Summary

Part II of the novel opens from the perspective of Mr. Osmond as he looks out onto the landscape of Italy at his home in Bellosguardo. He awaits the arrival of his sister, the Countess Gemini. When she arrives, the Countess is weary as she expects to be punished for telling his wife, Isabel, that he has had an affair with Madame Merle for the last twenty years. The Countess “could not understand why should be afraid of [her brother] still; she was a grown woman, after all,” yet she heeded his call quickly (187).

Sitting down to tea, the siblings quibble over “home truths,” and Mr. Osmond says that he has something to discuss with his sister. She becomes nervous, yet her brother only calls on his daughter, Pansy. The docile girl sits down to tea with them and Mr. Osmond tell the...