Rousseau waits for Madame de Warens to return, passing his time amusing himself with his friend and flirting with young women. He admits to having little interest in women who lack wealth or status but claims that this has more to do with his attraction to the aesthetic enhancements that money can lend a woman in dress and appearance than with any financial self-interest. Rousseau is charged with escorting one of Madame de Warens’s female servants back home to her father in Fribourg. On their journey, he stops at his father’s home and is encouraged to stay. He assures his father that he will stop again on his return trip after the young lady is securely delivered to her family.

After leaving the servant with her family, Rousseau decides to bypass his father’s home and visit Lausanne. He has a great desire to see the city on a lake. Despite having only six months of musical training, Rousseau obtains pupils in Lausanne, where he teaches and composes music. However, his work is poorly received, and he struggles to find students. He leaves Lausanne for Neufchâtel, where he is more successful as a music teacher. In Neufchâtel, Rousseau meets a Greek monk who persuades him to join him on a journey to Jerusalem.