dr. Archie more. Thea needs to tell Dr. Archie everything about her and Fred, but she’s confident that Dr. Archie won’t judge her. Fred takes credit for Thea’s embracing her identity as a singer and her beauty. He wants things between them to remain the same. He says that Thea is the kind of woman who would always have a unique life, even if she had stayed in Moonstone. But Thea knows that accepting Fred’s money means being a mistress. Fred wants to divorce his wife and be with Thea, but he worries that Thea will fall in love with someone else or forget about him when she goes to Germany.

Thea tells Fred about her conversation with Dr. Archie. Dr. Archie has agreed to fund Thea’s trip to Germany. He is accepting of Thea’s love for Fred, a married man.

Fred charms Dr. Archie at dinner. Dr. Archie notices how beautiful, confident, and worldly Thea has become.

Thea asks Fred for his help in paying Dr. Archie back. When Fred remarks that Thea is strange about money, she explains that she was once so poor that she stole blue silk and that only other poor people understand that relationship with money. Fred again promises to continue loving Thea.

Thea is excited about her trip to Germany. She dreams of her home in Moonstone, happy that her past has informed her future.