Their marriage had been a matter of contract.

Forty years ago, in Poland, Mendel Hyams had awoke one morning to find a face he had never seen before on the pillow beside his.

Not even on the wedding-day had he been allowed a glimpse of his bride's countenance.

That was the custom of the country and the time.
Beenah bore her husband four children, of whom the elder two died; but the marriage did not beget affection, often the inverse offspring of such unions.

Beenah was a dutiful housewife and Mendel Hyams supported her faithfully so long as his children would let him.