The phone rings. Dick's calling from the local pub in the village, near the cottage. Or don't you even know of the existence of your village pub? She's new and have no relation with the rest of the village. She doesn't have been there too many times. She doesn't goes out off the cottage very often. And he wants to see her, trying to be friendly; they haven't forgotten each other. She doesn't want Dick to go home because of the dream. So she wants to get prepared herself to have Dick and Gerald together. And she thinks she has to protect Gerald, with the wrong interpretation again.
Then we have another flashback, about when the found Philomel Cottage. And about the legend, people just can hear nightingales when people are in love. So Gerald manipulates her to believe she had never felt in love because she has never hear them. And it also reminds the reader Alix hasn't had any romantic experience, so she's an easy target, so innocent. And we know now Gerald found the house, and then will find out the importance of this fact. The house is so isolated and the phone is the only Alice connection with the world, so Dick's call is important because we get notice it's there. Then, the narrator reminds us there is a telephone. // Gerald's wealth is necessary is he don't want Alix to be suspicious. But he finds an excuse not to spend it. The price, according to Gerald, was 3,000 pounds. The narrator insists on the isolation of the house with the non-servants thing.
Alix stays always in the house, so isolated, so Gerald can kill her easily. The place has been carefully chosen because of the isolation and the time he can have to scape, because if she stays always at home nobody will miss her if she's dead.
Now, a new character appears. George is the gardener, an old man form the village. We only have a little dialogue with him once in the story, but he's so important. It's George who gives Alix information about Gerald that she doesn't understand. Gerald told George Alix was going to London the following day, and because he wanted to talk to her, he went on Wednesday. What Gerald is doing is preparing an explanation for Alix not being at Philomel Cottage. Also George comments something strange about the prize of the house, which really was 2,000 pounds. But he has to say that because he's supposed to be rich so she thinks he also spends money. And now we notice she has never met Mr Ames, her husband was the one who always talked to him and made the arrangements.
She finds her husband notebook in the garden. It's Gerald's diary. And now, 'Almost from the beginning of their married life, she had realized that the impulsive and emotional Gerald had the uncharacteristic virtues of neatness and method.' So we discover Gerald is not as spontaneous as he seemed at the beginning. He demanded the meals were served on time. Always talking about Gerald there are some words that expresses he can be potentially violent or dangerous, like “He felt in love with violence”. And she notices he has even written down their marriage. So it's reinforcing the idea of Gerald planning everything. Another entry for the current day, at 9 p.m. It's important for the narrator to make clear she doesn't suspects of Gerald. She doesn't worry about the note. And we (the readers) have to know something wrong is gonna happen. 'as she realized that had this been a story, like those she had so often read, the diary would doubtless have furnished her with some sensational revelation. It would have had in it for certain the name of another woman. She fluttered the back pages idly. There were dates, appointments, cryptic references to business deals, but only one woman's name - her own.' And now the narrator reminds us Dick's words 'The man's a perfect stranger to you. You know nothing about him' And she realizes she really know nothing about him. And she still thinks about other women. And it's so ironic, because there are been other women in his life but not the way she thinks.
Then she thinks about talking Gerald about Dick's call. It reinforces the idea of the telephone being there in case she's in trouble. And Gerald doesn't know about Dick in the village, so Alix is not as isolated as his husband thinks. Then Gerald arrives and she tells him about his diary. And she tells him 'I know all your secrets now'. And he says 'Not guilty', obviously because she doesn't know ALL the secrets. She's too innocent and doesn't suspect about Gerald yet so she tells her everything. And then she talks about her meeting with George and he answers her with anger because he had planned this excuse to kill her and not seem guilty. So now Gerald's plans have been ruined and he doesn't want to improvise. And he insults George, angrily, so she gets surprised when she sees her face, violent and anger. But then he control himself, so he doesn't show himself as he is. And he asked her if she had corrected George, waiting anxiously the answer. When she says 'Of course' she doesn't know she has postponed her killing, ruining Gerald plans. And after that, talking about the prize of the house, he had to wait one or two minutes because he had to give her a non prepared explanation. And later, she's so naïve because she reminds him about the developing. So he smiles because he knows it's so ironic she do that.
She goes to bed so happy, believing Gerald or at least, convincing her about that. And the next day she feels so anxious again, not very trustful about her husband's words. And she remembers again what Dick said her, that she didn't know anything about this perfect stranger her 'beloved' was. And she also remembers and analyzes her conversation with Dick the night before. And there's a warning tone in his words. But she was still thinking about another woman and convinces her all her anxiety is related with jealousy. [VER QUE TODOS LOS JUEVES SON MIÉRCOLES]
The we have an evolution. On that Tuesday she thought she knew her husband, but three days later she realizes she was a stranger, as Dick said. Now an interesting adjective: Gerald's unreasonable anger. Then she wants to go to the village because she needs some things but Gerald states (not says, but STATES) he will do that. He's nervous due to the thing that maybe Alix is trying to escape, he's losing the control of the situation. The narrator ask us the same things Alix is asking herself, the reason he's so anxious. And she thinks he can know Dick is in the village and he doesn't want her to talk to him, and she likes this explanation so much and convinces her it's ok. Now we can see also Freud's ideas: her conscious wants to believe but the unconscious can't do that and goes on, making her feeling anxious.
And also, we don't know where is Gerald all the time. Not in the house, for sure, because Alix is alone most of the time. But we don't know where he is, with who, or what is he doing. And while he's out she looks for something in her husband's things. And she finds out that a drawer is locked, nonsense if someone just lives with his wife. She finally find the key and there are some newspaper cutters. They talk about a serial killer, Charles LeMaitre. Two important things: English papers talked about Charles' personality and his power over women and also about he having a heart condition (VERY IMPORTANT) One of the cuttings includes a photograph and she realizes that the man in the picture was her own Gerald. It's so ironic he keeps the document to reminds him how intelligent he is and finally Alix discovers him due to them. The papers also talk about the notebook and the murders' dates. And here we have the climax, she realizes everything now. And we know who is the potential killer and the potential victim. She's planning now how to escape but she discovers Gerald with a new spade. So now is not Gerald who plans, but Alix. And now is Gerald who doesn't know what's wrong with Alix, but he's so confident he can't realize she maybe knows something about his real identity.
Alix is a little nervous, because she knows her husband can kill her that night. He has change too, because he always left her alone at the beginning but now he doesn't give her a minute for her own. She has to seem calmed so Gerald leave her during some minutes to pick the phone and ask for help. They booth are acting now, but the difference is that Alix knows Gerald is a murderer, but he doesn't know she know.
He talks about developing the photographs that night, but now Alix really knows the real meaning of that. She tries to excuse herself and he have fun telling her she won't feel tired. She finally gets to use the phone and calls Dick to the Inn giving her a codified message. It's so ironic at the beginning she didn't want Dick to come to the house but now she desperately wants it.
Gerald says he doesn't like the coffee so much, so it gives Alix an idea, to lie him telling she has poisoned it. There's a problem now because Gerald has decided to develop the pictures at 8.30 so maybe Dick can be on time. So she needs time to get Dick there. And she tells her lie