But within a few days Fanny Carr called up and asked them to dinner and the play.

Ethel made some excuse and declined.

She did not mention it to Joe, but that night he said gruffly, "Sorry you turned Fanny down." And Ethel looked at him with a start.

So Joe was seeing her these days! "I haven't been feeling very strong, Joe," she said in an unnatural tone.
"You've been to the opera twice this week," was her husband's grim rejoinder.
And this was only one little instance of many that made Ethel sure that Fanny Carr was still about.

She was getting at Joe through his business side, going to his office.