As time goes by, Connie becomes restless, beginning to realize the truth of her father's warning, to see that her life is filled with empty words, and not the vitality of the sensual. Her bouts of restlessness coincide with the visit to Wragby of a young playwright, Michaelis. Despite his success, the Irish Michaelis is treated by the British aristocratic intelligentsia as an outsider; Connie is attracted by his outsider's aloofness, and sympathizes with his mistreatment. She begins an affair with him which, while not fully satisfying sexually--Connie gets sexual satisfaction from him, but only on her own initiative, after he has arrived at orgasm--temporarily rouses her from her doldrums.