Summary

At their next meeting, Verena states that she is now ready to promise Olive that she will not marry. However, Olive has now changed her mind about forcing a promise out of Verena, and tells her that she is going through a phase now, when young men might show an interest in her. It is up to Verena to decide what she wants for her future as far as matrimony is concerned. Olive does not want to make the choice for her own sake. Although she believes that the two of them are called to service, just as celibate priests are, she will leave that decision up to Verena. Verena is impressed with Olive’s speech and states that she could sway audiences if she would just let herself go. But Olive cannot do that, and so is content with being in the background. In the end, Verena promises that she will not marry any of the three men that were at her home, but Olive simply asks her not to marry someone she does not like.

After some time has passed, Olive is subjected to a visit from Mr. Pardon. She is offended that a man would come to her door without first requesting permission to see her. She does not like the reporter, whose business it is to bring the private out before the public. Mr. Pardon has come to see her in hopes that the two of them may join forces in managing Verena’s career as a public speaker. Olive is cynical and asks Mr. Pardon how much money he thinks he can make out of the deal. Mr. Pardon states that he can make thousands for Verena, considering that her career may last at least ten years. At Olive’s question as to how much he thinks he can make for himself, he says that he is simply interested in emancipating women worldwide. Olive tells him in no uncertain terms that she is not interested and shows him to the door. He makes threats that as a magazine writer he may make her unpopular in the eye of the public. She is not worried about what a man may say about her, believing that disparaging her reputation will only serve to make her a martyr.

A week later, Verena tells Olive that Mr. Pardon proposed marriage to her, and that she had refused him. She tries to tell Olive how much she is giving up, since Mr. Pardon spoke to her of how, with she as his wife and him as her manager, she would be famous and they would travel across the country.

Mr. Burrage has come frequently to the Tarrant home in Cambridge. He speaks of his many collections that he has gathered from Europe. He invites her and Olive to his apartments to see them. Olive refuses, suggesting that Mrs. Tarrant might go instead. She does so, and Verena tells how much her mother admired Mr. Burridge. But it is Olive that Verena wants to go with her, for the reason of giving her opinion of the suitability of Mr. Burrage as someone whom it is appropriate for Verena to know. Seeing that Verena is sincerely interested in the young man, Olive does so after she receives and invitation from Mr. Burrage himself, requesting her to visit when his mother comes from New York. Olive is impressed with his piano playing, and struggles to remember that she does not like him. On the way home, the two women discuss whether it would not be better to just forget the injustices that men have perpetrated...