he was dead.
So he let our profits go down and down, while what we did got more worth
doing. It even began to take hold of him--of the old Joe that was still
there.

"But after nearly a year of that, I had to laugh at myself for a fool.
For Joe began wanting money again, and I knew he was thinking of
marrying you. I fought, of course, and for a time I had some hope of
beating you. I remembered you as you had been at the time of your
sister's funeral. You had seemed so young and weak to me. But later,
when you were his wife and began taking half his time, keeping late
hours, draining him--for you women can drain a man, you know--then I
knew that you were strong, your sister's sister. I gave in. Or I
should say I took the only chance that was left. I threw over the
things we had dreamed of and got him to work for money hard--harder than
he'd ever done. I drove him! Why? Because I got him back that way.
By making him work for money for you I began to get him away from you.
In time I even got him to stay in the office late at night. I got him
to keep away from you nights. And there was more than that in my
scheme. For now we're making money enough to satisfy even you, I think.
I'm not sure--I'm never sure--your sister taught me never to be.
Perhaps you can't be satisfied. But if you can, I see a chance. Tell
me how much you really need. We'll get it. And then for the love of
God leave us alone before it's too late--before what's in the man is
dead!"

Nourse finished and rose, looking down at her. She sat rigid, keeping
herself in hand. Again and again she had been on the point of bursting
out, for the sheer brutality of so much he had told her had made it very
hard to sit still. But then as he had spoken of Amy, Ethel had kept
silent, watching his face intensely. How much Amy must have done to
have aroused such bitterness! A sense of reality in his talk, a clear
and sudden consciousness of having the real Amy held up here before her
eyes, had gripped Ethel like a vise. Till now she had no clear idea of
how much Joe had sacrificed. But all that finer side of him, that early
life, those dreams, those friends, had all been known to Amy. And Amy
had been willing to lose them all, to crush them out, for money, only
money, and money for such an empty life! Ethel shivered a little. Her
sister's picture was complete.

"No," she said, looking up at Nourse, "I'm not going to leave you alone.
What I've got to do now is to try my b