Section 4 Summary

The protagonist remembers his first evening with Kathleen. They are seated in her home in Paris. There are two cups on the table before them, but neither of them drinks. She asks him to tell her about himself. She says she wants to know him. He tells her he doesn't want to talk about himself, and if he did she would only hate him. This triggers a memory in him of a voyage he took to South America after the war.

The protagonist is standing on the deck of a ship alone, one night, staring at the sea. He wants to jump in and drown, but he is interrupted by a stranger. The stranger stands next to him in the dark and starts a conversation. Despite the protagonist's ill humor and his obvious desire to be alone, the stranger stays with him. The...