This chapter reveals that Edna lacks the art of flirting. This lack of flirtatiousness is ironic, given her later affair with Arobin, which is based entirely on sexual chemistry. Disinterest in coquetry aside, her burgeoning sensuality is evident to others.
Dr. Mandelet notes that Edna is no longer "the listless woman he had known" but reminds him of "some beautiful, sleek animal waking up in the sun." Note that as everyone tells stories at the dinner table, each person's story indicates some measure of the teller's personality. Léonce's tale is a superficial reminiscence of a traditional childhood, while the Colonel, as the retention of his title suggests, still strongly identifies with his role in "those dark and bitter days" of the Civil War. Desiring to instruct Edna, the doctor offers a parable of a woman's love returning her husband, a lesson that is lost on Edna.
Her tale, which she makes up on the spot, is really a description of her ideal resolution to her current situation. The elements of her story are based on her one entire day spent with Robert on the Chênière, including the fictitious disclaimer that she'd heard the story from Madame Antoine. Note that the story lacks true resolution, offering only that "a woman . . . paddled away with her lover one night in a pirogue and never came back." For Edna, this story is not about the ending; it is all about the detail — the experience rather than consequences. While the story lacks a true ending, indicating that Edna herself does not know where her love for Robert will take her, it does not lack for sensual detail. In her telling, she is able to viscerally convey to her listeners the lovers' experience: "They could feel the hot breath of the southern night, they could hear the long sweep of the pirogue through the glistening moonlit water."
