Madame Marie de Vionnet Timeline and Summary

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• Madame de Vionnet meets Strether at a party at Chad's place. Strether is charmed by both Madame and her daughter, Jeanne. She invites him to visit her house the next day. How can he say no?
• At Madame's house, Strether is blown away by the woman's rich European lifestyle. He finds her incredibly cultured and intelligent, and respects her very deeply for the changes she has made in the formerly brat-tastic Chad Newsome.
• At the story unfolds, Madame is able to win Strether's loyalty. She convinces him to start working against Mrs. Newsome's attempts to bring Chad back to America—the very reason Strether came to Europe to begin with. Talk about an about-face.
• When Sarah Pocock visits, Madame de Vionnet sits down with her and absolutely destroys her in a battle of wits. Of course, she's so good that the whole performance comes across as totally polite.
• Madame de Vionnet is shattered, though, when Strether catches her and Chad heading toward a secluded French hotel to get to know each other in private. It turns out that Madame and Chad have been romantically involved all along.
• Later that same evening, Madame meets with Strether and apologizes for using him to help her keep Chad. Strether forgives her and promises to do her one last favor before he leaves. The favor is to order Chad never to leave her.
• We're not sure if this demand is successful, though. By the end of the novel, we don't know what the future holds for Madame de Vionnet.
• That's just the beauty of the James way—pull you in and leave you hanging.