- Okay, no more delays. Strether is going to find a way to get in touch with Chad. Dude needs to start answering his texts. Um, we mean telegrams.
- So this time when he visits Chad's apartment, Chad's actually there. Strether looks up and sees him smoking a cigarette and leaning over the balcony railing, just like the artist Bilham did when Strether first came to Paris.
- The memory makes Strether nostalgic about the days before he knew about Chad and Madame de Vionnet.
- The two of them are silent for a long time, during which we're regaled with some of Henry James' classic fill-four-pages-with-a-list-of-objects-in-a-room style of writing.
- Finally, Strether pipes up and tells Chad that he'll be a monster if he (Chad) ever leaves Madame de Vionnet. It looks like this is that one last favor Strether told Madame he would do for her.
- Chad says that he would probably never do this, but probably ain't good enough for Strether. Strether says that he wants this to be the last thing he says to Chad during their time in Paris. So he repeats himself: do not leave Madame…EVER.
- Chad asks what all of this "last thing I say" stuff is all about, and Strether tells him that he's leaving Paris.
- Chad tells Strether that he's been away in England all week because sometimes a guy just feels like he needs to get away. Again, this is something Strether can sympathize with.
- Chad tells Strether that everything will be fine between him and Madame. But Strether wants more than just an off-the-cuff "It'll probably work out." He wants Chad to swear on his life that he won't go back to Woollett and give his family the satisfaction of thinking they've won. Strether has suddenly turned into a pretty cold customer.
- Chad starts to fidget and admits that he's still attracted to all the money he could have by going back to Woollett. Strether tells him to damn the money and be a man. Way to go, Streth!