Charm
Doctor Maradick was “born to be a hero to women.” From her first day in his hospital, from the moment when she watched, “through closed shutters, while he stepped out of his car,” Margaret had never doubted that he was “assigned to the great part in the play.” She wasn’t “ignorant of his spell.” There was “the charm” he exercised “over his hospital.” One could feel it in “in the waiting hush, like a drawn breath, which followed his ring at the door.” Even his footstep on the stairs was “imperious.” This imagery evokes a feeling of enigma.
Poor Mrs. Maradick
Margaret knew that curiosity killed the cat but couldn’t help it. She wanted to know more about Mrs. Maradick. Luckily for her, the hospital was full of stories about Mr. and Mrs. Maradick. Margaret learned the doctor’s wife was “a very sweet-looking then.” She wasn’t “exactly pretty, but fair and slight, with the loveliest smile.” She was “so much in love” that the nurses used to “laugh about it” among themselves. To see her face “light up when the doctor came out of the hospital,” was “as good as a play”. This imagery evokes a feeling of tenderness.
An old house
“Before ascending the steps,” Margaret stopped for a minute “to look at the house in which Doctor Maradick lived.” “A finer rain was falling,” so Margaret thought, “how depressing the weather must be for Mrs. Maradick.” It was “an old house, with damp-looking walls” and “a spindle-shaped iron railing which ran up the stone steps.” She was standing in front of “the black door,” feeling a little bit unsure. That was the house of Mrs. Maradick, the place she had never wanted to leave “to live anywhere else.” This imagery evokes a feeling of sadness, for Mrs. Maradick is now a prisoner at her own house.
