In the lobby, the colonel asks for Renata’s emeralds to be placed in the safe. After being told that the safe is not available at the moment, he decides to keep the emeralds with him. He talks to the night porter about politics; the colonel hints that the man may be “member material” for the Order, in spite of his proclaimed lack of politics. The man asks about Tito, but the colonel is hesitant to talk about the Yugoslavian leader. They part ways, and the colonel steps out into the wind.

Riding a gondola across the Grand Canal, the colonel gazes back at the open windows of his hotel room. He thinks about coats and vehicles, heading across to his favored part of the city, the part that faces the Adriatic. He studies the people, wondering which are “former Fascists.” Two young men seem to follow him. Noticing this, the colonel suspects that they dislike him and his association with the American military. He would rather avoid a fight with the “badly educated youths” and wonders about the value of a life such as his own (146). Avoiding the men, he heads to the market.

In the market, he purchases the “best sausage” to be eaten during the duck hunt the following day. He also purchases meat for the hunting dogs, though he is careful not to mention that the meat is for the dog, which the locals would consider to be a “crime.” He explores the fish on sale, including eels and shrimp. He eats several clams, splitting them open expertly with a knife. They cost little, and he pays.

Returning to the Hotel Gritti, the colonel learns from the concierge that Renata has twice called for him. The colonel returns her call and arranges to meet her for breakfast. After the call, he feels a sudden pain, “as though the devil ha[s] him in an iron cage” (152). Asking for water at the concierge’s desk, he takes double the recommended dose of his tablets and rests briefly. He requests that the emeralds be placed in the safe. Refusing to rest or sit down, he jokes about military secrets and energy crackers. The colonel exits the Gritti to meet “his true love” (154), walking carefully.

Renata arrives at the restaurant at exactly the right time. He tells her about his trip to the market as they decide to return to the Gritti for breakfast. The colonel has already eaten, but Renata is hungry. As they walk to the Gritti, they reaffirm their love, and Renata tells the colonel about her dream the previous evening, in which she was skiing at night.

At the Gritti, the Gran Maestro seats them for breakfast. They are alone in the dining room as the colonel orders for Renata the “breakfast to end all breakfasts” (157). The colonel decides to eat as well, so he orders food and more of the wine.

As they sit at the table, they watch the “early stormy light” over the Grand Canal (159). Renata explains how her mother does not like to stay in Venice for too long due to the lack of trees. Like many of the city’s aristocrats, she escapes to the country. The colonel talks about taking Renata to America to see a different type of tree. Renata has fantasies of traveling across America, imagining the country to be “the way it is in American books or in the films” (159). As the breakfast arrives, she practices her American colloquialisms with the gran maestro. After breakfast, they decide to inspect the portrait in the colonel’s room.

The hotel room has already been cleaned, much to the colonel’s pleasure. He and Renata examine the portrait. The likeness is excellent, they agree, but the colonel insists that there is “no comparison” to Renata herself. He explains to her how, the previous evening, he talked to the portrait as though it were her. As they lie on the bed with the windows open, they discuss how much they are alike. They have never truly had a chance to get to know one another, they acknowledge. They talk about their great sorrows, but then Renata asks that they lie quietly together and not think about such things. They discuss love, language, and the colonel’s first wife. She was a journalist, he explains, who left him because she had “more ambition than Napoleon” (164). He was absent too often due to his job. He admits that marrying her was a mistake. He told her things, and she wrote about them, a mistake that he will not make again. To him, she is “deader than Phoebus the Phoenician” (165). If he saw her in Venice, he would simply ignore her. Renata suggests that, together, they should forget her. The colonel agrees.