[2] Mary Pearl receives a note from her recently deceased husband, William, a man given to emotional abuse due to his controlling nature.
He adds that by the time she reads the letter, the procedure should have been undertaken a week earlier, and suggests she contact Landy.
Mary has been rebelling against her husband's restrictions after his death: she has bought a television and is smoking, both actions William had disapproved of in flashback.
Mary finds the previously dominating William to be attractive in his helplessness and wishes to take him back home, asserting right of ownership over her husband's "remains".
According to Elizabeth Van Haegenborgh, Mary's wish to bring William home with her can be interpreted as a perverse desire for revenge against her controlling husband by flaunting her independence before his now helpless state.