Basil Cannonfield finishes a night of busking outside the Chalice, packing up his old Martin guitar and collecting the coins and bills from the open case he sets out for tips. He works this same patch of sidewalk several nights a week because the foot traffic is reliable, even though most passersby avoid eye contact and treat him like background noise.

Theo, who has often listened from his balcony, considers Basil’s soulful, folksy singing a welcome part of the Promenade’s soundscape. Basil performs with his whole body—tapping, bobbing, and smiling at familiar pedestrians—fully absorbed in the music even when people mostly ignore him.

Later, around eleven, Basil returns home and pours the night’s earnings onto the kitchen table, measuring whether the tips were good enough to keep going or whether he should return to teaching at McLemore Elementary. The night has been unusually generous, helped by springtime energy and the mood stirred by familiar songs.

Among the bills and coins, Basil finds something unexpected: an envelope with his name written in elegant handwriting. The chapter reveals that Theo came down from his balcony earlier, listened covertly, and slipped the envelope into Basil’s guitar case while passing through the crowd, choosing not to involve Mrs. Gidley this time.

The envelope contains Basil’s portrait—a lean, angular, bohemian-looking man with tousled hair and scruffy facial hair, wearing an impish grin. Theo reflects on performers like Basil, recognizing that what others dismiss as eccentricity can be talent and intelligence, and marks Basil as the next person to receive one of the portraits Theo has been bestowing.