After a successful recovery, Mrs. Creswell is discharged amid hospital whispers that neither her parents, in-laws nor her husband Tobias have visited. Staff say Tobias is overseas and a scandal that she 'slept her way up' circulated. A flashback shows her father drugged and pushed her into Tobias' bed; she was used to extract money and treated as a wife in name only. Waking from the accident taught her to live for herself. Back home, relatives prepare food for Tobias and call her 'Julia'—she snaps, refusing the name and the old submissiveness. Her assertiveness leaves the household stunned and unresolved.