That evening, Sir John hosts a theatrical gathering at the Hall featuring improvised tableaux in antique costume. In the opening scene, Jean is  almost unrecognizable, with a darkened complexion and black hair; she portrays a woman poised over a sleeping man whose bearded appearance reminds spectators of Sydney. The audience debates whether her fierce expression is entirely performance; Gerald suspects that her real feelings toward Sydney lend it genuine intensity.

The next scene recreates a painting of two lovers from the Coventry’s manor. Gerald is then recruited to play a fugitive Cavalier opposite Jean, dressed as a young Puritan woman hiding him from pursuers. Jean adjusts his costume and positions him at her feet. This tableau is followed by a more charged variation in which Jean falls dying in his arms. Gerald is visibly shaken by the physical closeness the role demands. Jean notices his reaction. Lucia, watching from the audience, moves backstage to intervene in extreme jealousy, but Gerald follows Jean out before she can stop him.

Gerald finds Jean alone in the drawing room, still in her theatrical dress. She points out that the evening’s atmosphere has led him to forget the social distance between them; he counters by invoking her supposed Howard lineage, insisting that they’re equals. She then claims that Sydney persecuted her so relentlessly that she attempted death by suicide and that now he’s threatening her reputation in revenge. She claims that the letter Gerald failed to deliver for her was a plea for Sydney to leave her in peace and asks Gerald what she should do.

Gerald defends Sydney’s character and offers to contact him, but Jean  extracts a promise that he will not, ostensibly for his safety. Later, when the rest of the party searches for them, Gerald and Jean hide behind a rose hedge, where Gerald almost declares his love. Jean ends the growing intimacy abruptly, directs Gerald to intercept the searchers, and slips into the house ahead of them.

As the evening ends, Jean quietly rejoins the family. In a brief private exchange, Gerald tells her that he still owes her advice. She says she no longer needs it: Now that Gerald is her friend, she can face her enemy herself.

The next morning, Hester Dean, Lucia’s fiercely devoted personal maid, questions Gerald about a letter that had briefly gone missing. Gerald finds it in his jacket pocket: It’s a note from Sydney threatening to shoot him if he falls in love with Jean. Gerald dismisses the threat but grows protective. When Dean and Jean cross paths in the corridor, Dean implies that she witnessed the intimacies of the previous evening; Jean deflects calmly, suggesting that Dean’s continued surveillance will only cause trouble for Lucia.

At breakfast, Jean asks Gerald to read her reply to Edward’s most recent letter. He finds it eloquent and carefully restrained—warm enough to show feeling, firm enough to refuse—and agrees to post it. Jean insists on providing her own penny for the postage, which charms Gerald as something an impoverished noblewoman would do. 

When Bella casually mentions finding Jean in tears over a white rose, Gerald recognizes it as one he had given her the previous night. He promptly destroys Sydney’s letter, calls for his horse, and announces to Bella his intention to take active charge of the Coventry estate—a marked reversal of his usual idleness that’s prompted by Jean’s previous accusation that Gerald has been remiss in his duties as head of house.

Gerald returns from a productive day energized. He paces the drawing room until Jean draws him to sit beside her under the pretext of sorting a basket of tangled silks for Mrs. Coventry. Lucia, unable to hold Gerald’s attention, sadly withdraws. Jean recounts her supposed personal history until she spots Dean watching them from beyond the window, identified by a scrap of ribbon blowing across the terrace. Gerald confronts Dean in the hallway and sends the maid away with a warning.

Gerald summons Lucia to the library, intending to end the family’s assumption that he and Lucia are engaged. When Jean expresses pity for Lucia, he confesses outright that he loves Jean. Jean refuses to hear his forthcoming proposal, citing Lucia’s feelings, his family’s wishes, Edward’s trust, and her own subordinate position. Gerald presses his case, insisting that she’s his social equal and that his intentions are sincere and honorable. Before Jean can answer, Dean reappears to announce that Lucia is waiting; Gerald kisses Jean and leaves. Dean then confronts Jean directly, vowing to prevent the marriage herself or through Sir John. Jean silences her by asserting her identity as Lady Howard’s daughter and calmly observing that Lucia wouldn’t be happy marrying an unwilling Gerald.