She used the baby, too, and Susette; she often persuaded Joe to come home in time for Susette's supper, or better still for the baby's bath.

And all this was so successful that even when her spring fever was gone she still stayed at home in the evenings.
But in the meantime, what about friends?
"I'm lazy," she thought, "I'm not facing it! I'm just putting it off--and it's dangerous!" For Joe was out so much at night.

Over half the time he did not get home until the children were in bed, and often after a hurried dinner he would leave by eight o'clock--for business appointments, he told her, at some club or some cafe.

He was putting through another big deal.

At times, despite her efforts, angry suspicions would arise.