Section 3 Summary

The next day the group awakens and assembles even earlier. They do so in hope that perhaps they will be allowed to leave; however, the horses remain in the stable. Lunch is very quite and has an odd mood cast upon it. The members of the group have had the night to think about the proposition made to Boule de Suif and have thus had time to reconsider their position. They seem cool toward the young woman for they had hoped that she would have become the soldier's mistress so that the rest of the group may leave. Of course, no one speaks his or her wishes out loud, but each thinks that it would really have made no difference to a woman such as Boule de Suif.

After lunch, the count proposes that the group take a walk around town. Everyone but...