This chapter opens with a soliloquy by the Governess, in which she says that everything she does is meaningless and that she needs her husband by her side. She says that she just needs him "by my side" and that if he is not nice to her, it is fine. She tells him to be rational and not to do anything that is meaningless. She asks him to pull her along. He tells her that everything he is doing is meaningless, and that he just needs her by his side. He asks her to make a dish of chicken soup and tells her to taste it. He says that he only made his share of the soup, but that he does not want to get fat. He also says that if she is a plump woman, no one would seduce her. He adds that he will kill him if he dares to do so. He goes on to say that he would have married her if she were a woman. He compares him to a gentler man who is more considerate and attentive than she is. He feels great and says that after seven years, she is sick of him.