I'll trade with him." Carrie heard this with indifference.
"All right," she said.
Then it came to be: "George, I must have some coal to-day," or, "You must get some meat of some kind for dinner." He would find out what she needed and order.
Accompanying this plan came skimpiness.
"I only got a half-pound of steak," he said, coming in one afternoon with his papers.

"We never seem to eat very much." These miserable details ate the heart out of Carrie.

They blackened her days and grieved her soul.

Oh, how this man had changed! All day and all day, here he sat, reading his papers.

The world seemed to have no attraction.