In this chapter, we are introduced to a young woman named Jane Sitt, who has come to visit her grandparents. She is a descendant of the Sitt family, and she tells her grandfather that she is not getting married because she does not want to be associated with a woman who does not share her family's values. She explains that she was born into a family like hers, and her fate was set at the beginning of her life. She says that if she spends her life "exchangering interests," she will not be happy. She asks her son how long their marriage will last, and he says that he wanted to make her miserable by marrying her because of her death, but she wants to know when she can regain her freedom.