The Point of No Return — Alice Adams

The morning after his decision, Adams works with unnerving speed. Years of swearing he would never yield collapse the moment he does, because the plans were already worked out in his mind during those supposedly idle walks past decaying factories. He leases a cheap brick shed near his house, hires workers at wages that frighten him, and micromanages every detail until one laborer quits with a speech about capitalists and the coming day of the toiler. On Sunday he delivers the resignation letter to Charley Lohr, who hands it to Lamb; Lamb reads it slowly, twice, and says nothing while Adams waits in agony. That evening Alice and Russell sit on the veranda in a scene of tender intimacy. She admits she is sadly happy, hearing minor music in joy because she foresees loss, and worries about her father's overwork at the new plant. Russell promises no gossip will drive him away, but Alice insists something spiteful will happen. Meanwhile Adams, unable to sleep, paces in his nightgown repeating that he wishes he knew how Lamb feels. The chapter captures the paradox of major change: decisive action on the outside, helpless fixation on the one opinion he cannot control, and a daughter whose happiness already runs on a separate track.