Chapter Nine begins with Offred remembering the times she used to meet Luke in hotel rooms when they first met, having an affair. She thinks about how fidgety and nervous she was, but also about the freedom, anonymity and independence that she felt when staying in a hotel. At that moment, she realizes that they were truly happy, a memory incomparable with the current situation. She also remembers a more recent memory, exploring the room when she first arrived, searching for clues about the previous inhabitant. While assessing the room, she happens to see stains on the mattress, and concludes that they are stains from lovemaking (Atwood, 1985). Offred also finds a phrase, written in Latin, artistically inscribed on the closet’s floor, and although she cannot read what it says, she feels happy, feeling that the previous handmaid wrote it for her. She holds various notions of the woman who stayed, and attempts to ask Rita about her, but Rita is very reluctant to share such information with her.