and of pledging them in the cup that cheers and at the same
time inebriates. Nevertheless, things went very well for a
time, until the child was born, the business declined, and
they began to be a little pinched. Then it occurred to her
that she, too, might be able to do something. She started
dressmaking, and as she had good taste and was clever and
quick, her business soon prospered. This pleased him; it
relieved him from the necessity of providing for the home,
and enabled him to follow his own inclination, which was to
take things easily--to be an idle man, with a little ready
money in his pocket for betting and other pleasures. The
money was now provided out of "our business." This state of
things continued without any change, except that process of
degeneration which continued in him, until the child was about
four years old, when all at once one day he told her they were
not doing as well as they might. She was giving far too much
of her time and attention to domestic matters--to the child
especially. Business was business--a thing it was hard for a
woman to understand--and it was impossible for her to give her
mind properly to it with her thoughts occupied with the child.
It couldn't be done. Let the child be put away, he said, and
the receipts would probably be doubled. He had been making
inquiries and found that for a modest annual payment the boy
could be taken proper care of at a distance by good decent
people he had heard of.

She had never suspected such a thought in his mind, and this
proposal had the effect of a stunning blow. She answered not
one word: he said his say and went out, and she knew she would
not see him again for many hours, perhaps not for some days;