Lily leaves Trenor and is confronted by Selden. She remarks that she envies Gerty's ability to romanticize what Selden must perceive as the garish and ostentatious wedding gifts. She continues: "I have never recovered my self-respect since you showed me how poor and unimportant my ambitions were." He responds that his purpose was to prove that "they were more important to you than anything else."
The exchange is interrupted by Trenor and Rosedale. When she appears ready to snub him, Rosedale reminds her of the lie she told him in Chapter I by commenting on her dress and asking if she had it made at the fictional dressmaker shop in the Benedick. She allows Rosedale to accompany her for a lemonade, and the man struts like a peacock in the presence of the beautiful Lily. She employs Rosedale as an escort into the conservatory, where she intends to discover the truth about the engagement of Gryce and Evie. She encounters Evie's mother, Mrs. Van Osburgh, who confides that the couple is engaged.
At the beginning of Chapter IX, Lily's aunt, Mrs. Peniston, returns home, and Lily weighs the advantages of staying with either her or the Trenors for the fall. She opts to stay with Mrs. Peniston to avoid the indebtedness to Trenor.
Upon the opening of Mrs. Peniston's house, Lily once again encounters the cleaning woman she saw at the Benedick. This time, Lily is rude to the woman. The cleaning woman, Mrs. Haffen, later tells Lily that she and her husband have been dismissed from the Benedick, and that she has letters addressed to Selden that she is willing to sell to Lily. Lily realizes that Mrs. Haffen believes that the letters were written by Lily when, in fact, they were written by Bertha. Lily purchases the letters, intending to destroy them.
Mrs. Peniston presses Lily for details of the Stepney–Van Osburgh wedding, telling Lily that she has heard that Bertha is taking credit for the match between Gryce and Evie. Lily retires to her room, where she places the letters from Bertha to Selden in a box for future use.
