Chapter 4 (sections i-iv) Summary

Two and a half years after the stock market crash, Isabel and her family are living in Elliott's Paris apartment. Maugham, in Paris on other business, stops by for tea. It has been ten years since Maugham has seen Isabel, but she has not lost her beautiful features. In fact, she has lost weight and is even more beautiful. While waiting for her husband to return from golf, Maugham meets Isabel's children, eight-year-old Joan and six-year-old Priscilla. Isabel tells Maugham that the years after the crash were difficult but that she would have stayed on the South Carolina farm if not for Gray. Asked if she regrets not marrying Larry, Isabel tells Maugham that Gray has been a wonderful husband and very kind to her and the children. When Gray arrives, Maugham is taken aback by the contrast in...