"It's not easy to live with a man you don't love. But you've had the courage and the strength to do evil; perhaps you will have the courage and the strength to do good. That will be your retribution."
These are Joyce's final words in the play. His hope is that Leslie will love Robert, or do her best to pretend to, after she has cost him his life's savings and lied to him about killing Hammond.
"No, that won't be my retribution. I can do that and do it gladly. He's so kind and good. My retribution is greater! With all my heart I still love the man I killed."
Leslie's final words put this character in the realm of sociopath. We're unsure why she married Crosbie in the first place, but we do hear her say that she will love a dead man more than the man who's sacrificed most in order to love her.
"Mr. Joyce, you won't let them hang me!"
Joyce has found the letter that Leslie wrote asking Hammond to come to her and Robert's bungalow. She has been found out, she is a liar and a murderer and she is terrified and knows that her only sliver of a chance to live is for Joyce to save her in the courtroom.
