- The ambassador tells Tereza that the rude bald-headed man is with the secret police.
- He explains that the secret police remains secret to spy on people, but want to make themselves known for purposes of intimidation.
- They want to stage situations to incriminate their enemies. They trap them.
- Tereza immediately imagines that the engineer was sent by the secret police. It was all a set-up; even the drunk sixteen-year-old boy was in on it.
- Now if they wanted to accuse her of prostitution, they have the engineer's testimonial.