Chapter 2, The Gastein Journal, Section 5 Summary

The next evening the couple decides to take a walk, though they want to have tea first. When the Japanese maid enters, the woman notices she has been crying and asks why. The maid explains that she had become friends with Lionheart, who died in the landslide. She shows the couple a book of Lionheart's poems, in which he had included a translation of one of the maid's poems.

On their walk, the couple stops by a spring near a convent to make love. A nun comes to the spring to wash linens for Father Marek and other Catholics' burials, and the woman is embarrassed. The nun explains they have nothing to fear, because the water washes away sins. She finishes her washing, as the couple has sex.

The couple continues on to the top...