Marjorie Carling comes from a high class family and thus, is well read, however, she is not well knowledgeable. She can remember the information she obtains, yet she can't understand it fully. Marjorie Carling is Walter Bidlake's unhappy mistress. Walter and Marjorie had an affair and she is pregnant with his child. She left her husband, Mr.Carling, due to his perversion, and now she lives with Walter. She acts like a nagging wife to Walter and as a result Walter treats her with cruelty. She justifies the way he treats her and meanwhile is having difficulty reconciling the needs of her body and her soul. When Walter stops loving her, she is left in her mourning, alone. It is funny how she left Carling for Walter and now Walter is leaving her. She obsesses over Walter by reading over his old love letters to her. This represents the idea that you want what you can't have.
"Marjorie took out a handkerchief and began to wipe her eyes. He felt ashamed of his odious thoughts. But she was the cause of his shame; it was her fault. She ought to have stuck to her husband." page 4.
Before this point, Marjorie's philosophy of living in the moment has failed her. She had an affair, and now she is being left. Now, rather than moving on, she is obsessing over the past.
