- The first words we read in this chapter are Strether telling Chad that the good times in Paris are over and that it's time to come back to Woollett. Although you can tell that Strether is having a tough time saying this.
- Chad acts as if he knows Strether was going to say this, and he just brushes it off. Instead, he asks Strether if his (Strether's) engagement to Chad's mother is a done deal yet? It's like he knows the stakes of Strether's trip and is teasing him about it.
- Then Chad comes out and says it: he knows that Strether knows that Strether had come to all the way to gay Par-ee to drag Chad back to Woolett as a big, grey-haired wedding present for Mrs. Newsome. Even though they both know that Chad is better off in Paris.
- How to react to a zinger like that?
- Always the tact-master, Strether says he's tired and would like to go to bed.
- Chad says he has more questions to ask. But Strether is pretty strict about his beddy bye time, so he tells Chad it'll have to wait. Chad has kept him waiting for days, so now it's Strether's turn to return the favor. Oh, the devious little power moves of everyday conversation.
- Chad decides to walk Strether back to his hotel so the two of them can talk on the way. While they walk, he asks Strether what kinds of details he'll be reporting back to Mrs. Newsome. He has a guess or two about what the family has probably imagined about his Paris life.
- At this moment, Strether thinks of a word that perfectly describes Chad's vibe to him—pagan. In other words, the Christian way of looking at the world is to judge everything in terms of moral goodness or badness (like the Newsomes do). But Chad is more the do-what-you-want-as-long-as-it-doesn't-hurt-anyone type.
- As they come up to Strether's hotel, Strether asks Chad if he's living with a woman. Chad doesn't give a yes or nor answer, but only asks what difference it makes. Well, kind of a lot, since Strether's from the non-pagan side of things. Basically the whole point of the trip was to find this out.
- Just to keep Strether grasping at straws, Chad says that if he wanted to go home, no woman would ever have the power to keep him in Paris.
- Yes, it's not much of an answer. But it does explain to Strether that it's Chad's choice not to come home.
- Chad says that the reason he doesn't come home is simply because he likes Paris and because Woollett is boring. This gives Strether more to think about in terms of his own life. Let the drama continue.