- Augie and Stella have different idea about Augie's plan to make an academy and foster home.
- She'd been supportive when he returned from the war.
- Augie is in Florence, acting for Mintouchian on a job to upload surplus Army goods.
- He goes to the Piazza del Duomo to see golden doors of a Baptistery and sculptures of Ghiberti.
- An old lady pesters him for money to guide him through the place.
- Augie and Stella are living in Europe.
- She's working in Paris with a film company.
- Augie runs into Frazer. He's in Europe too.
- He asks Augie about married life. Augie says he loves Stella.
- He doesn't tell him about their troubles. She loves Augie too, but she's preoccupied with many things.
- She's also lied to him and made up stories about her father sending her money from Jamaica and other matters of importance.
- There's a former rich lover she's never mentioned.
- When Augie questions her about it, she dismisses it, saying that, yes, he's responsible for much of what they own, but he's not been in her life for two years.
- Augie learns from Mintouchian that Stella has been harassing this Cumberland.
- He tells her this must end.
- Simon and Charlotte come to Paris. They visit.
- Charlotte, measuring Augie better than she had before, tells her complaints about Simon to him.
- Renée had sued Simon. She'd collected a lot of evidence while together with him. She was after money, but the case was thrown out.
- Simon is ashamed listening to this.
- Augie goes off on a business trip along with a colleague named Jacqueline.
- The car stalls near her uncle's farm.
- They walk in the cold.
- She says to sing to keep the stomach from freezing.
- He sings a Mexican song.
- Jacqueline dreams of going to Mexico. It's the dream of her life.
- Augie is intrigued by this.
- When the car is fixed he continues on his way.
- Like Jacqueline, he refuses to give up on his life.