Mrs. Martin moves into the apartment across the hall from Mrs. Morse during the time when Mrs. Morse’s marriage is suffering and she is beginning to drink a great deal. Mrs. Martin and Mrs. Morse drink together during the day, and at night she holds poker games, which Mrs. Morse attends. Mrs. Martin initiates Mrs. Morse into the way of life she will
Take up after Herbie leaves her and serves as a model for the type of woman Mrs. Morse is becoming. Mrs. Martin is “a great blonde woman of forty, a promise in looks of what Mrs. Morse was to be.” She is apparently married, but the only visible man in her life is her lover Joe. “Husbands, as such, played but shadowy parts in Mrs. Martin’s circle.”