In this chapter, we learn that Mr. Lorry has promised Madame Pernelle that he will do everything in his power to win her hand in marriage. After all, he's promised her that he'll do his best to make her happy. He's also promised that he won't hurt her feelings by giving her gifts that aren't appropriate for a woman of her social class . He finally confesses that he loves her, but he hasn't been able to get her to accept his love because she's rejected all of his gifts. He says that he gave her a dumbbell on May Day and a suckling pig on Christmas, but that she rejected his gifts every time. He asks why he brought him to the city, and he says that when he saw a girl cry, he wanted to take her away from the city so that she wouldn't have to worry about him anymore. He doesn't know what he was talking about, but it's clear that he was trying to escape the city. He tells her that there's been a lot of change in the city since he arrived, and that he can't go back to his old life now that a destructive earthquake is about to hit the city