Summary

Verena goes to visit Olive as her mother suggested. Olive feels she had known with a divine certainty that she would come, as surely as she had known that, if she proceeded to take Basil with her to Miss Birdseye’s home, she was crossing a threshold and drawing some harm onto herself.

Verena wears a jacket with large gilt buttons, an outfit she thinks is remarkably attractive, but which Olive finds vulgar. Olive immediately overwhelms Verena with her passionate desire for someone with whom she might have a female “union of soul.” Verena tells Olive that perhaps she likes her too much, to which Olive agrees. Olive bluntly tells Verena that she does not want to know Mr. and Mrs. Tarrant, only their daughter. Verena thinks that Olive wants her to give up her speaking, but Olive definitely does not. Verena wonders later that she was not afraid of Olive’s obvious obsessions, especially when Olive asks her to come to live with her. Verena states that she must stay with her parents, although she is obviously fascinated with Olive’s opulent lifestyle and wealth. Olive persists, creating visions for Verena of pleasant evenings at home, learning German and reading Goethe together. As she makes this proposal, Basil Ransom enters.

At Basil’s entrance, Verena announces that, since another guest has arrived, she must go. Basil is exceptionally pleased to find himself once again in Verena’s presence. He begs her to stay, attempting to draft Olive into his plea. He asks her if she, as a member of the women’s rights movement, flees before the “individual male.” Verena states that she likes him as an “individual.” The two begin to discuss the tenets of the movement, with Basil claiming that women have always been at the bottom of everything in history, although Verena argues that women want to be at the top. He attempts to point out that many, if not most, wars have significantly involved women. Verena proposes that the two of them ought to go on the speaker’s stage together, as “poison and antidote.”

Basil asks to see her again, and Verena vaguely invites him to visit her in her home. But since Basil is returning to New York the next day, he asks her to come to speak in New York. Verena says she would like to speak in the biggest city. Olive, somewhat on the sidelines, decides that it is best that Verena leave to get her away from Basil. She escorts Verena to the door to catch the next trolley home. As Basil is left alone, Mrs. Luna (Olive’s sister) enters the room and wonders what he is doing there alone. He explains about Verena and, when Olive re-enters the room, Mrs. Luna asks her about the girl. The explanation being given, Mrs. Luna asks if Verena will become a public figures, such as Mrs. Farrinder. When Olive wonders that such a voice should be hushed, Mrs. Luna insists that she thinks Verena ought to remain apart from the public. Mrs. Luna escorts Basil as he leaves. Basil asks her why Olive wrote him to come to visit her if she did not like him. Mrs. Luna replies that Olive wanted him to know Mrs. Luna herself.

Analysis

The points of conflict begin to build in intensity, as Olive Chancellor makes her obsessions evident to Verena Tarrant. Verena, as the young innocent, is a bit overwhelmed by Olive’s ardor. She assumes that such affection must be common in Olive's upper-class world. Verena is intrigued by the wealthy lifestyle, but is ignorant of its subtle requirements. Evidence of...