- We learn that Klesmer gets Gwendolen's note just as he's about to leave Quetcham (where the Arrowpoints live). He spends the night at Wanchester instead, and we're about to find out why he couldn't stay with the Arrowpoints.
- Of course, the narrator can't get to the point right away. We do find out, though, that the "order of things" at Quetcham has been disrupted.
- The Arrowpoints have been entertaining some guests, including a new guy who wants to marry her. Catherine, though, won't accept the idea that she has to marry out of duty.
- Catherine's parents haven't thought of the possibility that she might be in love with Klesmer. Well, you know what that means – they must be wrong.
- Up until now, the Arrowpoints have viewed Klesmer, who is Catherine's music instructor, as just another servant in the household. It never would have occurred to them that it's possible for people to fall for their servants.
- The narrator goes on describing other men in love in the past.
- Klesmer knows that if Catherine were poor, he would have just told her that he loved her. Instead, he compensates for his feelings by playing up a storm on the piano. Musicians – they're so brooding and dreamy.
- We meet Mr. Bult, who is thought to be a more suitable marriage prospect for Catherine. He doesn't see Klesmer as a serious human being, and definitely not as someone he has to compete with for Catherine's affections.
- Mr. Bult and Klesmer start talking about politics. Mr. Bult says he didn't realize that Klesmer was a political man. Klesmer identifies himself as "The Wandering Jew," which is a stereotype of Jewish people – Jews were generally understood not to have a true homeland. Pay attention to this line of thinking – it'll come up again in big ways.
- Catherine tells Mr. Bult that Klesmer has cosmopolitan ideas. Then Bult is like, "Oh, I knew he was too talented to be just a musician." Klesmer is like, "Hold up – most people don't have nearly enough talent to think about becoming musicians." And then he walks away.
- The next day Catherine asks Klesmer why he got so mad. They banter about his attitude. Klesmer says that artists must be of a different caste in Catherine's point of view – that is to say, that they are of a different, probably lower, class.
- Catherine says that an artist is of a caste that she looks up to and admires. She speaks in general terms but we know that she's talking about Klesmer.
- Klesmer's like, "Well, I'd better go to St. Petersburg." When Catherine doesn't respond, he's like, "So, do you think I should go?"
- Then Klesmer tells Catherine that he's totally crazy about her and that he's only been sticking around Quetcham because of her. He says he knows that she can never marry him, so he'll go pack his things and head out.
- Then Catherine's like, "Can't I marry the man who loves me if I love him too?"
- OK, everyone sigh now: Catherine says the only thing she's afraid of is missing out on spending her life with Klesmer.
- Catherine goes to tell her parents that she's engaged to Klesmer. They are not thrilled.
- Mrs. Arrowpoint is happy to have Klesmer around as a music teacher, but she finds it beneath her to accept him into her family as a son-in-law. She says that her husband will "horsewhip him off the premises" (22.54). Mr. Arrowpoint keeps it short and sweet and tells her "this will never do" (22.54).
- Catherine tells her mom that she loves Klesmer and that she doesn't give a rip about what society says.
- Mr. Arrowpoint says that he expects Catherine to marry a gentleman. He says that Klesmer has a "deuced foreign look" (22.22).
- The Arrowpoints tell Catherine to go get Klesmer. When she comes back with him, Mrs. Arrowpoint brings out the big guns and says that they will disinherit Catherine if she marries Klesmer. Apparently they think that Klesmer is only interested in Catherine's money.
- Klesmer says that the only thing he doesn't like about Catherine is her wealth. Checkmate.
- The Arrowpoints wonder about whom they should leave their fortune to. Klesmer leaves Quetcham.