# XIV explained — The Professor’s House > Chapter companion for The Professor’s House by Willa Cather. ## What happens St. Peter accompanies Rosamond to Chicago to help her buy Spanish furniture for her country house, despite his fatigue. Louie joins them briefly before departing to meet his brother. St. Peter feels a sense of loss after Louie leaves. On the train home, Scott McGregor finds St. Peter exhausted and listless. That evening, St. Peter returns home on foot in the cold, and a conversation with Lillian reveals that he paid for the trip himself, declining Rosamond's offer to cover expenses, and he did not buy the fur coat he needed. Lillian senses his deep weariness and hurt from his daughter's actions. Later, St. Peter reflects on Euripides, who chose to live in a cave by the sea in his old age, suggesting his own growing disillusionment with domestic life. ## Themes in this chapter ### Family and Marriage St. Peter's strained relationship with his daughter Rosamond, and his wife's concern for his well-being, highlight familial obligations and emotional distance. ### Materialism and Commercialism The shopping expedition for Spanish furniture and the 'orgy of acquisition' underscore the theme of material excess and its toll on St. Peter. ### Loss of Self and Identity St. Peter's weariness and his reflection on Euripides' retreat to a cave suggest a loss of self in the face of domestic and familial demands. ## Character check-ins ### Professor St. Peter Accompanies Rosamond to Chicago, feels exhausted and listless, pays for the trip himself, and reflects on Euripides' retreat from houses. ### Rosamond Goes shopping in Chicago with her father, exhibits a 'faultless purchasing manner,' and stays on at the Blackstone. ### Louie Marsellus Accompanies them to Chicago, reluctantly leaves to join his brother, and St. Peter feels a sense of loss after his departure. ### Lillian St. Peter Anxiously awaits her husband's return, senses his weariness, and makes him a cocktail to comfort him. ### Scott McGregor Encounter on the train, notices St. Peter's exhaustion and resolves to tell Kitty they must look out for her father. ## Key lines > Too much is certainly worse than too little—of anything. It turned out to be rather an orgy of acquisition. Excess is worse than scarcity, and the shopping trip became a frenzy of buying. _St. Peter comments on the overwhelming nature of the shopping expedition._ > She was like Napoleon looting the Italian palaces. Rosamond purchased items with the efficiency and ruthlessness of a conqueror. _St. Peter describes Rosamond's purchasing manner._ > I mean that I paid my way, as I hope always to be able to do. Any suggestion to the contrary might have been very graceful, but it would have been rejected. I paid for myself, as I always intend to; any offer to pay would have been polite but I would have refused. _St. Peter explains to Lillian that he refused Rosamond's offer to pay._ > I was thinking about Euripides; how, when he was an old man, he went and lived in a cave by the sea, and it was thought queer, at the time. It seems that houses had become insupportable to him. I was thinking of how Euripides, in his old age, chose to live in a seaside cave, which was considered odd, because he could no longer bear living in houses. _St. Peter reflects on Euripides' retreat, hinting at his own feelings about domestic life._ ## Links - HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_professor_s_house_se/chapters/xiv - Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_professor_s_house_se - All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_professor_s_house_se/chapters