- Maria invites Strether to the theatre. He'd be delighted. She invites Waymarsh, too, but he decides not to come, saying that he's totally over going to plays (why watch a show when you can try on fancy rings?).
- Before hitting up the theatre, Maria and Strether have dinner together at a fancy, dare we say romantic, restaurant. Strether remembers going to the theatre in the States with his fiancée, Mrs. Newsome. But they never went out for a romantic dinner beforehand.
- This is all new to him, and the sight of Maria and the fragrances in the air are almost overwhelming. We know, it's like he's going to burst into song. But he doesn't, because he's too busy noticing that Maria's dress is way more low-cut than anything Mrs. Newsome would ever wear.
- Then he realizes that no woman ever has had dinner with him before going out to a play. And yeah, that makes him think about how he's wasted his life.
- Come to think of it, Lewis Lambert Strether and J. Alfred Prufrock might actually be the same dude.
- We also learn at this point that Strether is a widower. He lost his wife many years ago, and ten years after his wife's death, he lost his only son. So at least he's got a reason to have a tough time enjoying life.
- He tells Maria about his mission to bring back Chad. Maria understands the situation, but asks how the Newsome family can be so sure that Chad has changed for the worse since moving to Europe. After all, none of them have actually seen or talked to him since the move.
- Strether goes all Woollett on her and says he can't really understand how someone could be improved by moving away from a family as moral and wholesome as the Newsomes. Hello, moral judgment. He says he's definitely sure that whoever Chad is involved with must be a terrible woman.
- Maria asks Strether what Chad is like, and Strether answers that he's a stubborn, ignorant young man who's to selfish to realize that he's worrying his mother to death with all of his evil adventures. Sounds pretty stick-up-his-Massachussetts to us.
- Maria finally asks Strether what his fiancée, Mrs. Newsome, is like. Well, the truth's the truth: they're about the same age so she's no spring chicken in the looks department. But he admires her for her grace and intelligence. Nice save, Streth.
- He admits that her daughter Sarah can be tough to get along with. In fact, he admits that he is a little bit afraid of her. Boy, this is like gold for the gossip column.
- Maria asks why Mrs. Newsome hasn't come to get Chad herself, but Strether says that Mrs. Newsome is almost an invalid who can't leave the house because she's not in great health. Like we said, no spring chicken.
- Don't forget, this is in 1903 so airports didn't have moving walkways yet. In fact, the first successful airplane got airborne that very year, so they weren't so much doing commercial flights yet.
- Back to the convo: Maria has also begun to wonder how Strether is funding his trip if he's not so successful back in America. She ventures a guess that dear Mrs. Newsome has a lot of money. Not to be forward, or anything.
- Lo and behold, Strether confirms that his fiancée is quite wealthy, and that Chad will be too if he comes home to manage the family business. But he adds that things are at a crossroads. If Chad wants to make a lot of money and run the business, it has to be right away.
- Basically, the family is done waiting for him. If he doesn't hightail it back, they'll hand the management of the business to someone else.
- Maria, not batting a lash about her nosiness, asks where the Newsomes' money comes from. Strether gets a little shy about this and says that they've made all of their money by manufacturing a certain type of everyday object that he won't name. Why he won't name it, Maria asks? Strether says it's a fairly embarrassing thing to talk about.
- As readers, we should all be racking our brains wondering what object Strether could possibly be talking about. Strether says it's a "small, trivial, rather ridiculous object" (2.1.67). So like, a plunger? Mops? The 1903 version of tampons? What could it be?
- Like us, Maria tries a few guesses, but Strether tells her she's not even close. He says he'll tell her the next time they meet. But for now, he just wants to enjoy the theatre and not think about the unnamed object.
- This thing must be really weird. Or at least, people in that era were.
- Now Maria wants to know why Strether wouldn't take over the business without Chad around. Strether says he isn't really the business type. Instead, he's the editor of a small magazine that Mrs. Newsome funds, sort of as a charity project. So Strether is pretty much totally in her debt.
- Strether admits that having his name on the cover of this magazine as an editor is a tiny bit of compensation for all of the hopes and dreams he feels haven't come true in his life. Single tear.
- Returning to the subject of Chad, Strether says that the young man ignores all letters from his family. No wonder he gets such a bad rap. That's why he (Strether) has come over to get him personally.
- Maria suggests that one of two things has probably happened to Chad: he's either become a terrible man or he's become more refined. Strether has never even considered this second possibility and finds it absurd.
- Strether also mentions that Chad's family wants to bring him home so they can marry him off to a virtuous young woman named Mamie Pocock, the sister-in-law of Chad's sister, Sarah.
- Pocock?
- Strether says that Mamie is much admired back in Woollett and is a very pretty and refined girl. He believes that Mamie will be able to save Chad's soul.
- Maria has a sudden revelation, and she says that she thinks Strether is too good for the people around him. He dismisses this because the dude just can't take a compliment. Or is kind of in denial.
- When the evening is over, Strether puts Maria into a cab (the horse and carriage kind). He asks if he can ride with her, but she refuses. Ah, the wonderful dance of flirting… not that Strether would ever admit to himself that this is what he's doing.