The Painted Veil

Kitty goes to visit Waddington’s Manchu mistress. She is heavily made-up and, in her stillness, seems “more like an idol than a woman” to Kitty (194). Kitty feels that she and the East she represents constitute a sort of wisdom that eludes Westerners. After the meeting, she tells Waddington, “I’m looking for something and I don’t quite know what it is. But I know that it’s very important for me to know it, and if I did it would make all the difference” (198). Waddington replies that such searches are futile.

Back at the convent, Kitty’s pregnancy fascinates the nuns. The mother superior asserts that Walter is delighted; however, Kitty privately feels that his vanity will prevent him from forgiving her.

As Kitty spends more time in the convent, she becomes assured of the nuns’ kindness but also of the aloof, impersonal nature of their love, which does not strike her as natural or humane.