Chapter 3 (sections i-ii) Summary

Maugham tells the reader that for ten years after Isabel and Larry's breakup, he has seen neither. He asked Elliott, who he still saw frequently, about Larry, but while some people remember seeing him or meeting him, no real news was heard from him. Maugham also looked for Larry when he visited Paris, going to the restaurants and neighborhoods Larry used to frequent. Maugham then tells the reader what happened after Larry's breakup through the words of Larry, who, Maugham says, told him the story years later. Maugham says he is relating the story now because it better fits in with the story chronologically.

Larry, now assuming the narrator position, tells Maugham that he leaves Paris because he is tired of books and is ready for something new. He leaves for a coal-mining town in northern France near the...