Although his appearance isn't really attractive to her, Elisa is interested in the stranger because he shows interest in her chrysanthemums in order to persuade her to find something for him to fix. Again, the connection there is that he was interested in her flowers, meaning herself. The man says, “Kind of a long-stemmed flower? Looks like a quick puff of colored smoke?”…”That’s it. What a nice way to describe them.” (Page 209) With this, she now feels appreciated and attractive to this stranger. His compliment to her about her flowers leads her to feel obligated to allow him to fix her pots.
