Chapters XIV and XV Summary

The night arrives for the dinner party and Lapham waits anxiously on the landing in front of the Coreys' drawing room for Irene and Persis to come down from upstairs. Tom meets Lapham outside the drawing room, just as the ladies are coming down. He is visibly disturbed that Penelope is not with them, but does not ask questions.

Lapham's major mistake at dinner is drinking the wine offered to him even though he is unaccustomed to it. They talk pleasantly about the house that Lapham is building. The conversation moves about from topic to topic until a popular novel of the time, Tears, Idle Tears, is discussed. While most of the guests believe the novel is wonderful with its self-sacrificing hero and heroine, the minister believes it is this type of novel that ruins good people...