Summary

Chapter 4 opens with Mary Datchet, a 25-year-old woman, preparing one of her rooms for a meeting. As she waits for people to arrive, she begins to darn a pair of stockings and reflects on how much she enjoys being alone. Ralph Denham soon knocks on her door, and the two friends discuss the kind of meeting to be held at her room tonight. William Rodney, a poet and intellectual, will be presenting a paper on Elizabethan literature. Denham asks Mary who will be there, and when Mary mentions Katherine Hilbery’s name Denham gets noticeably excited. Mary tells him that she has heard Katherine is going to marry William Rodney, which Denham finds surprising.

The guests arrive and the meeting begins. Rodney reads his paper but fumbles frequently over his words and tells Katherine afterward that he has embarrassed himself. While Rodney is...