He was more than that; the word isn't strong enough.
He was, as Mrs.Rasselyer-Brown herself confessed to her confidential circle of three hundred friends, a drag.

He was also a tie, and a weight, and a burden, and in Mrs.Rasselyer-Brown's religious moments a crucifix.

Even in the early years of their married life, some twenty or twenty-five years ago, her husband had been a drag on her by being in the coal and wood business.

It is hard for a woman to have to realize that her husband is making a fortune out of coal and wood and that people know it.

It ties one down.