Sid broke into her painfully lingering thoughts with a curt good-bye and it was with a feeling of relief that she heard the door slam behind him.

Automatically, she began to clear away the breakfast dishes. A dull plodding resentment governed her actions. Used and humiliated… that's how she felt… a piece of property to be used and abused at Sid's whim. Being a good wife had always been her goal, and she kept the house immaculately clean and cooked good meals, and she knew that for her thirty-two years she had a good figure. She squeezed a sticky pool of dish detergent into the dishpan and began to tidy up the other rooms. But she felt no joy in her work, no reward… not even relief. This big beautiful house seemed like such a waste of space. And Sid was the one who'd insisted on having a study where he could tutor children in the summer inter-session to make few extra dollars to augment the meager salary he earned at the "Free School" where he taught pre-teens everything from gymnastics to French. And Sid was so ungrateful for her support and backing!

She couldn't help feeling that most of the fault of the trouble in their marriage lay on Sid's head. She had taxed her patience, skimping here and there on the household budget, remaking last year's fashions into this year's mania, taking in alteration and sewing jobs to bring in a few extra dollars. Nothing helped! Sid just didn't appreciate her efforts at conservation.

Her headache still throbbed above her eyes, so the housewife decided to treat herself to a long, hot bath and ease some of the tension in her taut, stressed body.

As the bath was filling to the brim, Sybil slipped off her breakfast robe and nightdress and scrutinized herself in the full-length mirror. On the whole, she was pleased with what she saw. Her tummy was a trifle rounded, but knew that it was not unattractive. "Titianesque…" as Sid called it. Apart from that small imperfection, she still had the figure she had that day, over eight years ago, when she'd met Sid at college and he had stared so rudely at her. Goodness! She was young then… so much had happened in those fifteen years. And not all for the best, either! she sighed, stepping into the tub.