The chapter opens with a flashback to a conversation between Alphonse and his mother. The narrator says that he is confused by the fact that his son is following his father instead of the two of them. He is worried that the boy's "attachment" to his father is as strong as his own. He asks his mother if she likes her son, and she replies that she does. He then asks his father if he will be able to stay with them for a few days after they are married, and the narrator says he will. He tells his father that if he does not give him three houses, he will give up. When the narrator asks if his son will be lonely after his marriage, his father says that it is possible, but that he will have to prepare for his interview. He also asks his son if he would like to go back to his mother's house and sleep with her the next day. He says he would, but he wants to know if he likes his father, and if he is happy with his house and his sleep together. When his mother says that she likes him, he says he does, and he asks her if she would like him to come back to her house the following day. She says yes, and they agree that he would be happy to stay there. She then asks him if he thinks that his loneliness will be as great as his love for her. When he says that, she says that if she does not answer his question, she will not answer him. She asks her father to give her three houses so that she can stay with him for a day, and then she will give him up. She tells him that she is confused about whether she should answer him or not, and that he said he would not answer her question if she did not answer it. She adds that she was not going to tell him that he did not talk to her all here, because she heard him talking to himself, and her legs hurt from