Summary

Chapter 3

Edith Lavery is preparing for her dinner with Charles Broughton. Although not promiscuous, she has had some romantic encounters, including one year-long relationship with a well-off stockbroker that ended when he left for another woman. She had attended their wedding. Later she was involved with a man named George, who she had been attracted to physically but was "too frightful." (p. 23) At the age of 27 she is beginning to become worried that her prospects are dwindling.

Edith is not, strictly speaking, a snob, or someone only out to marry a rich man. She freely admits she would prefer to be "on the inside looking out rather than the other way round" (p. 25) but she is not ambitious about marrying someone of high rank. In a passage that foreshadows her eventual marriage to Broughton, the author writes "She was not looking for a successful...