What I suffered the first three years of our marriage none
can tell. Then he took the pledge, and ever since that he's been
very good--I haven't seen him what you could fairly call drunk, not
more than three times a year. It was the blessing of God, and a
beating he got from a milkman in Westminster, that made him ashamed
of himself. I kept him to it and made him emigrate out of the way of
his old friends. Since that, there has been a blessing on him; and
we've prospered."
"Is Cashel quarrelsome?"
At the tone of this question Mrs. Skene suddenly realized the
untimeliness of her complaints. "No, no," she protested. "He never
drinks; and as to fighting, if you can believe such a thing, miss, I
don't think he has had a casual turnup three times in his life--not
oftener, at any rate. All he wants is to be married; and then he'll
be steady to his grave. But if he's left adrift now, Lord knows what
will become of him. He'll mope first--he's moping at present--then
he'll drink; then he'll lose his pupils, get out of condition, be
beaten, and--One word from you, miss, would save him. If I might
just tell him--"
"Nothing," said Lydia. "Absolutely nothing. The only assurance I
can give you is that you have softened the hard opinion that I had
formed of some of his actions.
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