The Drive to the Precipice

Maxim drives the narrator to the hills above Monte Carlo. He drives dangerously fast, and she feels a thrill. They stop at a precipice, and he becomes silent and detached, lost in his own thoughts. She fears he might be mad. He then apologizes and turns the car around. He tells her he had been there years ago with his wife, and that she has blotted out the past for him. He asks her to call him Maxim.