Herbert is a man under a woman's thumb ,we do not know really why.She ruins his life ,we do not exactly why:does she love him? does she think he needs self-confidence ?does she want to share his sufferings -she tells him so - some S/M from a distance? In spite of her and her blackmail,he gets married and he loses both wife and child ,as well as his bookstore and his house ;he does not seem to care anymore. He paces up and down the road which borders the sea: this way seems to merge into the sky ,and he wanders around this bench where he used to meet the woman he loved.