Neither Helen nor Esther attend Boray's next concert, his transcription of Wagner's "Liebestod". Helen listens on the radio, after talking with him on the telephone and telling him not to worry. She drinks, becomes more upset with herself, and recalling her husband's words, realizes her dissolute past can only taint Paul's future. She walks along the beach and then to her death in the nearby ocean; in her jaded mind, this is the only logical resolution to their problems. Later, on the beach, a distraught Paul is comforted by the loyal Jeffers.