This chapter opens in the middle of the night, just as the narrator is about to go to bed. He's woken up by the sound of a horse's hoof, and he's worried about what's going to happen to him when he wakes up in the morning. He doesn't want to wake up his wife, who's already woken up, because she's so worried about him. He asks her if she knows where the house of her father is, and she tells him that she hasn't been there yet, but that she'll be back soon. This is the first time the narrator has been to the capital, he says, and it's his first time in the city. He tells her that he'll have to wait until he gets back to his house, because the house is closed for the night. He also tells her about his father, whom he calls "my father" . She's impressed, she says, because