My Pleasure Reading 330-379

Hurstwood receives Carrie's letter and resolves to win back her love. He learns that Drouet is no longer living at the apartment with her, so he assumes they have argued and parted ways. He returns to work. After closing, he checks all of the cash drawers and the safe. He discovers that the safe has been left unlocked, leaving ten thousand dollars in cash unprotected.

Hurstwood knows that Julia probably will get everything in the divorce. Even though he and Carrie could live for years on the ten thousand dollars he finds in the safe, he decides to leave it where he found it. However, the safe clicks shut while the money is still in his hands. Hurstwood has never been given the combination to the safe, so he will probably get in trouble for removing the money from the safe. He flees the saloon with the money.

Hurstwood rushes to Carrie's apartment. He tells Carrie that Drouet is in the hospital with a serious injury and that he wants to see her. She hurries out with him, and Hurstwood takes her to the train station. Carrie unknowingly follows him onto a train headed to Detroit. She slowly realizes that Hurstwood has lied to her and demands that he let her go. Hurstwood pleads with her to run away with him to Montreal. He says that he is divorcing his wife and promises to marry Carrie right away. She agrees to go with him. He says nothing about the stolen money.

Carrie recognizes that Hurstwood is no longer as free with his money as he had been in Chicago. He will not discuss his money matters with her, and the first seeds of trouble are sown in their relationship. Meanwhile, Hurstwood fears meeting old acquaintances in New York.

 Days pass into weeks. Hurstwood begins pestering Carrie to economize on household expenses. In order to ensure that they spend as little as possible, he begins running all the household errands himself. Carrie notices with dissatisfaction that he skimps on many expenses. She also loses her weekly allowance because Hurstwood does all the shopping. Hurstwood becomes apathetic. He ceases to dress well and neglects his daily grooming. Eventually, he even stops consulting the ads in the papers. Carrie makes a cutting remark about his idleness. They begin sleeping in separate rooms.

 Carrie decides to look for work as an actress. She finally gets a position as a chorus girl at twelve dollars a week. She uses "Carrie Madenda" as her stage name. Having found work so quickly, she resents Hurstwood's months of joblessness even more than she had before. She insinuates that he is not actually looking for work when he goes out. She resents her new position of having to support Hurstwood her small wage. Now that she is paying the household expenses, her desire for new clothing and small ornaments grows. Rather than paying rent, she buys a new pair of shoes, and Hurstwood begins buying groceries on credit. Carrie befriends another chorus girl, Lola, and they start spending evenings out together.

She decides to move in with Lola because she will only have to pay twelve dollars a month for rent.
Carrie borrows twenty-five dollars from Lola. When Hurstwood leaves for a walk, she writes him a note explaining that she is leaving him. She leaves twenty dollars for him and moves out of the apartment. When Hurstwood returns and finds the note and the money, he sits in the rocking chair for several hours, staring at the floor.