Part 1, Chapters 7-12 Summary

In 1935, H.H. decides for his own safety to marry and selects Valeria, a cubist artist. They marry and move into a rented apartment for a laugh-filled nuptial night. In 1939, H.H.'s American uncle bequeaths him money on the condition he live in the US and attend to his business. When H.H. announces the move, Valeria lclaims her passport is not in order and then announces she has another man. He asks for the man's name. It is a taxi driver, ex-colonel from Russia. The colonel waits to carry Valeria's belongings out, giving H.H. no chance to hurt her. H.H. learns later that the couple, by then both corpulent, moves to California and takes part in an odd experiment by an American ethnologist. Valeria dies in childbirth in 1945.

Another world war begins before H.H...