Rachel retreats to her room, and Philip eats lunch alone, haunted by the note. He and Seecombe spend the afternoon sorting Ambrose’s clothes for Christmas distribution. While shelving books, Philip furtively shakes each volume, searching for more notes. He looks up the term “kleptomania” but finds that it does not match Ambrose’s accusation of “extravagance.”

That evening, Seecombe mentions new Italian furnishings that Rachel ordered for the blue bedroom. After dinner, she shows Philip the expensive brocades and silk hangings, offering them to him as a gift. Uncomfortable due to the letter fragment, Philip awkwardly questions their cost, but she insists that the furnishings are a sound investment.

Philip then asks about her past. Rachel recounts her precarious upbringing with a spendthrift father and her struggles after his death. She married Cosimo Sangalletti at 21 and endured an unhappy 10-year marriage. She reveals she is 35 years old: much younger than Philip expected her to be.

Rachel suddenly asks what was on the burned paper. Philip tells a half-truth, saying that it was part of a letter where Ambrose worried about expenditures. She accepts this explanation with relief, confessing that Ambrose’s concern over her extravagance was constant. During his illness, he became suspicious and refused to give her household money, forcing her to obtain funds secretly from Rainaldi. When Ambrose discovered this, he forbade Rainaldi from visiting.

Rachel becomes distressed, saying that opening the trunks has revived her bitter feelings. She confesses that Philip’s resemblance to Ambrose sometimes frightens her. Philip comforts her, insisting that the past is over and that she belongs here. As she leaves, she wishes him some of the happiness she once knew. Left alone, Philip realizes that he is now jealous of Ambrose.

November and December pass quickly. Philip and Rachel establish a comfortable routine, and he spends his days in anticipation of seeing her. Seecombe reveals Rachel has taken over managing the household menus; the staff all refer to her as the mistress of the house. Philip’s evenings with Rachel become the highlight of his day. After she retires at ten o’clock, he feels a new loneliness, often staying up late brooding. He worries she will leave after Christmas.

To create a reason for her to stay, Philip revives the family tradition of a Christmas Eve dinner for the tenants. Rachel is delighted and throws herself into preparations. Philip struggles to find a suitable gift for her and eventually remembers the family jewelry kept in a local bank vault. With Nick away, he persuades the reluctant manager, Mr. Couch, to show him the jewels. Philip chooses a four-strand pearl collar that Ambrose once showed him as a child. Couch explains the collar’s history as a traditional wedding day adornment for Ashley brides, last worn by Philip’s mother. Against Couch’s advice, Philip takes it.

On Christmas Eve morning, Philip and the servants decorate a large fir tree. Before the dinner, he sends the collar to Rachel with a note. When she appears in the drawing-room wearing the pearls with a new black gown, Philip thinks for the first time that she is beautiful. She embraces him passionately. As he kisses her back, Philip has the dark thought that it was “for this, that Ambrose died” (219). They walk hand-in-hand to the dinner as the clock strikes five.

Philip and Rachel enter the long room to applause from the assembled tenants. The boisterous dinner proceeds, and Philip discovers that Rachel has placed personal gifts beside every plate. His gift is a gold chain for his keys, bearing both their initials and the date. They share a smile and a toast across the room.

After the meal, Philip greets the Kendalls and the Pascoes. He notices Nick staring disapprovingly at the pearl collar. After distributing traditional gifts from the tree, they return to the drawing-room. Mrs. Pascoe gushes over the collar while Nick remarks dryly on its value.

After the Pascoes leave, Nick confronts Philip alone. He reveals that Rachel is several hundred pounds overdrawn at the bank and recounts meeting travelers in Exeter who knew Rachel and Sangalletti in Florence, describing them as notorious for extravagance and “loose living” (228). Nick demands that Philip retrieve the collar, explaining that it is part of the estate trust and is traditionally worn only by Ashley brides on their wedding day. Philip furiously refuses.

Rachel and Louise enter, having overheard the conversation. Rachel calmly removes the necklace and hands it to Nick, who wraps it in his handkerchief and leaves. Philip is devastated. Rachel comforts him, and he tells her of the collar’s significance, asking if she understands why he gave it to her. She misunderstands his intention, saying that she knows Philip gave the pearls to her because “Ambrose would have given them to [her] on [their] wedding day” (233). She goes to bed, leaving Philip alone with his misunderstood gesture.

Rachel ensures that they have a happy Christmas Day, visiting tenants and distributing Ambrose’s clothes. That evening, she surprises Philip with a small, decorated tree full of humorous gifts to distract him from the pearl incident.

A coolness grows between Philip and his godfather. To spite Nick, Philip initiates expensive repairs to the house and grounds, using them as an excuse to cancel the Sunday dinners. He and Rachel live a quiet, reclusive life as his infatuation grows. Spring arrives, bringing both torment and delight.

One day, Sam Bate, a lodge-keeper, summons Philip. Bate has found a sealed letter from Ambrose that had slipped between a coat’s lining and fabric. Philip takes it and walks to a granite slab in the woods that Ambrose planned to use for his tombstone. With great misgivings, Philip opens the letter.

Dated the previous April, it details Ambrose’s physical illness and mental anguish. He reveals that Rachel had a miscarriage and was told that she could bear no more children; after that, her character changed. He expresses deep suspicion over Rainaldi’s influence and suspects that he and Rachel are lovers. He mentions an unsigned will in which Ambrose left Rachel “the house and the estate for her lifetime only” (243), which he hesitated to sign due to her extravagance. The letter ends with Ambrose begging Philip to come to him, and then Ambrose wonders if Rachel and Rainaldi are “trying to poison [him]” (244).

Philip buries the letter under the granite slab. Returning home, he learns that his old dog, Don, has been fatally injured by a falling piece of slate during the repairs. He finds Rachel kneeling by the dying dog, tears on her face. She accuses him of being absent when it happened. As Philip kneels beside her, he realizes that for the first time, her sorrow is for him, not for Ambrose.

Don dies near midnight. Philip finds Rachel grieving in the boudoir. He reminds her that on his upcoming 25th birthday, the estate pass into his control. She refuses his offer of the family jewels, saying they should be for his future wife. Rachel tells him that she must leave after his birthday because her position is “untenable.” As a woman, she expects people to gossip about her presence in the house.

Philip asks about the will that Ambrose made but never signed. After hesitating, Rachel retrieves it from her bureau. The will confirms what Ambrose wrote in his letter: that Rachel will take control of the estate during her lifetime, with Philip running the estate. While Philip copies it, he questions her. Rachel explains that she never knew why Ambrose did not sign it, but she believes that he lost his faith in her after learning that she could not have children. She confirms that Ambrose’s behavior changed afterward, with intense headaches and near-violent moods. When Philip asks what Ambrose suspected, she replies that he suspected everything, including infidelity and worse. She then angrily orders Philip to leave.

The next morning, they bury Don on the plantation. The following day, Philip rides to Bodmin to consult attorney Wilfred Tewin, who has not previously handled Ashley affairs. He secretly instructs Tewin to draw up a legal document transferring his entire property to Rachel on his birthday, based on the terms of Ambrose’s unsigned will. He adds a clause that the property will revert to him if she remarries. Tewin agrees to have the document ready by March 31.

Elated, Philip rides home, plotting to thwart Nick and bind Rachel to the estate. Upon his return, he finds an unfamiliar post-chaise at the house. Rachel brings him into the drawing-room to meet her visitor: Rainaldi.

Philip is dismayed by Rainaldi’s arrival, but Rachel insists that he stay as their guest. Rainaldi appraises the property with a critical eye. At dinner, Rachel and Rainaldi reminisce about Italy, often speaking Italian and making Philip feel excluded. Rainaldi explains that he has come to discuss handling the Florence villa and brings documents for Rachel to sign.

Rachel and Rainaldi go to the boudoir to handle business. Philip declines to join them and walks the grounds for hours. He studies the light in her window, which stays on until 11 o’clock. Rachel comes to his room to say goodnight and chides him for his sulky behavior. He confronts her about Rainaldi staying so late. She laughs off his jealousy, embraces him, and tells him that she loves him “much too much” (268).

Rainaldi stays for seven days, treating Philip with condescending tolerance and mockery. He subtly suggests that Rachel will eventually return to Florence, then warns Philip that she is “strong medicine” (271) for someone so young and inexperienced.

On Rainaldi’s last evening, the Kendalls come to dinner. Rainaldi tells Nick that Philip and Louise make a charming couple, embarrassing Louise. Rachel announces her intention to visit London soon; she, Rainaldi, and Nick make plans to meet there.

After the Kendalls leave, Philip eavesdrops as Rachel and Rainaldi talk late into the night in Italian. The next morning, Rainaldi departs. As he leaves, Rachel tells him she will make no plans before April first, Philip’s birthday, smiling at Philip. Rainaldi’s parting shot reminds Philip that his birthday is on All Fools’ Day. After Rainaldi is gone, Rachel puts a primrose in Philip’s buttonhole and asks if he is glad that they are “alone again” (277).