The unnamed woman feels lost without the unnamed man now that he is gone. One day she notices a story in a magazine that sounds very much like an excerpt from the novel the man had been telling her, the one about the blind assassin. The woman reads the magazine story and recognizes some of the names and the details. The name of the city in the story is Sakiel-Norn, the same as in the man’s novel. There are also barbarians about to launch an attack on the city, just as in his story. However, there is no blind assassin. There is also no sacrificial woman for the blind assassin to rescue. In other words, there is no love story. In its place is an invasion of space aliens called the Lizard Men. Due to the threat of the aliens, the barbarians and the king of Sakiel-Norn ban together to fight the space creatures. That is how the first installment of the story ends. The woman is disappointed. Although the woman looks for sequels to the story, she never finds them. This makes her feel even more lonely and abandoned. She constantly thinks of the unnamed man and tries to imagine him thinking of her. She also tries to envision what he might be doing and where he might be.

The story breaks for a letter from Dr. Gerald P. Witherspoon, director of an Ontario mental institution, the BellaVista Sanctuary. Richard has sent Laura to this institution. The doctor reports that Laura’s condition is not improving. As a matter of fact, her mental state has deteriorated further. Dr. Witherspoon suggests that Richard and Iris no longer come to visit Laura because he believes their visits upset Laura. He also tells Richard that with his approval he would like to begin electroshock therapy. The narrator offers no further discussion about this letter. Readers do not know why Laura has been institutionalized nor are they privy to Iris’s feelings about this situation.

After the letter from Dr. Witherspoon, the tale about the unnamed woman resumes. She is still suffering; she has to remind herself that she must eat. She says that she sometimes feels as if she has been buried alive. She is hoping that “he” will come rescue her. It is unclear who this woman is. Is she really the unnamed woman or is she Laura? Or could she be the sacrificial woman in the unnamed man's novel? There is mention of towers and turrets, which could be an allusion to all three of the women. All three women might be waiting for a man to rescue them.

There is mention of the unnamed man. The woman who is narrating her thoughts reflects on the last time she saw him. However, nothing is clear enough to conclusively identify the female narrator. As the woman recalls the man, she remembers how he once told her she led a very sheltered life. This description eliminates the slave woman about to be sacrificed, but it could still fit either the unnamed woman or Laura.