- Archer spends all the next day at the office, so he doesn't see May until they leave for a dinner given by the van der Luydens. After discussing the Beauforts's ruin and Ellen's questionable visit to Regina Beaufort, the dinner party goes off to see Faust at the opera.
- At the opera house, Archer notices that his wife is wearing her bridal satin, which many brides wear for the first year or two of marriage in New York.
- Archer goes to his wife's box and tells her that he has a headache and would like to return home.
- When they return home, his wife tears her dress on the carriage step as she is stepping out.
- Once inside, Archer begins to confess to his wife about his feelings for Madame Olenska, but he only gets as far as saying Madame Olenska's name when May announces that Madame Olenska has already left town, that she's gone to Washington, D.C., to pack up and move to Paris, with Mrs. Manson Mingott's approval.
- Archer is astonished. May shows Archer a letter Ellen wrote to her, and Archer breaks out laughing.
- May announces that she has a headache too and goes to bed.