Alida has always felt that she was the one is control in her relationship with Grace but she finds out that night that Grace has actually pities her all these years because she " didn't have to wait that night'" (1168) for Delphin at the Colosseum. Alida's response to this is " Yes; I was beaten there. But I oughtn't to begrudge it to you, I suppose. At the end of all these years. After all, I had everything; I had him for twenty-five years. And you had nothing but that one letter he didn't write'" (1168) to which Grace gives the ultimate blow to Alida by saying " I had Barbara'" (1168). This quote, spoken by Mrs. Ansley at the conclusion of the story, reveals the truth about the affair to the reader and to Mrs. Slade. .
One of the main images in the story is the comparison between dark and light. Grace is referred to as being pale and angelic and Alida is dark and slightly devilish. Alida's daughter Jenny is also called angelic several times, and surprisingly, this is not what Alida wants in a child. She would prefer a daughter who needs more attention, who is more of a troublemaker, like Grace's daughter Barbara. Grace, on the contrary, would prefer an angelic daughter. She claims that Babs is angelic in defensive of her daughter. Grace and Jenny are called pale and angelic and Alida and Babs are referred to as being dark and slightly naughty. It seems that the mothers and daughters were mismatched. Alida constantly mentions how "angelic" her own daughter is while the readers can detect her jealousy of Grace. Alida is grateful and gloats over the fact that she didn't get Roman fever even though it " stalked the streets at that dangerous hour'" (1165), until she realizes that the disease is the reason that Grace has what Alida wants more than anything- a charismatic, mischievous daughter. This is ironic because the daughter that Alida wishes she had is in fact her husbands' daughter, which she doesn't find out until the end of the story.