The chapter opens with a description of the situation at the Stockyards. It's clear that the company's stock price has fallen since the acquisition of Abbey's father's company, and that the stock has fallen even more since the purchase of the company by her father. The narrator tells us that it's because of this that he left the company. He says that after he left, he found that everything in the world was its own color. He tells the story of how he thought that Abbey was a student and that he could use her, but he didn't realize how naive she was. He asks the office to let him stay in their spare room for the night.