Blaess explains that she cannot return home for Christmas as she is being refused an English visa to travel. The reason they give is that they are worried about an underwater German attack. Only those on 'urgent business' are permitted visas at this point, and even the English soldiers could not return home. Blaess is also anxious about Christmas present shopping. She wonders what she will get her cousin Yolande. She describes her cousin Yolande's birthday celebrations, and attending the opera with her friend Norah, and other friends whom she made through her work at the library. She is angry at girls at her boarding house who are nosy and thinks she is in love or heartbroken - she says she does not want to waste time with a man because she is too busy working.