Summary Strether expects that a visit from Chad is the next natural thing to happen, and he is puzzled when, at the end of forty-eight hours, he hears nothing from him. He occupies his time by taking Maria Gostrey about Paris, showing her “shops she didn’t know, or that she […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 12: Chapter IIISummary and Analysis Book 12: Chapter II
Summary Although both Strether and Madame de Vionnet were prepared for the confrontation, Strether was “the more prepared of the two, inasmuch as, for all her cleverness, she couldn’t produce on the spot — and it was surprising — an account of the motive of her note.” Madame de Vionnet […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 12: Chapter IISummary and Analysis Book 12: Chapter I
Summary Strether receives a special delivery letter which he thinks is from Chad, but upon opening it, he is surprised to learn that it is from Madame de Vionnet, requesting him to visit her that evening. Quickly, “with a directness that almost confessed to a fear of the danger of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 12: Chapter ISummary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter IV
Summary Strether sees a boat coming around the bend in the river, and he is surprised to discover that the two occupants are Madame de Vionnet and Chad. He is horrified to realize that “they would show nothing if they could feel sure he hadn’t made them out.” Deciding that […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter IVSummary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter III
Summary Feeling that his days of peace are numbered, Strether takes a train, “selected almost at random,” to spend a day in the countryside. He alights at a small village and heads for the hillside, intending to relax there for the afternoon, return to the village for supper, and catch […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter IIISummary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter II
Summary Though Strether has been busy helping to entertain the Pococks, he has not neglected Miss Gostrey. He visited her after Sarah’s confrontation, and the following day he describes to her his previous night’s meeting with Chad and his second interview with Sarah. Strether announces that the Pococks and Waymarsh […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter IISummary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter I
Summary Strether goes to Chad’s apartment and, finding him not in, moves to the balcony where he had first seen Little Bilham looking out over Paris. While waiting for Chad, Strether reflects on his own lost youth — it is “an hour full of strange suggestions, persuasions, recognitions; one of […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 11: Chapter ISummary and Analysis Book 10: Chapter III
Summary When Sarah and Strether meet, he remarks how much good she has done for Waymarsh, but Sarah has not come to discuss Waymarsh. The object of her visit soon becomes clear: “She had come to receive his [Strether’s] submission, and Waymarsh was to have made it plain to him […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 10: Chapter IIISummary and Analysis Book 10: Chapter II
Summary When Waymarsh appears before Strether “in the small slippery salle-a-manger,” Strether is struck by a change in Waymarsh’s appearance, a change for the better and no doubt accomplished with Sarah’s aid. Indeed, Waymarsh’s manner indicates to Strether that something important is about to happen, and the answer comes when […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 10: Chapter IISummary and Analysis Book 10: Chapter I
Summary Chad hosts a large, elaborate party to present to Sarah his whole society, hoping to impress upon her the fact that he is a “gentleman” in Paris in his own right. Chad has treated Sarah beautifully, but Strether doubts whether she is softening at all. He knows one thing […]
Read more Summary and Analysis Book 10: Chapter I