Late in the afternoon the next day, Edward knocks on Andrew’s door—he is here to pick up Georgie for a dinner date. He calls Georgie and tells her to meet him in Andrew’s apartment.

Andrew is stunned. He assumed Georgie would quit the job. He never dreamed she would pursue a relationship with the slimy boss who had threatened to rape her. Andrew, who has been drinking Scotch instead of his usual tea, confronts his friend: “I want you to stay away from her” (33). Edward claims that the rape remark obviously was an angry joke—an off-the-cuff comment he made when Georgie, an attractive and provocative woman. When Andrew counters that “It was sexual harassment,” Edward rejects the term as so “overdefined” it’s “meaningless” (36). He suggests that Andrew’s interest in Georgie is something other than friendship. Edward then calls Lydia, whom he also once dated, little more than a “corpse” (37).

Andrew reminds Edward that women are not just bodies—they have tender hearts and generous souls. Edward scoffs at this sloppy idealism, since people are mostly corrupt. Exasperated, Andrew compares the conversation to “talking to a swamp” (39).