In which Allan’s habitual irregularity is punctuated by the surprising return of Midwinter, whose presence soon stirs a tension between the friends, complicated by the inscrutable influence of Miss Gwilt and a web of suspicions that neither finds easy to unravel. The uneasy conversation unfolds amid the gathering storm, both without and between them, culminating in a moment of symbolic fracture that leaves their friendship strained and their spirits troubled.