The chapter opens with the narrator lamenting the fact that his family has been living in poverty for so long. He laments that his grandfather, who opened up a park in the area, is now dead. The narrator laments his grandfather's death, but he also laments the death of his son, who is the heir to the family fortune. He feels that he has been too friendly with the boy, who has gone crazy, and that the boy's family is deserving of pity. He wonders if the girl is going to be the next head of the family, and he wonders if he will be able to lead the family in the future.