Chapter 12 Summary

Bernard has invited the Arch-Community-Songster of Canterbury, along with the Head Mistress of Eton, for a special party to meet the Savage, but John refuses to come out of his room. No amount of begging or wheedling persuades him to come out; instead, he flings Zuni curses through the closed door. Bernard has to tell his guests the Savage won't be appearing. The guests are furious. They accuse Bernard of playing a joke on them and begin talking about him, loudly and within earshot. Suddenly, Bernard is again a wretched little man who had alcohol poured in his bottle by mistake. Henry Foster tells the Arch-Community-Songster that the D.H.C. had been on the verge of transferring Bernard to Iceland.

Lenina is miserable, imagining that John won't appear because he doesn't like her. She suffers the same dreadful emptiness and nausea that...