Em and Gregory have been avoiding each other since ending the engagement, but they accidentally meet in the pantry. Gregory hopes that they can be friends and asks Em where he might find Lyndall.

Lyndall is out on the kopje (hill), and Gregory asks her why she dislikes him. She implicitly replies that he sees himself as master over women. She expounds on the many kinds of love before talking of an erotic, passionate love in detail—knowing that this is what Gregory wants to hear. Gregory tries to provoke her into denouncing Waldo as “soft” and useless, but she will not. She says that he will one day blossom, whereas Gregory chases after the unattainable. Gregory then asks Lyndall to describe Em: Em is the much better person, Lyndall declares, even as Gregory protests. Lyndall agrees to marry Gregory if he agrees to only serve her: to give her his name and ask for nothing in return. He pledges his loyalty to her.

That night, Em tells Lyndall that she had a dream about a dead baby belonging to Lyndall. She forgives Lyndall for the arrangement with Gregory; she knows that it is not Lyndall’s fault.