After the accident, Moira is cleaning up after the office Christmas party while Laurence sits drinking in his office. Moira goes in to offer Laurence a whisky, and they end up kissing and making love on his desk. When Laurence returns home, Jennifer is waiting in the drawing room, bags packed. She tells him that she is leaving as “this isn’t making either of us very happy” and that she loves someone else (198). Laurence reveals that he found a letter in her bag after the accident from her lover asking her to leave Laurence and to meet at the station. The memory and identity of her lover now starts to return to Jennifer. Laurence tells her that the man died in the car crash which injured her.

Before the accident, Anthony meets with his wife and son, Phillip, to tell them he will be leaving for a new job in New York. He wants to continue communication with Phillip via letters but his wife, Clarissa, discourages him from doing so. Jennifer, having not seen Anthony since their evening at the club, finds a crucial letter from him. It says that he has resolved to leave for New York, and if she wants to join him, she should be at Paddington station at 7:15 p.