- Now we find Strether back at his hotel having some grub with Waymarsh, who's being stern as usual. But Strether doesn't mind so much because, glory be, he's just had the most wonderful adventure.
- He picks up his story where we left off, and tells Waymarsh about what happened after he saw the young man looking down at him from Chad's apartment.
- It turns out that the young man let Strether in and brought him up to the apartment. Yeah, not as exciting as the murder version. Anyway, Strether's blown away even just remembering all the beautiful things that were in the apartment.
- It turns out that the young man is a starving artist named Bilham who's a friend of Chad's. Chad is out of town at the moment, and he has lent his apartment to Bilham while he's gone because Bilham really appreciates the opportunity to live in a rich friend's home for a bit.
- We're skeptical. As for our pal Strether, he doesn't necessarily trust the guy at first, but soon warms up to him.
- Waymarsh only wants the juicy details, so he comes right out and asks if Chad is living in his apartment with a woman. Strether can only say that he doesn't know. He also doesn't know if Chad has taken a woman with him on his trip or whether he'll come back with one.
- So Waymarsh just gets frustrated and asks what the heck Strether does know after his trip to Chad's pad.
- Strether closes the story by mentioning that he's been invited to breakfast by the Bilham guy. Waymarsh can't believe that Strether would even entertain the idea of dining with such immoral people. But Strether reminds Waymarsh that they don't actually know anything about these people.
- At this point, Strether tells Waymarsh what his deal actually is: if he gets Chad to come home with him, Mrs. Newsome (aka his meal ticket) will marry him. If he fails, he might lose his sugar mama.
- The next morning, Strether gets ready to head to breakfast with Bilham. Waymarsh says it's a dumb idea, but since he doesn't have any other friends, he begrudgingly comes along.
- At breakfast, Strether and Waymarsh sit down in Chad's apartment with Bilham and a young woman named Miss Barrace. Strether immediately suspects that this woman might be the one who's living with Chad and turning him against his family, because hey, he'll pretty much suspect any lady at this point.
- Strangely enough, Miss Barrace takes a shining to Waymarsh. She thinks he's a wonderful specimen of a stereotypical American.
- By the way, that's nothing like today's stereotypical American. Back in those days, everyone thought of Americans as stuck-up prudes.
- During the meal, Strether notes that Miss Barrace and Bilham don't have the best table manners. But he doesn't really care because he's fascinated by the fact that they don't. They seem to not really mind what other people think of them, and this is astounding to Strether.
- Like we said, pretty different from today's stereotypes of Americans.
- Strether is also blown away to hear these people say that Chad Newsome is pretty much the greatest guy in the world. Strether planned on coming to Paris and finding a monster. But he's getting more convinced by the minute that Chad might be a good guy with a good life.