Act 1, Part 2 Summary

Rance arrives and explains that he's an inspector for the government. This makes Dr. Prentice very nervous, and he starts drinking. As Rance looks around the room, he discovers Dr. Prentice's note to Geraldine, and then he discovers Geraldine behind the screen. Dr. Prentice invents an explanation for Geraldine being there, but Rance doesn't believe him. He assumes Geraldine is insane and a patient in the asylum, and he conducts an interview in which he takes her honest answers to his increasingly bizarre questions as proof that she is crazy. During the interview, Dr. Prentice finds Geraldine a hospital gown. As she puts it on, Rance asks Dr. Prentice for his interpretation of her case. Geraldine comes out from behind the screen in the hospital gown and says that now that she has clothes on she wants to go home. Rance...