In Chap­ter XXX of “Crome Yel­low,” Denis is abrupt­ly wok­en from his slum­ber by Mary, who reminds him to send a telegram. Act­ing with unusu­al deci­sive­ness, Denis sends a telegram that demands his imme­di­ate return to town on “urgent busi­ness.” This action pleas­es him, pro­vid­ing a rare sense of sat­is­fac­tion from tak­ing a deci­sive step. Upon return­ing, break­fast con­ver­sa­tion with Mr. Sco­gan high­lights Denis’s typ­i­cal pre­oc­cu­pa­tions with broad­er exis­ten­tial con­cerns, but the morn­ing’s beau­ty and his deci­sive action seem to cast them in a lighter vein.

Denis attempts to main­tain a sem­blance of nor­mal­cy, engag­ing in break­fast con­ver­sa­tion and there­after seek­ing solace behind the “Times” news­pa­per to evade Mr. Sco­gan’s philo­soph­i­cal con­tin­u­a­tions. How­ev­er, his tran­quil­i­ty is dis­rupt­ed first by Mary’s reminder of a suit­able train back to Lon­don, then by Anne’s casu­al con­ver­sa­tion which leads to an awk­ward encounter with Mr. Sco­gan who impos­es him­self phys­i­cal­ly and con­ver­sa­tion­al­ly between them. This intru­sion by Mr. Sco­gan cements the day’s theme of Denis’s endeav­ors to seek iso­la­tion and reflec­tion being con­stant­ly thwart­ed by the inter­ven­tions of oth­ers.

The arrival of the telegram Denis had ear­li­er sent to him­self sets the stage for the final act of his depar­ture. The telegram’s osten­si­ble urgency caus­es a far­ci­cal com­mo­tion among the guests, each react­ing accord­ing to their dispositions—from Mary’s prac­ti­cal­i­ty to Anne’s dis­may and Priscil­la’s belief in her pre­mo­ni­tions. Despite Denis’s guilt and reluc­tance to leave—propelled by what he had con­vinced him­self was nec­es­sary action—he’s caught in the momen­tum of the sit­u­a­tion he cre­at­ed. His inter­ac­tions with Anne reveal a shared regret, yet his depar­ture becomes inevitable as arrange­ments swift­ly encase him in a nar­ra­tive of urgent depar­ture.

The chap­ter con­cludes with Denis’s sub­dued accep­tance of his fait accom­pli, his reflec­tion on the con­se­quences of deci­sive action—a theme under­scored by the jux­ta­po­si­tion of his melan­cholic depar­ture against the back­drop of the live­ly and vibrant Crome. This depar­ture, lit­er­al and metaphor­i­cal, encap­su­lates Denis’s inter­nal strug­gle between action and inac­tion, his desires and his duties, and ulti­mate­ly, his place with­in the social tapes­try of Crome. His exit is marked by a poignant, yet some­what com­ic rit­u­al of farewells, under­scor­ing the novel’s satir­i­cal tone and the futil­i­ty of Denis’s attempt to assert con­trol over his life’s direc­tion.