The chapter opens with the narrator's birthday party. The narrator asks his wife to leave everything to her servant. He wants to celebrate his birthday by buying her a present for her husband, but she doesn't want to ask him what he wants. She's married, so she doesn1t know what to ask her husband. The chapter continues with the news that the law is involved in a corruption case. The father of the law has been accused of accepting bribes, but the law continues to deny him the charge. The mayor of the city is also involved in the case, but he denies accepting bribes. The news of the mayor's father's involvement in the bribery case reminds the narrator that he is a politician. He is not interested in the whole political party, he is interested only in the party of his own choice. He wonders if this is a "nasty conspiracy." The news about the mayor and his son-in-law reminds him of a political marriage between a professor and a daughter of the pharmaceutical company. The professor's wife is said to be his chief mourner. The rumor that the mayor is in collusion with this dead man has been spreading in the city.