After marrying Evans, she meets Mrs. Amos, who gives her a different perspective than that supplied by her father. Mrs. Amos believes that the greatest duty is to be happy. ‘‘Being happy, that’s the nearest we can ever come to knowing what’s good!’’ Mrs. Amos counsels Nina to ignore accepted notions of morality and take a lover who will father her child. Mrs. Amos is convinced that this will enable her son Sam to avoid the insanity that runs in the family. Nina accepts the argument that it is her duty to be happy, but she has guilty feelings about the prospect of committing adultery. Darrell talks her into it, though, by supporting Mrs. Amos’s position. He urges her to ‘‘throw overboard all such irrelevant moral ideas.’’ He argues that guilt arises only if a wife neglects her duty to provide her husband with a healthy child.