Before dinner, Cordelia meets Lord Richard Evermore and is dismayed to find him middle-aged, with silver in his hair. Coached by Evangeline to be charming, she stumbles through pleasantries but earns genuine laughter with a small joke about geese being easy to eat. Evermore's clear fondness for Hester—evident in their teasing about geese and snuff—reveals an established intimacy between them.

Penelope Green sweeps in fashionably late, drawing the Squire's immediate attention. Hester and Evermore reminisce warmly about Penelope's past social escapades, while Evangeline's veiled disdain (calling snuff vile, criticizing Penelope's gown) goes unrewarded. At dinner, Penelope and the Squire share laughing memories of her late husband Silas, leaving Evangeline visibly cold and excluded as Penelope effortlessly upstages her.

After dinner, Hester lingers on the dining-room balcony and is joined by Richard, who embraces her from behind. She confides everything: Alice's warnings about Cordelia, her fearful first impression of Evangeline, and her strategy of inviting Penelope to keep Evangeline from shining. Richard praises her cleverness, offers to spread discouraging stories to Samuel about marriage, and reaffirms that Hester always has a home with him should Samuel remarry.

Richard's unspoken proposal hangs between them. Hester reflects that she once refused him, claiming she feared society's judgment over their physical mismatch, but the deeper truth is she could not survive ever seeing that doubt in his own eyes. She retreats to her room, hiding her painful knee, and feels a flash of jealous hatred imagining the woman Richard will eventually marry instead.