Hilde thinks about what she just learned about Freud and the unconscious. She opens herself up to the randomness of her imagination and finds herself able to visualize Sophie and Alberto at the cabin and almost feeling as if she is there with them. She ponders the possibility that her father is allowing himself to freely associate the rest of the story and that he too does not yet know how it ends. When she finally falls asleep, she has the same dream Sophie had when Sophie saw Hilde on the dock as her father arrived home. In the dream, Sophie had attempted to talk to Hilde, but Hilde did not hear her. However, when Hilde had the dream, she did hear Sophie and realized who was talking. Now awake, Hilde begins reading again and finds Sophie on her way home from the cabin. Sophie is acting in all sorts of silly ways to keep the major’s attention. She gets to a French café to meet Alberto, and Alberto arrives fashionably late.

She and Alberto begin discussing philosophy of their own century, including existentialism inspired by Hegel and Marx, Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) criticisms of religion, and French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre (1905-1980) and his partner Simone de Beauvoir.