Chapter 1 Summary

It is October, and John Marcher goes to lunch with a group of friends to Weatherend, a large, sumptuous country home where a woman of his acquaintance, May Bartram, is staying. Following lunch, there is a tour of house and grounds and the guests move about the rooms of the house, visiting in small groups. The mansion-sized house is filled with collections of unusual objects. John struggles to remember how and where he has known May, who seems to "rank in the house as a poor relation." She seems to be helping out by conducting tours and looking after the guests.

The two end up together alone in one of the many rooms in the house, not entirely accidentally. He describes her in his mind as handsome but older than he remembers.

Then he recalls where and when they had met—eight years...