- After dinner, Ben and Meg talk in the parlor. Meg has something she wants to discuss.
- She explains that they are living in two different marriages.
- True, Ben has been working hard on cases, but it's not enough; she feels like she's been waiting for him forever. First she waited while he was at Harvard, then while he was at Columbia, then afterward as he fought a war in Cuba.
- From where she's sitting, it hasn't gotten better through their 11 years of marriage.
- Meg respects the cases that Ben takes—heck, she even loves that he wants to help the little guy, people who are poor, Black, or have a tricky case—but she also wants to live in a house without a leaky roof. She's sick of giving up what she wants so other people can be helped.
- Ben realizes that his wife is right. It's not that she's selfish; she just wants like to be a little cozier than this.
- Just then, there's a knock at the door. Mazie announces it's a Black guy named Nate who wants Ben's help.