The Garden of the Finzi-Continis

In the morning, the task of reconnecting with Micòl seems daunting. She sleeps until noon and rattles off her complaints to him without inviting him to the house. He waits outside the synagogue to see her, and while she looks around he dares to ask himself, “was she seeking me, perhaps?” (136). He leaves before she can notice him. He calls the house persistently but only succeeds in making long conversations with Alberto or the Professor. When Malnate returns from visiting family in Milan, all the talk bores the narrator. The only person he doesn’t speak with is Micòl. When he finally reaches her to complain about “her coldness,” Micòl turns the accusation back on him. He is the one who has acted too serious to approach or ignored her after services. When he finally bothers her when she’s ill, she complains about how he hasn’t visited her. He leaves Alberto to tend to Micòl. Perotti escorts him up in an elaborate elevator.

The narrator arrives in Micòl’s room and she welcomes him in. All she has been doing is reading, and she insists that he sit down so they can catch up. He rejects her offer of drinks and they begin rapidly discussing Bartleby in the Piazza Tales.