This is a significant chapter with respect to the characterization of Brett. First, we learn from the concierge in Jake's building (a harsh judge of character, apparently) that Brett is nice and well-bred. By contrast, after sending the Count out for champagne, Brett seems somewhat insensitive to Jake's pain; she says that if they lived together, she'd cheat on him. (At least she's honest.) "It's my fault," Brett says. "It's the way I'm made." Brett allows the ashes from her cigarette to drop on Jake's carpet; when he notices, she blames him for not leaving an ashtray out. "You're always drinking, my dear," the Count says later. Again, Hemingway is using the dialogue of one character to characterize another.
After dinner, the Count (who is unaware of Jake's sexual handicap) suggests that Jake and Brett marry, thus confirming our suspicions that they are meant for each other. And at the end of the evening, at the club where it is subtly implied that Brett had an affair with one of the black musicians, she tells Jake that she feels miserable. She stops him from kissing her, tells him not to "come up" (note the cruel humor on Hemingway's part), and finally says, "I won't see you again." Apparently their inability to consummate their love hurts Brett nearly as much as it does Jake.
