 Polenberg describes Cardozo 's lifelong devotion to his older sister Nell , with whom he lived in New York until her death in 1929 . When asked why he had never married , Cardozo replied , quietly and sadly , I never could give Nellie the second place in my life . Polenberg suggests that friends may have stressed Cardozo 's devotion to his sister to discourage rumors that he was sexually dysfunctional , or had an unusually low sexual drive or was homosexual . But he produces no evidence to support any of these possibilities , except to note that friends , in describing Cardozo , used words like beautiful , exquisite , sensitive or delicate . 
