The Razor's Edge

While in Paris, Maugham frequently visits Isabel. He asks her whether she wishes she had married Larry, and Isabel answers that she is very happy with Gray; she seems unaware that she has not directly answered the question. Maugham asks her how she coped with losing all their money. She was miserable at first, she says, but she soon pulled herself together and decided to make the best of it. She had considered staying on their one remaining property—a run-down plantation in South Carolina—and making a living as a farmer, but when her uncle invited them to stay in his apartment, she accepted his offer for Gray’s sake. Gray has put on significant weight, and his self-confidence has clearly been shaken. He is still having headaches and couldn’t take a job even if he were offered one. He feels worthless and emasculated to be unable to fulfill his obligation to work.

One day, Maugham sits by himself at the Café du Dome when Larry stops by his table. Larry has just come from India, and when Maugham tells him Isabel and Gray are in Paris, Larry is eager to see them. Several days after that, Maugham is visiting with Isabel and Gray when Larry arrives unannounced.