It is almost Christmas, but Irene cannot quite get into the spirit of the season. For one, the weather is too warm, but the real underlying cause of her depression is something much more subtle and complicated. She can feel it but not quite identify it.

She arrives back home after having gone out in the hopes of losing the negative feelings that are gnawing away at her. It had not worked. She has arranged a tea party and brought flowers back. But she feels exhausted and is not looking forward to having to entertain her friends.

She goes upstairs and lies down on her bed, wondering if what is bothering her has anything to do with Brian’s wanting to move to Brazil. Irene has continued to notice that Brian seems unhappy and restless. She has, in the past, prided herself on understanding his moods—but recently she has found she is incapable of reading him. Not only is Brian distracted but he is more irritable, especially with his sons. This is not like him. It seems as if his sons get on his nerves. In contrast, Brian has been acting unusually considerate of her, which makes her suspicious. His normal manner is to be sarcastic, but she has not witnessed this side of him for weeks. Brian appears to Irene as a man marking time, waiting for something to happen. But she feels so tired of trying to figure everything out. Before she realizes it, she drops off to sleep.

When Irene wakes up several hours later, Brian is standing at the side of the bed, looking down at her. He reminds her that their guests are soon to arrive. As a matter of fact, Brian says, Clare is already downstairs. Irene sits up on the bed. She asks what Clare is doing here—she had not invited Clare on purpose. Hugh was going to be there, and Hugh did not like Clare. So Irene had omitted Clare from the list. Brian asks what is wrong with Clare and why Hugh does not like her. Irene tells him it is Clare’s lack of intelligence. Clare is pretty but does not have very much depth or substance. Brian says that Hugh’s evaluation of Clare is probably based on the man’s self-concept that he is a god. Irene argues that this is untrue; Hugh is not that pompous. She also has found that Clare is not a very profound thinker. She likens Clare to a Southern Belle—someone who dresses up and is very successful at flirting.

Brian apologizes. He tells Irene that he is the one who invited Clare. When Clare heard about the tea party, Brian said, she had been so hurt to be left out that Brian told her it must have been an oversight, so he told her to come.

Suddenly Irene makes sense of all the feelings she has recently been having. She understands where her depression is coming from; she can no longer ignore the obvious. Brian is having an affair with Clare.