The chapter opens on the island of Ganymede, where Madame Bovary is staying. She is still sober, but she does not resist the temptation to go back to the mainland with her husband. She tells him that she is exhausted by her training, and that she cannot bear to leave him alone. She asks him if he can come back with her, and he tells her that there are some cooks on the other side of the island who can cook for them. He tells her to ask the other man if he would like to visit the island, and she says that she would not want to go because the two islands were at midnight, and the two are separated. He says that if he wants to visit, he can ask the island's owner to take him there at night