“Yes—­”

“Did he give you his reason!”

“Yes—­he did—­”

“Did he bring Amy into it!”

“He did not—­”

“He should have, Joe.  For just the afternoon before, Amy had made a call on his wife—­and had said things insulting enough so that her husband had to break off!”

“Sally told you that!”

“Why should she lie?” Ethel threw a quick glance into Joe’s eyes.  “He believes it!” she thought, and hurried on:  “I’ve talked to her, Joe, in a way that was bound to get the truth.  Oh, I’ve been hunting hard for you, dear!  If Fanny Carr had told her detectives to follow me everywhere I’ve been, and not just hunt for the nastiness that was in her own mind about me—­they could have shown what a hunt it has been!  I had so little time, you see!  You were all in the balance—­you’d waited so long!  Even now you’ve found you can’t draw the plans—­the ones you used to dream about!  I know because I made you try!  And I went to Nourse, to your old friend Dwight, and then to Sally Crothers—­and asked them all to help me.  And as I went on and learned about you as you used to be, I fell in love all over again with the man I found—­not Amy’s husband—­mine, all mine!

“And I had almost got you back—­when Fanny Carr, with her nasty view of me and what I was doing, brought you those perfectly rotten reports?  And if you believe them, Joe, I’m through!  Go to Nourse or to Sally Crothers, and they’ll tell you I have spoken the truth.  If you won’t believe either them or me, go on alone without me—­or else marry Fanny Carr.  But if you do believe me and we’re to go on together now, you’ll have to drop Fanny for good and all, and leave Amy way behind.  You’ll have to take up your old friends and try to get Crothers into your firm.  You may think your business is yours and not mine—­but if it’s my life, it’s my business, too!  It’s like four walls around me now, and I want to break out and so do you—­away from mere money!  I’ve watched you, dear—­seen what a struggle has gone on inside of you—­it has worn you out! haven’t you made money enough?  Let’s leave it, go to Paris, and get to work before it’s too late for you to get back what you had!  And if there’s no money, never mind.  It will come later on—­but don’t let’s be afraid if it doesn’t.  Don’t let’s be afraid of pain—­of fighting hard and suffering, Joe!  I want more children!  I want you!  I want you mine, all mine, my dear—­not her husband.  Don’t you see?”

She had been eagerly leaning toward him.  Joe was staring into the fire; the look in his eyes had frightened her and made her hurry to be through.

“What is it?” she asked.  And she waited a moment.  “Don’t you believe what I’ve told you, Joe?”