The Age of Innocence: Chapter 3 Summary & Analysis

Mrs. Beaufort always goes to the Opera on the night of her annual ball in order to prove that her servants are good enough to do everything without her. The Beauforts’ house is one of the few with a ballroom, and the superiority of having such a room that is only used one day of the year makes up for any scandals in the Beauforts’ past. The Beauforts are seen as somewhat common. Mrs. Beaufort was a South Carolina beauty related to some high society families, but her marriage to Julius Beaufort overruled these privileges. No one is quite sure who Beaufort is, though he came from England with recommendations from Mrs. Mingott’s son-in-law.

Even so, Mrs. Beaufort somehow manages to run the most distinguished house in New York. She’s essentially boring and lazy, but she dresses her beauty lavishly and everyone comes to her house. People say that Beaufort runs all of the domestic activities, but he acts perfectly carefree in the house. Despite a rumor that the international banking-house where he was employed in England “helped” him leave the country, people go to his house with a sense of social security and know they’ll get better food than at Mrs. Mingott’s.

When Mrs. Beaufort leaves the Opera after the third act, the audience knows that the ball will begin in half an hour. New Yorkers are proud to show the Beaufort house to foreigners. They have their own red carpet and awning, and they let ladies take their cloaks off in the hall instead of in the hostess’s bedroom. The ballroom is at the end of a series of beautiful drawing rooms.

Archer arrives fashionably late. After dawdling in the library with a few men, he joins the line of guests to be received. He’s nervous that the Mingotts might go too far and bring Ellen Olenska to the ball. He knows this would be a terrible mistake, and he’s feeling less inclined to defend her since speaking to her.

Mrs. Welland and May are standing by the ballroom door. Couples are dancing beyond them. May is holding lilies-of-the-valley and standing with a group of young people, to whom she is revealing her engagement. Archer wishes that she hadn’t announced it in such a public place, because the matter is so close to his heart, but when May looks at him he can tell that she feels the same regret. Archer wishes that Ellen Olenska hadn’t made this announcement necessary. The group congratulates him, and he takes May onto the floor to dance. He thinks how different life will be with her always beside him.

When the dance ends, Archer and May go sit in the conservatory. They say how they wish the announcement hadn’t had to be at the ball, but at least they’re alone together. Archer is overjoyed to think that she’ll always understand him. He says he wants to kiss her but can’t, then he makes sure they’re alone and does kiss her. He brings her to a less secluded sofa and takes a lily-of-the-valley from her bouquet.

May asks whether Archer told Ellen of their engagement, and he realizes that he didn’t. They debate which of them should tell her and decide that Archer must. He asks whether she’s at the ball. May says that she decided not to come at the last minute because she thought her dress wasn’t nice enough. Archer is very pleased with May’s constant determination to ignore anything unpleasant. He thinks May knows exactly why Ellen really didn’t come, but he’ll never let May see that he knows Ellen has a bad reputation.