fair was fixed for the following days. He had hoped to carry Selma
there, but, as she was not to be had, it seemed to him sensible to get
what enjoyment from it he could alone. Then it happened that a former
companion of his bachelor days and his bachelor habits, a commercial
traveller, whom he had not seen since his marriage, appeared on the
scene.

"The very man for me!" he ejaculated, jubilantly.

The obscurity of this remark was presently made clear to his friend, who
had hoped perhaps to enjoy a snug evening at Babcock's domestic hearth,
but who was not averse to playing a different part--that of cheering up
a father who had lost his baby, and whose wife had left him in the
lurch. He assured Babcock that a regular old time outing--a shaking
up--would do him good, and Babcock was ready to agree with him,
intending thereby a free-handed two days at the fair. As has been
intimated, his manner of life before marriage had not been
irreproachable, but he had been glad of an opportunity to put an end to
the mildly riotous and coarse bouts which disfigured his otherwise
commonplace existence. He had no intention now of misbehaving himself,
but he felt the need of being enlivened. His companion was a man who
delighted in what he called a lark, and whose only method of insuring a
lark was by starting in with whiskey and keeping it up. That had been
also Babcock's former conception of a good time, and though he had dimly
in mind that he was now a husband and church-member, he strove to
conduct himself in such a manner as to maintain his self-respect without
becoming a spoil sport.

During the first day at the fair Babcock managed to preserve this nice
distinction. On the second, he lost account of his conduct, and by the