Winston strikes a deal with Mr. Charrington, owner of the junk shop where Winston bought the diary and the glass paperweight, to rent the upstairs room for his affair with Julia. Waiting for Julia, Winston recognizes a song that a prole woman below his window is singing—a popular song written by a versificator—a machine that writes songs with no human intervention. He muses on the folly of taking the room and what it will eventually mean—capture and death.
Julia arrives, bringing Inner Party luxuries: real coffee, sugar, bread, jam, and tea. Julia paints her face with make-up and puts on perfume, all illegal items. Winston and Julia make love and fall asleep. After waking, Julia notices a rat poking its head through a hole near the baseboard. Winston reveals that he’s afraid of rats, and Julia comforts him, promising to fix the hole. Winston begins the nursery rhyme that Mr. Charrington taught him a few weeks back, and Julia mysteriously finishes most of the verse—something her grandfather taught her. Winston looks at the glass paperweight and muses about it and what it symbolizes for himself, Julia, and their life together.
