Nana disappears for many months. Rumors spread about her whereabouts, but on one July evening, Lucy Stewart tells Caroline Héquet that Nana is back from Russia, where she had been having an affair with the Russian prince. Nana’s son Louis, who had smallpox, passed it to his mother. Louis died, and Nana has fallen very ill. To everyone’s surprise, Rose Mignon, one of Nana’s chief rivals, has nursed her faithfully ever since.

In the midst of Nana’s illness, France’s legislative body has voted to go to war with Prussia, and crowds of people are gathering on the streets in a patriotic fervor. Nana’s friends hear the crowd’s shouts outside constantly as they gather at the hotel where she lies dying.

When the women arrive at the hotel, Clarisse, Simonne, Léa, and Gaga are already in Nana’s room. Mignon, Fauchery, and Fontan are in the hotel as well, but they stay downstairs, afraid of catching smallpox. Auguste urges the newly arrived women to tell Rose to come down, afraid that even if smallpox does not kill her it could give her lasting scars that would damage the couple’s earning potential. Muffat sits far away from the crowd, lost in a daze and oblivious even of the loud noises outside.