The Razor's Edge

Six months later, the police contact Maugham. Sophie has been murdered. Maugham and Larry go together to identify the body. As Maugham predicted the last time he saw her, Sophie’s throat was cut.

Afterward, Maugham and Larry go out for a drink. Larry has given away his money and plans to work his way across the Atlantic on a freighter. Maugham wonders if Larry’s life might have been better if he had married and had children like everybody else. Larry replies that the only woman he could ever have married was Sophie. He doesn’t seem even to remember that he was engaged to Isabel. Maugham supposes it has never occurred to Larry that Isabel still has any feelings for him.

Passing through Paris, Maugham stops to see Isabel. She and Gray are getting ready to go back to America. When Maugham relays how Sophie was murdered, Isabel is neither sorry nor surprised. Maugham tells her he believes Isabel killed her, having intentionally left Sophie alone with the bottle of vodka. Isabel admits it. She has no remorse, either. She believes she saved Larry from a terrible mistake.

Maugham tells her about Larry’s plans. She begins to cry, knowing Larry has left her social world forever and she will never see him again.