Summary

Chapter 9 is set in 1917, several years into the First World War. Eleanor is travelling through London to have dinner with Maggie and her husband Réné. They have moved back from France as it has become unsafe for them. When she arrives, there is already another man there; he is introduced as Nicholas, a Polish man. The men are talking about Napoleon, and "the psychology of great men" (268). Nicholas mentions that Sara is supposed to be coming, and just as he goes to call her she enters. She tells them all how North (the son of Morris and Celia) had turned up at her house shortly before leaving for the war; she is angry at him for leaving. For the second time in the novel, Sara proceeds to get drunk.

As dinner continues, they hear the sound of an air-raid siren, followed by...