C++ simple singleton implementation return statement for constructors

I am trying to implement a simple singleton pattern in C++.

#include <iostream>

class simpleSingleton
{
private:
    static simpleSingleton * pInstance;
    simpleSingleton(){}
    simpleSingleton(const simpleSingleton& rs) {
        pInstance = rs.pInstance;
    }
    simpleSingleton& operator = (const simpleSingleton& rs)
    {
        if (this != &rs)
        {
            pInstance = rs.pInstance;
        }
        return *this;
    }
    ~simpleSingleton(){};

public:
    static simpleSingleton& getInstance()
    {
        static simpleSingleton theInstance;
        pInstance = &theInstance;

        return *pInstance;
    }
    void demo()
    {
        std::cout << "simple singleton."
                  << std::endl;
    }
};
simpleSingleton *simpleSingleton::pInstance = nullptr;


int main()
{
    /*Version 1 */
    simpleSingleton * p = &simpleSingleton::getInstance(); // cache instance pointer p->demo();
    p->demo();

    /*Version 2 */
    simpleSingleton::getInstance().demo();

    return 0;
}

My question is about the multiple constructors available for simpleSingleton class

simpleSingleton(){}' 'simpleSingleton(const simpleSingleton& rs)

A constructor is expected to return an object of the class. In the above example neither of the constructors have a return statement. Yet this seems to be standard simpleton implementation. why is that?