Chapter 8, Part 2 Summary

Claude informs Christine that he has heard of Madame Vanzade's death and that she left her loyal servants well off in her will. He suggests to Christine that she is now sorry that she had given it all up to be with him. Christine is shocked at Claude's suggestion that she might have been after Madame Vanzade's money, although she weeps at the thought that life holds nothing in store for her now as Claude drifts away from her. Claude consoles her by suggesting that it was she who discovered his picture for him. Instead of making Christine feel better, it only reminds her that she is playing second fiddle to a painting. Jacques, constantly neglected, is pictured falling asleep on his picture book, his enormous head marking him as the flawed offspring of a genius. Bowing to convention and wishing...