Pat's roommates in a Queensway flat, Joy answers Pat's phone call of inquiry in a breathless state at work and uses words like "super" and engages in pleasantries that leave Pat wary. She mentions that a third roommate, Nadia, has suddenly left for Washington, DC, creating the vacancy. In person, Joy wears expensive perfume and is welcoming. She is a friendly, eager to please twenty-seven-year-old clerk in a solicitor's office and aspires to be a solicitor some day. Marigold is wheelchair-bound with polio. Unable to leave the flat, she does the housework and cooking. She has a most beautiful face and otherworldly blue eyes. She is serene, gentle, and calm.