- New scene: Chad and Strether are sitting next to each other again, but this time it's in Madame de Vionnet's drawing room. Without hesitating, Chad glances at his watch and says, "Hey, I totally need to be somewhere." So he gets up and leaves Strether alone in de Vionnet's house.
- Strether is surprised to find that this doesn't really surprise or scare him, in spite of his previous afraid-in-a-strange-way stuff. He can sense that he's changing, becoming less anxious and more confident in his social abilities while he's in Paris. And he likes the feeling quite a bit.
- The first thing Madame de Vionnet tells Strether is that she doesn't believe that Strether has faith in his mission to bring Chad home, but that she'll agree to talk to him as if he does. She doesn't lose points for candor, that's for sure.
- At first, Strether is pretty hostile because it's more or less his duty not to like Madame de Vionnet. But she asks if he's willing to pretend that they do get along, and he finally agrees because he promised Chad he'd keep an open mind.
- They spend the next ten minutes talking around one another and saying how charming they find each other. But neither one really says anything concrete. Finally, Madame de Vionnet makes the first jab and asks Strether if Mrs. Newsome has dumped him. Strether automatically responds, "Not yet," which definitely suggests he has some commitment issues.
- She also adds that she thinks Strether might be happier if he just stayed in Paris. He dodges the statement and keeps talking around the point.
- He wants to learn something concrete that he can report back to Mrs. Newsome. Madame de Vionnet advises him to just tell Mrs. Newsome everything he's seen. The trouble is, though, that Strether's looking for something negative to report on and hasn't found it yet. He knows Mrs. Newsome will find it suspicious if he only writes back about good things.
- Strether finally admits that he finds de Vionnet's daughter very charming and attractive. Again, Madame de Vionnet tells him to say so to Mrs. Newsome, but he repeats that he can't possibly say this in a letter.
- Strether ends the conversation by telling de Vionnet that he'll "save her" if he can. She doesn't know what he means by this, and neither does he. Yup, typical cliffhanger for our buddy James.