It's been a long time since we've seen the narrator, and now he's back on his feet. He's feeling a bit better, but he still has a lot to say. First, he tells us that the emperor has just given Madame Bovary some attention, and it's made her forget her true identity. If the emperor makes her an emperor's concubine, she'll make nothing of the narrator as well. The next day, the emperor invites the narrator to have tea, but the narrator doesn't want to go, because he has been asked to wait outside the palace for a while. Finally, he decides to walk out on his own. He wonders if there's anyone in the palace, or if he can find someone to ask the way. He asks if anyone is there, and the narrator answers, "no." Then he asks if the narrator knows who the lady in the painting is, and if she's the wife of the prime minister's wife.