- It's revenge time. We begin chapter 16 by reading a letter that Jim's writing to his backstabbing housemate, Evan Johns.
- It turns out that Johns has been showing attention to a young woman named Marlene Richards, and Jim is forging a threatening note as Marlene's boyfriend, who sounds like a pretty tough customer.
- After finishing the letter, he starts thinking again about his night with Christine. He starts to fantasize about their upcoming date.
- He just starts to take out his notes for his upcoming public lecture (remember that thing?) when there's a knock at his door.
- It's Margaret, and Jim greets her in an overly friendly way because he has a guilty conscience about Christine.
- Basically, Margaret knows that he left the dance with Christine, and she starts reprimanding him for leaving her all alone at the ball and not saying goodbye to anyone.
- She also adds that the entire Welch family is "out for his blood," which is definitely bad in the case of Jim's boss, Professor Welch.
- Deciding that the best defense is a good offense, Jim accuses Margaret of being infatuated with Mr. Gore-Urquhart.
- He's totally making it up, but it does the trick to take some of the blame off himself.
- The fight continues, and Jim finally says that he knows Margaret has had a tough time lately (with the attempted suicide and all).
- But he wants her to stop depending on him emotionally.
- He wants to be clear that he isn't her boyfriend.
- Margaret goes quiet for a while, then decides to take things up a notch.
- She tells him he must be crazy if he thinks he's in the same league as Christine.
- Nice strategy, right? "You're not good enough for her, so just accept that you're stuck with me."
- He tells her not to be such a drama queen, which she takes as his way of saying, "Be more of a drama queen."
- Because at this point, she collapses onto his bed and starts moaning and twitching.
- Jim's neighbor Bill Atkinson comes in to save the day with the tried-and-true technique of slapping Margaret a few times in the face to bring her back to her senses.
- Then he sends Jim away to grab his whiskey, which he gives to Margaret. After a shot or two, she seems to come back to reality.
- Margaret thanks Bill, and the man leaves.
- Jim offers to ride with Margaret back to the Welches house; but she tells him that he doesn't want to go anywhere near the Welches anymore.
- Basically, Jim tells her that if she ever needs to talk, he's there for her. But they're definitely not in a committed relationship. She says fine and leaves.
- After she's gone, Jim thinks about what a shame it is that she isn't better looking (nice one, Jim).
- He finishes the chapter by picking up Atkinson's whiskey bottle and asking Bill to go to the pub around the corner. But before doing that, he makes sure to mail his fake letter to Evan Johns.