Bara Rani teases Bimala for dressing up for Sandip. Bimala remembers Sandip telling Nikhil that, when he first saw Bimala, she appeared demure. However, the gold trim on her sari immediately revealed to him her internal passion. Bimala herself feels reborn since Sandip’s arrival; he convinces her that she embodies “all the splendour of Bengal.” Sandip calls her “Queen Bee,” and she feels “divine strength” inside of her.

Sandip consults Bimala on political matters, but their conversations do not always involve Nikhil. With all her energy devoted to Sandip and to India, Bimala worries her marriage will suffer.

Sandip comments that he and Bimala’s kinship has drawn “foul” reactions. One day, he hears Bimala in Nikhil’s sitting room and tries to enter, but a servant, Nanku, bars him. An indignant Bimala dismisses Nanku, insisting Sandip stay with her. When Nikhil arrives to investigate the noise, Bimala tells him that Nanku insulted Sandip and must be fired. While Nikhil does reassign Nanku, the servant does not suffer a pay decrease.

Later, Bimala calls Sandip, who senses her marital trouble. Sandip recognizes an attraction between himself and Bimala, but sees it as natural and full of “Truth.” He then insults Nikhil to Bimala, claiming he tries to apply “misty” rules of poetry to nationalism, while the Cause needs followers in touch with reality and able to “respond” to it, like Bimala.

Sandip shocks Bimala by arguing that all “human relations [should] be free,” as this implies her bond with Nikhil is not sacred. Chandranath visits, causing Sandip to reflect on Nikhil’s valorization of the schoolhouse. This is a weakness because Nikhil expects the world to be orderly and elementary, while Sandip would argue that human passion makes life (and politics) much more complex.

As Sandip and Chandranath argue, Sandip celebrates the “burning at the heart” that characterizes Swadeshi. In turn, Chandranath warns Sandip not to “mistake [fervor] for work, or heroism.” When the teacher leaves, Sandip asks Nikhil about a political book. In response to the book, and Sandip’s claims, Nikhil counsels “restraint,” as passion can turn to “violence.” 

To Sandip’s chagrin, Bimala does not partake in the discussion.  Nikhil excoriates Sandip for celebrating humanity’s baser nature rather than “the beautiful in man.” Before running upstairs, Nikhil remarks that people can be “wounded” without dying and that he is “ready to suffer … with eyes open.” This indicates that he is aware of the developing relationship between Bimala and Sandip.

Bimala rushes upstairs after Nikhil, while Sandip wonders why he has not yet been banished from Nikhil’s home. He worries for Bimala but also feels that she has started down a path that she will likely not abandon. Later, Sandip removes Bimala’s picture from a frame on the wall and replaces her image with one of himself.