Hella returns from Spain and David meets her at the train station without telling Giovanni. He feels comforted by her embrace, but there is new distance between them. David tries not to think of Giovanni when they arrive at Hella’s hotel, but she notices his hesitancy to be intimate. David acts confused about Hella’s letter, not wanting her to marry him for convenience. They realize they both yearn for a family, so David writes to his father for money for their marriage and honeymoon.

On David’s third day away from the room, he walks with Hella and discusses women’s gender expectations. They enter a bookstore and David runs into Jacques, who scorns him for abandoning Giovanni without money or food, leaving the boy to think David was hurt in an accident. Giovanni enters and is relieved to see David, but David introduces him and Jacques to Hella with an air of distance. Hella fakes an illness to escape dinner with David’s friends, and David escorts her home. Hella noticed Giovanni’s deep concern for David, and as she and David lie in bed, they talk about David’s relationship to Giovanni.