Part 2 Chapter 3 Summary

Fowler returns to his rooms in Saigon; Phuong is there. She gives him two pieces of mail: a telegram that she has opened and a letter that she has not opened. The telegram is a work assignment; the letter is from Fowler's wife in England.

His wife's tone is nasty: "You pick up women like a coat picks up dust." She goes over all the other women that Fowler has loved and dropped, and assumes Phuong will just be the next in the series. She refuses to divorce him for the good of "the girl" and also on religious grounds. Fowler lies to Phuong, telling her that his wife is willing to divorce him. He sits down to write Pyle a thank-you note for saving his life. This ends the first of three parts in this chapter.

Dominguez, a man from...