Villa on the hill

The story takes place in the late 1930s. Thirty-year-old Mary Panton, whose exceptional beauty has always been one of her greatest assets, has been widowed for a year. Her late husband, Matthew, whom she married at twenty-one because she loved him, turned out to be an alcoholic, a gambler, a womanizer, and a wife-beater. Mary endures all the hardship and pain her husband inflicts on her (including having sex with her while drunk). When he drinks and drives, he is involved in a car accident. A few hours later, he dies in Mary's arms. She concludes that this is a blessing for both of them.