Meanwhile, as her family stews, Valancy is finding it a heady thing to be free and independent, earning her own living for the first time in her life. Supporting oneself just naturally increases one's self confidence and self-reliance. This new-found confidence allows her to deal surprisingly well with Roaring Abel's, uh... roaring. This is just a further illustration of how much she has changed: the girl who used to quail before her mother's sulks and querulous demands now stands toe to toe with Abel and gives as good as she gets.
Valancy is also experiencing actual friendship for the first time in her life. Cissy is sort of the anti-Olive, Valancy's self-satisfied cousin who maintained a false friendship with "Doss" to keep her around as a foil to her good looks. Cissy actually values Valancy's presence and the two become close- close enough that Valancy tells Cissy about her fantasy Blue Castle. Cissy remarks that she thinks everyone has a Blue Castle- a rosy dream of what they would like their life to be like, an escape from the mundane reality of their existence.
It's of course been evident since the beginning that Valancy rather fancies Barney; this feeling deepens as she watches his kindness to Cissy and listens to him talk eloquently of the places he's travelled, and discuss books with Roaring Abel, when the old coot is sober enough to do so. While she is getting to know Barney better through these visits, they also deepen the mystery surrounding him: namely, why would a man of his obvious education and intellect bury himself in the wilderness for years on end? Valancy concludes that he must have, at one time, done something illegal which resulted in him living a secluded life in Muskoka. She also concludes that she doesn't care.
Roaring Abel, who by times seems an almost Falstaffian character, is of course often amusing, as when he's tossing Uncle James into the asparagus bed, or making crass insinuations to the self-righteous minister Dr. Stalling. This does not alter the fact, however, that he is not a good man. He is a talented carpenter and, as we see from his discussions with Barney Snaith, a well-read man. Yet he wastes most of his time and a good deal of his money drinking and carousing. His behaviour put his wife in an early grave and ruined his daughter's life, and still he carries on like this. Why does Barney have to bring groceries to Cissy and Valancy? Because Roaring Abel is generally too drunk to remember to pick them up. It's nothing but selfishness and self-indulgence, which Abel excuses in himself by saying that everything is determined by predestination. I don't intend to discuss the intricacies of five point Calvinism here but suffice to say, whether you believe in unconditional election or not there's no excuse for being an unapologetic drunk who doesn't take care of his family. This is something he chooses for himself.