Dyzma travels to Warsaw with the task of securing a timber allocation from Minister of Agriculture Jaszuński for Kunicki’s sawmills. He contacts Colonel Wareda, who helps him gain access to high society circles in the capital. Dyzma presents Kunicki’s idea for saving agriculture to the Deputy Minister as his own, earning a reputation as a “brilliant mind.” He also meets Countess Przełęska, Nina and Żorż’s aunt, who introduces him to aristocratic salons. Together with her lover, Zyzio Krzepicki, they begin plotting how to free Nina from the conman Kunicki.