"She was about thirty-five years old, dissipated and gentle. She liked to think of the life she was living as an overture to something wonderful..."

"She was a skinny, bobbed-haired woman of about thirty-five, who must once have been very feminine, appealing, wistful, and soft..."

"The clock continued to tick..."

"...it never even occurred to Elisabeth, placid, thirty-five-year-old Elisabeth, that her husband might deceive her..."