- A letter arrives from Antigua and Sir Thomas is now planning to return home in November, which is three months away.
- Maria isn't so happy to hear this since she's supposed to marry Mr. Rushworth after her dad returns. She decides to ignore it since a lot can change in three months.
- Mary is intrigued by the return of Sir Thomas since it will shake things up.
- Edmund, Fanny, and Mary are in a group together once again and discuss Sir Thomas's return. Once he arrives, Maria will get married and Edmund will take orders in the church. A lot of change seems to be on the horizon.
- Mary once again hints that Edmund needs a new career plan pronto but Edmund insists that he wants to be a clergyman.
- The group then discusses other careers too. Mary suggests that Edmund is only joining the church because his dad has a living set aside for him, which Edmund denies.
- Fanny defends Edmund's career decision and the group then compares the navy and the army with the church.
- Mary says that the army and the navy are appropriately manly jobs. The church is lame.
- Mary and Edmund once again debate the politics of the church, Mary taking a more negative view and Edmund defending it.
- Mary offers up Dr. Grant as an example of how the clergy isn't the best job. Dr. Grant is fairly lazy and selfish.
- Fanny pipes up and defends the church and says that Dr. Grant is probably better for being a clergyman than if he had a different job that may have made him even more selfish.
- Mary compliments Fanny and then walks off. Edmund rambles on about how super Mary is.
- Fanny agrees and then quickly starts talking about what a pretty night it is and how great nature is.
- Edmund agrees and says it's a good thing she's been well educated into having good taste and appreciating nature. Since he did most of the educating, he's basically patting himself on the back here.
- Edmund than wanders off and leaves Fanny alone at the window.