Mrs. Newsome Timeline and Summary

Mrs. Newsome sends Strether to Europe to pull Chad out of his evil life and bring him home. She writes to Strether constantly looking for updates. We're talking 3 to 4 letters a week, all of which are lonnnnnng. Strether spends half his day just reading and responding to them and trying to pretend he isn't doing anything too awful.
After a few weeks have gone by along these lines, Mrs. Newsome writes to ask what the hold-up is with Strether.
Strether finally lets go and tells Mrs. Newsome that he's having a great time in Paris and that Chad's new friends are wonderful.
This is, of course, the wrong answer. Mrs. Newsome's pride won't allow for the fact that Chad has improved since leaving her.
Mrs. Newsome sends her daughter, Sarah, to come to Paris and report back on what's really going on.
Once Sarah has written back, Mrs. Newsome gives Strether an ultimatum: with or without Chad, you either come back to Woollett right now or not at all. Strether says no, and his relationship with Mrs. Newsome is basically over.
Mrs. Newsome is a no-compromise kind of woman. Is Strether better off without her? Well, we don't think we'd be compromising too much to say a million percent yes.