Babylon Revisited: Section 2 Summary & Analysis

The next day Charlie wakes up feeling refreshed, the “depression of yesterday” gone. He takes Honoria to lunch at Le Grand Vatel, the one restaurant he can think of that doesn’t remind him of the decadence of the old days. Over lunch, he tells Honoria he’s going to take her to the toy store to buy her anything she wants and then to a vaudeville show. Honoria protests that she doesn’t want to go to the toy store—she already has lots of things, and he already brought her a doll—but she unenthusiastically agrees anyway.

Back when Charlie had lived with Helen, and Honoria had been taken care of by a nurse, he was a stricter father, but now he tries to “be both parents to her.” He tells Honoria that he wants to get to know her, so he introduces himself, which Honoria finds funny. She introduces herself as well, and Charlie asks whether she’s married. When she says no, Charlie points out that she has a child, gesturing to the doll. Honoria thinks quickly, and says that she was married once, but her husband is dead.

Charlie asks Honoria whether she likes her aunt and uncle, Marion and Lincoln, and she replies that she does, but then asks if the reason she doesn’t live with her father is that her mother is dead. Charlie responds that Honoria must stay in Paris to learn French, and because it would have been hard for him to take care of her as well as the Peters family had. Honoria responds that she doesn’t need to be taken care of because she does everything herself.

Suddenly Charlie and Honoria’s lunch is interrupted by Duncan Schaeffer and Lorraine Quarrles, “two ghosts out of the past” who greet him enthusiastically. Duncan is a friend from college and Lorraine is a “lovely, pale blonde of thirty.” Lorraine explains that her husband is not with her because they’re “poor as hell,” and Duncan suggests that they come back and all sit together, but Charlie declines. Despite finding Lorraine very attractive, “his own rhythm was different now.”

However, Duncan and Lorraine are persistent. They offer dinner, and Charlie declines again, saying he’ll call them. Lorraine supposes aloud that Charlie must be sober, and Charlie nods toward Honoria, which makes them laugh. Duncan asks for Charlie’s address but Charlie tells him he’s not settled into a hotel and changes the subject, telling them that he and Honoria are going to see the vaudeville at the Empire. Lorraine suggests that she and Duncan come along, but Charlie tells them he and Honoria have an errand to run. At that, Duncan and Lorraine depart. Charlie feels the encounter with Duncan and Lorraine was unwelcome, and supposes that they liked him because he was “stronger than they were now”—that they wanted to see him because “they wanted to draw a certain sustenance from his strength.”

At the Empire, Honoria proudly refuses to sit on Charlie’s folded coat, prompting him to worry that she will “crystalize” into a fully formed individual before he has an opportunity to influence her development at all. During the intermission, Charlie and Honoria run into Duncan and Lorraine and agree to sit with them for a drink. At the table, Charlie is barely listening to Lorraine. He watches Honoria instead.

In the taxi home, Charlie asks Honoria whether she ever thinks about her mother. She answers vaguely that sometimes she does. Charlie says he doesn’t want Honoria to forget her, and reminds Honoria that her mother loved her very much. Honoria says that she wants to come live with Charlie, which pleases him to hear. She says that she loves him better than anybody, and asks whether he loves her more than anybody “now that mummy’s dead.” Charlie says he does, but reminds her that someday she’ll grow up and meet a man and forget all about her father.

When the taxi arrives at the Peters’ home, Charlie doesn’t go in because he’s coming back later and wants to save his energy for “the thing he must say then.” He tells Honoria to wave from the window when she gets inside.