Nan recalls choosing to spend her early married months at Tintagel, believing that the place would help her and the Duke to understand each other. She loves the estate’s history and people, while the Duke views Tintagel as a costly duty. Nan begins visiting the tenants, buying items in village shops, and trying to help local families. Returning from one such round, she urges the Duke to address the typhoid at the Linfrys’ cottage, insisting that “the drains ought to be seen to at once” (208). He reacts with formality, then objects to her involvement, insisting that such matters should be handled by his agent. She pleads for immediate action, but he replies with sarcasm about providing nurses everywhere and rebukes her use of the staff’s Christian names. Nan breaks down, declaring that she does not want a child if he will be raised to ignore others’ suffering. Fearing that she will return to the cottage, the Duke quietly instructs staff to withhold her access to a carriage. He does not want her to risk her health in her “condition” (pregnancy). Nan goes out on foot in the rain and darkness, and when Ushant searches for her, he finds her collapsed by the road. The coachman lifts her in, fearing that she has fainted. She experiences a miscarriage, which the Duke believes has cost him a son. The couple leaves Tintagel, resumes public life, and avoids the subject entirely.

At Longlands, Mr. Rossiter shows Nan the Naxos relief of Demeter and Persephone. The Duke comments that “there is no satisfaction in owning a fragment” (216) and dismisses the idea of repatriation. Nan returns alone at times to reflect quietly on the fact that everyone has changed, including Conchita and Virginia. Miss Testvalley has also largely withdrawn, and Nan concludes that she herself is only a “fragment.” While preparing invitations for the first large Longlands party, she writes to Guy Thwarte about a possible candidacy and support from the Duke. She considers adding a note about their previous meeting but changes her mind. She tears up the note and rewrites it without the postscript.

Guy Thwarte, recently returned from Brazil, receives a single letter at breakfast, while Sir Helmsley jokes about his much larger stack of mail. Guy’s letter is from the Duchess of Tintagel, inviting him to Longlands and indicating the Duke’s wish to discuss the Lowdon seat in Parliament. Sir Helmsley confirms that the Duke hopes Guy will resume a public career, and seconds the idea. Guy hesitates and asks for time, but Sir Helmsley insists that his son take up the position in honor of his family.

Guy walks the grounds of Honourslove, reflecting on his lineage, his Brazilian marriage, and the unexpected death of his wife. His years abroad have changed him, but the estate draws him back toward inherited responsibilities. He finds his father copying a Rossetti for Miss Testvalley. Sir Helmsley explains Miss Testvalley’s Rossetti connection and his promise to send her the watercolor. Noting the need to steady his father’s financial affairs, Guy decides to go to Longlands and stand in Parliament for Lowdon.

Alone again, Guy recalls the earlier summer day when Annabel St. George visited Honourslove. He remembers their brief companionship on the terrace before he left for Brazil, as well as his surprise when news arrived of her marriage to the Duke. Now, he rereads the Duchess’s new note and finds it impersonal, like the “language of dictation” (228). He wonders how she came to marry Tintagel and why her letter does not acknowledge their previous meeting. He returns to the house where the estate agent waits with accounts and repairs, aware that Sir Helmsley has already shifted responsibilities to him.

The Dowager Duchess maintains control at Longlands despite living at the Dower-House. Visitors compliment how “she keeps out of the young people’s way” (229), but the household knows that her influence remains. For Christmas, at the Duke’s urging, the Dowager joins the festivities, and the St. George circle and American friends are invited over her objections. During an evening of dancing, the Dowager and Miss March debate American customs while Lady Brightlingsea adds confused remarks. The line of dancers then progresses through the Raphael rooms and sculpture gallery, then up the state staircase, with Teddy de Santos-Dios leading songs and guests following.

Nan and Guy Thwarte drop out of the line near the Correggio room. She invites him to view the pictures by candlelight, and they discuss her isolation and the room’s crowded family mementos. Guy suggests that clear walls would show the paintings better. Nan says she once removed the items, but the Dowager made her restore them the same day. He tells her that change at Longlands comes slowly and that time may help. She replies that there is “years and years of it” (238) and adds that she sometimes thinks she was not meant for life as a Duchess. She questions her role in the household and shares her desire to “try again… somewhere where [she] could be [herself]” (238). She bridles when Guy calls her very young, and when he reminds her that she is the Duchess, she answers that she is not the real one and does not know the part. Suddenly, Miss Testvalley interrupts, stating that the Duke is asking for Nan and that the guests are leaving. She escorts Nan back to the hall to resume her duties as hostess.

The morning after the Christmas festivities, Longlands is quiet until luncheon. The Dowager Duchess remains in residence to oversee the household, remarking to the Duke that the American visitors keep irregular hours. The Duke asks her to address an issue from the previous night, as he wishes to avoid saying anything to Nan that might “put her off” (241). The Dowager intends to correct Nan for leaving her post as hostess and being sought throughout the house while upstairs with Guy.

Near midday, the Dowager sends for Nan and advises her that a duchess should remain visible to guests and that taking Guy upstairs after midnight would be judged improper in England. Nan answers that she is “tired of trying to be English” (244). The Dowager cites Nan’s marriage vows, prompting Nan to declare that she made a mistake in marrying Ushant. She suggests leaving so he might remarry and have children. She adds that she has told the Duke that she does not wish to be “a mother of dukes” (245). The Dowager, recalling her son’s request to avoid harshness, urges Nan to be patient and conform, asserting that the role is one most young women would envy. The luncheon gong ends the conversation.

Before dinner, Conchita (now Lady Dick) slips into Nan’s dressing room seeking refuge and help. She confesses that she is “head-over-ears in debt” (249) and in love with Miles Dawnly even though she is tied to Dick Marable by her highly restrictive English marriage. She asks Nan for a loan of £500, then bitterly jokes about managing husbands and punctual English rules. Nan is shaken, feeling helpless. Because the Duke keeps her on a small, traditional allowance and strictly controls her life, Nan does not know how to approach him for money. She muses that Guy Thwarte might advise her on how to raise the sum.

The women discuss what would happen if they “packed up and went home” (252). Nan wonders if they could just return to America; Conchita laughs it off, dismissing the idea. For her, London is the only place worth the pain. Nan, however, is drawn not to London society but to England’s history and beauty, which counterbalances her private unhappiness. As the bell rings, Conchita kisses her, asking Nan not to judge until she finds out for herself what marriage is like. Nan, left trembling, promises to try to secure the money by the next evening.

At dawn, Nan broods, recalling her first meeting with Ushant on a foggy day. She resolves to raise £500 for Conchita but rules out asking Guy, her own family or the Brightlingsea circle, deciding that the only proper route to gain the money is Ushant. She visits her husband in his study and asks for £500. Ushant, after a “heavy silence,” quizzes her on the reason. Nan suggests that it is a bill, but then admits it is for “private charities” (262). Ushant insists that a wife should have no private needs; he offers the money only if she explains its true purpose. Flustered, he warns Nan that he may have to “order” her as a wife. She refuses to name Conchita and leaves defeated.

Fleeing the house, Nan climbs to the neglected Temple of Love and breaks down in tears. Guy happens upon Nan, who bristles, then softens. She insists that she is not the “Annabel [he] used to know” (267). Guy promises that he will hold firm and be ready for her when she needs him.

The Dowager decides to treat Nan’s Boxing Day outburst as a childish provocation and does not report it to her son. Ushant approaches her and confides that Nan has asked for a large sum of money and refused to say why. Ushant explains that he first declined, then secretly left the money on her dressing table. When he later sought intimacy as a token of gratitude, she thanked him but refused his advances and said she wished to go away with her former governess, Miss Testvalley. The Dowager proposes a face-saving plan: an invitation to Augusta Glenloe’s house, Champions, on the grounds of improving Nan’s health. Ushant agrees. Left alone, the Dowager wonders why Annabel truly needs the money. She suspects that it is for a man in trouble and recalls the night when Nan led Guy Thwarte to her sitting room. To the Dowager, this is an “unaccountable incident” (276).

At Champions in Gloucestershire, Lady Glenloe presides over a practical household that suits Miss Testvalley far better than grander houses. Nan arrives privately, grateful to escape Longlands. Under Miss Testvalley’s steady care, she recounts the recent weeks: Conchita Marable’s request for money, Ushant’s secret payment, his implied claim on her gratitude, and the widening gulf between them. Miss Testvalley has a new youthful glow and prescribes fresh air and rest.

Lady Glenloe abruptly announces a simple family dinner and the arrival of Sir Helmsley Thwarte and his son, Guy. She chatters about telephones, which she has imported from America and already uses. The conversation reflects Champions’ candid curiosity about the wider world, contrasting with Longlands’ ritual proprieties. Privately, Nan resolves to “make the best” (283) of being the Duchess of Tintagel. With Miss Testvalley’s prompting, she dresses attractively for dinner. In the drawing room, she meets Guy Thwarte and apologizes for her earlier outburst in the garden temple, then feels her spirits lift. The party proceeds to dinner, where lively talk of Petersburg, telegraphy, and new gadgets makes Nan keenly aware of how restorative Champions is.

The Champions party visits Honourslove on a mild February day, and Nan relishes a sense of quiet renewal. At the house, Sir Helmsley leads the tour and provides an earnest account of Thwarte history, recognizing Nan’s genuine feeling for “deep-down” England. She credits Miss Testvalley with teaching her to value old houses, inherited memories, and rural lore. Later, Nan and Guy linger on the terrace, and their conversation returns to Nan’s oscillating spirits. She fears a future dulled by the endless endurance of mistakes. Guy reassures her that other days and chances will come, offers to bring a rare title to Champions, and mentions that he must remain nearby in case of a bye-election at Lowdon. Nan notes that Ushant excludes her from politics.

Inside, Sir Helmsley presents Miss Testvalley with his watercolor copy of a Rossetti Madonna and hints that Guy may soon return to Champions. He teases about Lady Glenloe’s possible designs on her daughters (Corisande or Kitty) for Guy, praising safe and unexciting matches now that his son has made his own money. Miss Testvalley answers cautiously, and when she sees Nan and Guy returning together, she feels quiet concern for her former pupil’s happiness. On the return drive to Champions, Nan sits with Miss Testvalley, and for the first time, she feels a “deep, delicious peace” (292). In the long, lonely prospect of her life, she now recognizes that in her former governess, she has a friend who understands not only what she says, but also what she cannot say.

At Champions, Nan observes the Glenloe sisters, Corisande and Kitty, talking to their dressmaker, and she contrasts their easy affection with the stiffness of Ushant’s sisters and with her own unequal bond with Virginia. Miss Testvalley notes that the Glenloe girls are genuinely young for their years—unlike the Tintagel daughters, who never had a childhood. Talk turns briefly to religion when Almina’s desire to join a convent is mentioned. Sir Helmsley appears, arranging a ride for Nan and a tour of the new glasshouse for the governess.

At Champions, charity is active and brisk. Lady Glenloe rushes to the sick with remedies and soup, which contrasts with the Dowager Duchess’s pinched benevolence. In the library, Nan is struck by the legend of St. Elizabeth of Hungary and by Lemprière’s account of Proserpine’s abduction, which echoes the Naxos fragment and her own sense of captivity in her marriage. Nan reflects on her relationship with God, whom she believes has “punished her by killing her unborn child” (295). She reads of the Crimean War and London slums; Guy admits that English poverty is not far from what he saw in Brazil and remembers severing ties with a brutal father-in-law during his brief marriage to his late wife, Paquita.

Guy rides over often. Lady Glenloe gently attempts to push him toward Corisande or Kitty, but Miss Testvalley thinks the girls too immature and suspects that Guy’s heart is not free. Guy believes that his father’s courteous attentions to the governess are tactical, and his own thoughts drift toward Nan. When Corisande leaves him Browning, he pauses over the poem titled My Last Duchess, recognizing in Tintagel’s impassive authority the power to stifle Nan’s spirit. Troubled by his inference, Guy postpones further visits, but Lady Glenloe assumes that he is merely timing his absence around her daughters’ departure.

Corisande and Kitty Glenloe are to be bridesmaids in Norfolk, which sends their household into weeks of logistical wrangling. To simplify matters, Nan invites the girls and Miss Testvalley to stop in London and stay at Folyat House. The lavish house dazzles the sisters. Nan lessens the formality at dinner by clustering everyone near the head of the vast table and quietly ignoring a footman’s stifled laughter so that he is not reprimanded. With Miss Testvalley’s permission, the girls taste wine, and the governess tells them about the eccentric menagerie of her relation Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

In the morning, the nanny collects the bridesmaids, and Sir Helmsley Thwarte escorts Nan and Miss Testvalley to the home of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The poet-painter is “old and very ill” (303) but remains courtly, praising Sir Helmsley’s efforts in copying his work. Later, Miss Testvalley explains that Rossetti employs assistants to rough out replicas, sometimes adds little more than his signature, and even solicits payment far in advance. She also tells Nan that although he once even buried poems with his late wife in a pique of romantic grief, he now recovers them from her grave in order to publish them. Later, Nan reflects on Parliament, where Ushant sits and where Guy may soon be elected. Meanwhile, Sir Helmsley proposes to Miss Testvalley, who declines to decide on impulse. He jubilantly treats this response as consent. Back at Folyat House, Miss Testvalley notes that Nan is beginning to use her ducal prerogatives modestly.

Nan returns to Champions, where Lady Glenloe welcomes her “as a third daughter” (311). Conversation turns to the London visit, and Lady Glenloe cheerfully confides that she hopes Guy Thwarte will marry one of her daughters. She also mentions that Sir Helmsley seems to be aiding her plan by engaging Miss Testvalley so that the young people can be alone. This disclosure strikes Nan painfully; retreating to her room, she recognizes with shock that she is in love with Guy. Jealousy follows, and she concludes that just as she cannot remain to witness Guy’s visits, she also cannot stand to face Longlands. Lady Glenloe, believing Nan fatigued, doses her with a Caucasian tonic and prescribes rest. Nan is relieved to have “a plausible cover for heartbreak” (312).

In Lancashire, Lizzy Robinson tells her husband, Hector, that Nan has asked to visit Belfield. He worries about the Duke’s approval and the irregularity of Nan inviting herself, but Lizzy argues that Nan has already stayed at Champions and that an American friend’s house is a proper refuge. The guest list already includes Guy Thwarte; Lizzy notes this with a knowing smile. Hector yields, persuaded by his wife’s social instinct and independence as Lizzy forms a plan.

Back at Champions, Nan seeks solitude in horseback-riding. Near the park gate, she unexpectedly meets Guy riding in. Assuming that he has come for Corisande or Kitty, she speaks coolly. Guy, visibly shaken at seeing her, blurts that he stopped calling because of her. He admits that he cannot think of anyone else and that it is “impossible” for them to go on meeting. When Llewellyn the groom arrives, their conversation comes to a halt. Guy withdraws, riding away in turmoil. He realizes that success at Lowdon would bind him to the Duke’s orbit and to Nan’s constant presence. Resolving to cut this tie entirely, he decides to leave England and to resign from his candidacy in Parliament altogether. The next morning, he goes to Leadenhall Street to visit the offices of his old engineering firm.