Answer: As the first major section of Passing, "Encounter," begins, Irene Redfield is sorting through her morning mail. Among the final documents in her pile is a document composed on large Italian paper and addressed in dramatic purple ink. Irene feels an aversion to this particular letter, and senses that it may draw her back into the risky life of one of her acquaintances: Clare Kendry.While sitting before the letter, Irene summons memories of Clare's youth. She first envisions a young girl sitting in front of a powerful, enraged man: this scene was typical of Clare's upbringing under her father, a janitor named Bob Kendry. After Bob's death in a saloon fight, the young Clare briefly gave way to an outburst of tearful emotion. However, her outburst was short-lived. Irene muses that Clare's nature could be summed up as ‘catlike’, since Clare's moods involve alternating moments of calculation and aggression.Irene's thoughts eventually return to the letter immediately in front of her; she opens the envelope and begins to read. In the text of the letter itself, Clare explains that she feels lonely and alienated. She wants to reconnect with Irene (to whom she refers as "'Rene") and refers back to events that took place two years earlier. Irene herself looks back on the Chicago events with a combination of embarrassment and anger, yet finds her thoughts drawn to these occurrences. Here, Chapter 1 of Passing draws to a close.Chapter 2 of "Encounter" begins with a description of an astonishingly hot August day in Chicago. Irene recalls the events of these days and is drawn into a flashback, which becomes the present time of the narrative from here on out. On this day in the flashback, she is shopping for her two sons, Brian Junior and Theodore; her attempts to find a drawing book for Theodore have so far been futile, and the heat has begun to take a toll on her. After watching a pedestrian crumple onto the sidewalk, Irene herself feels faint and decided to seek refuge in a cab. She has the cabman take her to the Drayton, an upscale hotel.At the Drayton, Irene makes her way to the rooftop restaurant. She spends some time reflecting on the difficult natures of Theodore and of her husband, but soon finds that her thoughts gravitate to two of her fellow guests: a woman with a husky voice, and this woman's male companion. After the man leaves, Irene finds that the woman has begun to stare at her. Irene initially fears that the woman has identified her as African-American (a risk in a white-restricted hotel such as the Drayton), yet the woman dissipates this fear and addresses Irene by name. Struggling to place her new companion in her memories, Irene remains confused until she hears the woman laugh. This sound is the giveaway: it suddenly occurs to Irene that she has been talking to Clare Kendry.Surprised by this encounter, Irene reflects on the news and rumors that surrounded Clare after the death of Bob Kendry. Clare had been absent from Irene's life for at least twelve years. Before Clare disappeared, though, Irene's father had made a visit to Clare's living relatives to try to obtain news of Clare's whereabouts; he discovered, from the relatives, that Clare had vanished. Gossip had sprung up around the young Clare in short order. Apparently, Clare had been seen in white high society; the adult Irene reflects on Clare’s escapades in this world of privilege.Irene and Clare acknowledge that they have fallen almost completely out of contact, and then proceed to inform each other of the courses that their lives have taken. Irene explains that she is married and has relocated from Chicago to New York; Clare is pleased simply to hear Irene's news and recollections. After Irene declares that she must leave, Clare invites Irene to meet her husband Jack and her daughter Margery, who are also in Chicago. Because Clare's proposal does not fit Irene's plans, Irene invites Clare on a trip to Idle wild with other African Americans of her acquaintance. However, Clare cannot go: she cannot break her lifestyle of "passing" as white.Irene turns out to be intensely curious about Clare's extending "passing" ploy. Naturally, Clare explains in great detail how she was able to enter white society. The relatives who took in Clare after Bob Kendry's death--Clare's aunts--were white themselves. These women attempted to instill in Clare a lifestyle of religiosity and hard work. Instead, Clare met her enterprising future husband, John Bellew, when he visited her white neighborhood, and ran off to marry him without notifying her aunts.After making these revelations about her past, Clare asks whether Irene herself has ever considered "passing.”