Chapter 2 Summary

Newland Archer does not welcome the sudden attention directed at the box in which May sits. He, as decent manners dictate, does not care to draw negative attention towards them or do anything to invite gossip. The new arrival, Countess Ellen Olenska, has already created much gossip, and he does not want any additional marks against the family he was to marry into. Ellen is May's cousin. She married a foreign French Count, but had recently left him and returned to America to take refuge with her family. It is said that Ellen's husband was an awful man, who treated her very badly. It is also said that Ellen ran away with his secretary.

Fleeing with her husband's secretary was an unforgivable act. Additionally, it is not acceptable that this woman not return to her husband, for a married woman is obligated to...