When Kostis tells Larry of a saint-like man who dwells In India, Larry decides to journey to India and seek guidance from him. In Paris, meanwhile, Larry is laboring in the coal mines when he meets Kostis, a cynical defrocked priest who has lost his faith. Also attending the ceremony is Sophie, who has married Bob MacDonald and given birth to a daughter. Isabel then returns to Chicago and marries Gray, and Maugham meets them once again at their wedding. At the last minute, however, she is unable to go through with her plan and asks him to leave. On her last evening in Paris, though, Isabel invites Larry to dinner with the intent of seducing him and thus forcing him into abandoning his pursuit of knowledge for a prosaic married life. Appalled by Larry's modest living conditions, Isabel, who craves status and wealth, breaks off their engagement. Larry then sails to Paris, and some months later, Isabel visits him there. After Larry completes his story, Isabel offers to postpone their wedding for one year so that he can find himself. With this second chance, Larry has decided to search for the meaning of life. Larry explains that his outlook has been shaped by a profoundly moving wartime experience in which his close friend sacrificed his own life so that Larry might live. Larry arrives late, and when Isabel questions him about turning down a lucrative position with the Maturins, Larry responds that his goal in life is 'to loaf.' Isabel, who has been indoctrinated with the glories of American expansionism and the idea that self respect is derived through hard work, listens with incredulity as Larry states that there are more important goals in life than making money. At the party, Maugham also meets Sophie, Isabel's simple childhood friend who is wearing a borrowed gown. Louisa would much prefer that Isabel marry Gray Maturin, the son of a wealthy stockbroker. Somerset Maugham recalls the time in 1919 when he first he met Larry Darrell, 'a remarkable creature,' during a dinner party at a Chicago country club hosted by the snobbish Elliott Templeton and his supercilious sister, Louisa Bradley: Louisa is distraught because her elegant daughter Isabel is engaged to Larry, a man who lacks money, prospects and ambition.

The Razor's Edge by W. Somerset Maugham