At the Howard mansion a late-night tryst becomes the episode's flashpoint: Miss Howard tends to Mr. Howard, who repeatedly calls for water as their intimate noises grow louder. Servants whisper that his boisterous displays are a performance—his wartime injuries supposedly left him incapable. Grandma's tale of a world where one man has one wife surfaces in disbelief. Miss Howard vows that bearing sons will make her Mrs. Howard, but the staff's suspicion that his vigor is feigned turns her plan into a precarious gamble, leaving whether she can secure her position unresolved.