Stevens arranges to meet Miss Kenton. He sits in the dining hall of a hotel in a town called Little Compton in Cornwall. With some time to kill before their meeting, he listens to the rain fall outside as he does not want “to surprise her by arriving any earlier” (148). He thinks back to that morning. While driving back to his stranded car, he talked with Dr. Carlisle. During the drive, Carlisle correctly guessed that Stevens is “a manservant of some sort” (150) rather than the gentlemen whom the locals had assumed him to be. Stevens is relieved. He tells Carlisle the truth that he is the butler at Darlington Hall and has met many famous politicians in this capacity. He regrets that the locals mistook his comments. Carlisle is amused. He notes that someone like Stevens seems like an aristocrat to the locals in the small town. They discuss Harry Smith and his “thoughts on the nature of dignity” (151). When they finally get back to Stevens’s car, they replenish the fuel, and Carlisle bids farewell to Stevens.

Stevens spent the morning driving down to Little Compton.