13 Little Blue Envelopes

In her fifth letter, Aunt Peg tells Ginny that, when she was a girl, she had been fascinated with the goddess Vesta from Roman mythology. Peg expresses surprise that Vesta was her favorite since Vesta is the goddess of “hearth and home” and Peg herself is not very domestic (123).

Peg instructs Ginny to travel to Rome to visit the remains of Vesta’s temple, where her virgin acolytes tended to an undying fire. Ginny is to open the next envelope while she is at the temple among the statues of Vesta’s worshippers. Aunt Peg recommends that Ginny stay at the same place where she stayed: a home owned by a woman named Ortensia with one room to rent.

Richard drops Ginny off at the airport, expressing regret that they didn’t have the chance to talk much and reminding Ginny to call him should she need anything. Checking in for her flight to Rome, Ginny is self-conscious about her unwieldy backpack, which makes her feel clumsy and obtrusive.

Ginny is surprised when her flight lands not at Rome’s main airport but at a small, secondary airport far outside of town. She follows other travelers to a bus and rides the bus into the city.