Content Warning: This section of the guide describes and discusses the source text’s treatment of rape and sexual violence.

An unnamed narrator travels to her new home at the residence of her new husband. She remembers her excitement, and her mother’s doubts at the hasty arrangement. On the train, she dreams of making love to her husband for the first time, and considers her husband’s quirks. He’s an older man, and likes sneaking up on the narrator before offering her gifts. He proposed with an opal ring, which the narrator’s nurse said was bad luck. However, it was the man’s family heirloom. She also expresses her distrust of the man’s many marriages. At their wedding, the narrator’s husband gave her a ruby choker “like an extraordinarily precious slit throat” (7).

The couple arrives at their seaside home, which is separated from the mainland at high tide. The narrator is introduced to the housekeeper, who appears to disdain her. When they arrive at the bedroom, the narrator sees that the room is filled with mirrors so that her husband can feel like he’s with “a whole harem” (11). He undresses her, but decides to wait until later to make love to her.