"Oh, it's not that she _has_ to," he answered her look, "but
she _thinks_ she has to. See? Once we were poor. For twenty
years we were poor as dirt. Then she did have to do things like
that. Then I struck it. Or rather, it struck me. Oil. Oil on a bit
of land I had. I had just sense enough to make the most of it; one
thing led to another--well, you're not interested in that end of it.
But the fact is that now we're rich. Now she could have all the
things that these women have--Lord A'mighty she could lay abed every
day till noon if she wanted to! But--you see?--it _got_ her--those
hard, lonely, grinding years _took_ her. She's"--he shrunk from the
terrible word and faltered out--"her mind's not--"

There was a sobbing little flutter in Virginia's throat. In a dim
way she was glad to see that the girls were going. She _could_
not have them laughing at him--now.

"Well, you can about figure out how it makes me feel," he continued,
and looking into his face now it was as though the spirit redeemed
the flesh. "You're smart. You can see it without my callin' your
attention to it. Last time I went to see her I had just made fifty
thousand on a deal. And I found her down on her knees thinking she
was scrubbing the floor!"

Unconsciously Virginia's hand went out, following the rush of
sympathy and understanding. "But can't they--restrain her?" she
murmured.

"Makes her worse. Says she's got it to do--frets her to think she's
not getting it done."