Lily awakens to find two messages at her bedside. She assumes both are related to her success from the previous evening. The first letter is from Selden, requesting to see her. She fears that Selden will once again propose marriage to her, but sends a reply consenting to meet him the following day. The second letter is from Judy, who also requests to see her that evening. The latter correspondence cheers Lily, because she misses her old friend.
When she arrives at the Trenor house that evening, she is led to Judy’s study where Trenor is waiting to speak with her. He confesses to employing duplicity in arranging the meeting—Judy is not home that evening—which angers Lily. He implores her to listen to him, and blocks the doorway with a chair so that she cannot leave. He accuses her of intentionally making him look foolish as well as taking advantage of his better nature.
Lily appeals to Trenor’s understanding of societal rules regarding a single woman visiting a man without a chaperone, but Trenor responds that he knows that she had visited Selden alone in his apartment. He tells her that he expects some type of repayment for the financial success he has brought to Lily, and she offers to repay him in kind. She also states that Trenor has done only what any true friend would do for another. He responds that he believes she must have accepted similar kindnesses from many other men. Following the insult, he tells Lily that he is “mad” about her.
As suddenly as he had become enraged, Trenor becomes resigned to Lily’s diffidence. The narrator explains his reasons for dismissing Lily: “Old habits, old restraints, the hand of inherited order, plucked back the bewildered mind which passion had jolted from its ruts.” She leaves and takes a hansom back home. On the way, she recognizes Gerty’s apartment, and decides to pay Selden’s cousin a visit.
