John Grady starts to ride the horse bareback, just after breeding, and one day, coming out of the barn this way, he spots Alejandra on her Arab down the road. She stops and turns, asking to ride the stallion.
John Grady does what Alejandra asks and takes her Arabian horse back to Armando's, while she rides the stallion alone. Before she takes another trip to Mexico City, he sees her riding down from the mountains in the rain, and, to John Grady, she looks real and yet also like a dream.
While Alejandra is away, her great-aunt asks John Grady to play chess with her. They play on a board of circassian walnut and birdseye maple inlaid with pearl. The chess pieces are made of ivory and black horn. John Grady plays well against the old woman. They play late, and when tea is served he takes his black. On refusing the cake, crackers, and cheese, he says he'd "have crazy dreams eatin this late." She then discusses dreams with him and tells how she lost the last two fingers on her handin a shooting accident, and she comments on the scar on his face and guesses, correctly, that he got it from a horse. She says, "Scars have the strange power to remind us that our past is real."
She informs him that Alejandra will be at the ranch for the summer, after a two-week stay in Mexico City. Then she talks about convention and the position of women, especially in Latin society. She tells him that she is the one who will get to say, and he responds that she didn't have to invite him just to tell him that. But she has the last word with, "It was because of that I almost didn't invite you."
In the next scene, he is discussing that evening with Rawlins, when they are camped under the stars. Rawlins asks him if he has eyes for the girl and the spread. To the latter John Grady does not know, but of Alejandra he says he can talk to her. Rawlins warns him that just because Rocha likes him doesn't mean he wants him for his daughter. Rawlins is worried they will get run off from the place. Also, John Grady is not sure if he has given his word to the great-aunt about what she asked. Here again there are class and culture clashes. The great-aunt has not asked John Grady anything specifically. She has said, "Here a woman's reputation is all she has." She has said, "I am the one who gets to say." Most of what she says implies some threat and a desire to protect Alejandra. But exactly what she wants either of the young people to do is quite unclear. The scene ends with John Grady saying she didn't have to invite him and the great-aunt says, "You're quite right." No wonder John Grady is confused and Rawlins is irritated.
