Clive has the flu shortly before qualifying as a barrister and is still recovering when he visits the Halls a few weeks later; he is irritable during the meal, and eventually grows dizzy and faints. Maurice unthinkingly kisses him while loosening his collar; after helping Clive to bed and calling for a doctor, Maurice asks his mother not to mention the kiss to anyone else.

The doctor examines Clive and assures the Halls that he’s only suffering a minor relapse, but Maurice is unconvinced, and annoyed by the doctor’s recommendation that they hire a nurse. He goes to Clive’s room, helping him to the chamber pot when he wakes. This upsets Clive; Maurice says he doesn’t mind, but Clive says he’d rather have a nurse. The two argue, and Clive falls back asleep.

Maurice tries to call for Ada but finds that she’s fallen asleep downstairs. He wakes her, and she says their mother told her to wait up for the nurse: “[T]he nurse mustn’t be let in by a man—it wouldn’t look well” (108). Maurice dismisses her concerns and returns upstairs.