In the week after the race, Muffat arrives at Nana’s house and Zoe tells him that Nana is in bed recovering from a miscarriage. She has kept the pregnancy secret for months, annoyed and ashamed at her lack of control over her own body. Nana and Muffat do not discuss the miscarriage for long, though, because something else is bothering him. Nana quickly deduces that Rose must have sent him the letter proving Sabine’s affair. He wants to challenge Fauchery to a revenge duel and to separate from his wife. Nana counsels Muffat to stay married, however, and accept that he and Sabine will each have their separate liaisons.

Complicating matters further, Muffat is in financial trouble because of his lavish spending on Nana and a recent redecorating binge of Sabine’s. He can only repay the money he owes by selling a piece of property Sabine inherited, a transaction that would require her signature. With this matter unresolved, Muffat and Sabine throw a wedding party for their daughter Estelle and her new husband Daguenet. The same aristocratic ladies who attended Sabine’s salon are present and gossip about how far Muffat and Sabine have fallen. Chouard now hypocritically refuses to see his son-in-law because of his affair with Nana, and attends the party only for Estelle’s sake.