The chapter opens with a soliloquy in which the narrator laments the fact that he has not been able to "apologize" to his wife for the way she has treated him in the past. He laments that his love for his wife is "deeper than anyone" , but he is proud that he loves her more deeply than anyone else. The narrator recalls that he had come to the town of his high school years, where he had been a student, and he laments how nostalgic the place is for him.