The governess asks the boy when he is going to return home for the New Year's Eve celebration. The governess tells him to call his father before coming home, as there are things he can't discuss with his uncle. She tells the boy that he should tell his father what is going on when it is still early in the morning, so that he doesn't have to worry about it too much. He tells her that when he was born, he was a surgeon and that nine out of 10 of his colleagues were single. He says that he still loves his father and wonders why he hasn't been able to tell him anything. He asks his father why he didn't tell him sooner, and his father says that it's because he's a young man and that he has to keep a secret.