Chapter Three, Part 24 Summary

Marion meets Arnold at a cozy restaurant and they exchange standard conversation while waiting to be seated. When Marion asks Arnold about his wife, Anita, he pauses, trying to grasp why Marion has chosen to ask about his wife and reluctantly answers her questions. He chooses not to explain much and analyzes Marion instead. Marion tells him that she is painting again and that things are going wonderfully in her life. Excited to hear that she is making progress Arnold moves into the role of psychiatrist but Marion mocks his analysis, subtly driving the point that she doesn't need him anymore.

Later, back in Marion's apartment, she looks for inspiration to sketch. Eventually she comes up a sketch of a baby going through various stages of life until womanhood, carrying the same identifiably sad expression through every phase. Marion...