Parker, now sober, returns home and enters with Ivy while John is reading Parker's review, “Opening Night Report”. Angela grabs her suitcase and readies to leave the apartment, but Parker insists that she listen to him. Parker then apologizes for making fun of Angela when she first began to write the play, and for not going to New Haven and Boston to make suggestions to improve it. He tells her that if she did have an affair with Dion in Boston then he, Parker, is to blame for not having traveled there with her. He begs her forgiveness, but goes on to say that “A Houseful of Silence” was an awful play, he was right to give it a bad review, and that Angela should not try to keep Parker from doing his work as a critic. He promises that if Angela writes another play he will help her, and he asks her to stay with him. Angela, charmed, relents. Dion and Ivy leave together. Angela and Parker retreat to the bedroom.