TOWN'S TALK
Perhaps no two persons, outside that nearest circle of kinship which
surrounds us all, ever suffered more grief and anxiety in witnessing the
slow but sure downfall of a fellow-being, than did Mr. Warden and Ann
Holland while watching the gradual working of the curse that was
destroying David Chantrey's wife.
It was a miserable time for Mr. Warden. Now and then he accepted Mrs.
Bolton's formal invitations to dine with her, and those few
acquaintances who were considered worthy to visit at Bolton Villa. On
the first occasion he had gone with a faint hope that she had thought
over his advice, and resolved to act upon it. But there had been no such
result of his solemn warning, which had been so painful to him to
deliver. He abstained from taking wine himself, as he believed Christ
would have done for the sake of any one so tempted to sin; but his
example had no weight. There was a pleasant jest or two at his
asceticism, and that was all, Sophy Chantrey took wine as the others
did; and, in spite of her resolution, more than the others did; whilst
Mrs. Bolton raised her eyebrows, and drew down the corners of her lips,
with an air of rebuke. No one knew the meaning of that look except Mr.
Warden. The other guests were only entertained by Mrs. Chantrey's fine
flow of merry humor, and remarked how well she bore her husband's
absence.
"You saw her, Mr. Warden?" said Mrs. Bolton to him, in a low voice, when
they reassembled in the drawing-room.
"Yes," he answered, sorrowfully.
"You saw how I looked at her as much as to warn her," pursued Mrs.
Bolton. "I am sure she understood me, yet she allowed Brown to fill her
glass again and again. What could I do more? I have spoken to her in
private; I could not speak to her before our friends."
"I have told you before," he answered, "there is only one thing you can
do, and you refuse to do it."
"It would be ridiculous to do it," she said, sharply. "I am not going to
make myself a laughing-stock to all the world; and I cannot shut her up
in her room, and send her meals to her like a naughty child. You ought
to remonstrate with her."
"I will," he replied, "but it will be of little use, so long as the
temptation is there. Have you seriously and prayerfully thought of your
own duty as a Christian, in this case? Are you quite sure you are acting
as Christ himself would have done?"
"None of us can act as He would have, done," she answered, moving from
away him. Yet her conscience was uneasy. There was, of a truth, no doubt
in her mind as to what the Lord would have done. Yet she could not break
through the habits of a lifetime; no, not even to save the wife of her
favorite nephew. She did not like to give up the hospitable custom. Her
wines were good, bought from the archdeacon's own wine-merchant, and she
enjoyed them herself, and liked to hear her guests praise them. No
question as to the lawfulness of such an enjoyment had ever arisen
before now; but now it troubled her secretly, though she was resolved
not to give way. If Sophy Chantrey could not keep within proper limits,
it was no fault of hers, and no one could blame her for preserving a
harmless custom.
It was not long before Mr. Warden found an opportunity of speaking to
Sophy, though it was an agony to him to do it. A few words only were
spoken before she knew what he meant to say, and she interrupted him
passionately.
"Oh! if David was but here!" she cried, "I could keep right then. But I
cannot bear it; indeed, I cannot bear it. The house is so dreary, and
there is nothing for me to think of; and then I begin to go down, down
into such a misery you do not know anything of. I think I should go mad
without it; and after I have taken it, I feel mad with shame. Aunt
Bolton has told me what she said to you; and I can hardly bear to look
either of you in the face. What shall I do?"
"You must break yourself of the habit," he said pitifully; "God will
help you, if you only keep Him in your thoughts. Promise me you will
neither taste it, nor look at it again, and I will take the same solemn
pledge with you now, before God."
"It would be of no use," she answered, in a hopeless tone, "the instant
I see it, I long for it; and I cannot resist the longing. I've vowed on
my knees not to take any for a day only; and the moment I have sat down
to dinner, I could hardly bear to wait till Brown comes around. If I
wake in the night--and I wake so often!--I think of it the first thing.
If I could get right away from it, perhaps there might be a chance; but
how can I get away?"
"Have you ever thought of what it must lead to?" he asked, wondering at
the power the terrible sin had already gained over her.
"Thought!" she cried, "I think of it constantly. David will hate me when
he comes home, if I cannot conquer it before then. But what am I to do?
I cannot write to him unless I take it. No; I cannot even pray to God,
when I am so utterly miserable. It would be better for me to be some
poor man's wife, and drudge for my husband and children, than to have
nothing to do, and be so much alone. There must be some way of escaping
from it; but I cannot find it."
This way of escape--how could he find it for her? It was a question that
occupied his thoughts day and night. There was one way, but Mrs. Bolton
firmly persisted in closing it, and no other seemed open to her. He
could not make known this difficulty to his friend, David Chantrey; for
it would be a death-blow to him literally. He would hasten home from
Madeira, at the very worst season of the year, as it was now late in
October, The risk for him would be too great. There was no other home
open to Sophy; and it did not seem possible to make any change in the
conditions of that home. She must still be lonely and miserable, and
still be exposed to daily temptations. All he could do was so little,
that he did it without hope in the results.
If possible, Ann Holland was yet more troubled than he was. By and by it
became common town's-talk, and many a neighbor visited her with the
purpose of gossiping about poor Mrs. Chantrey. But they found her averse
to dwell upon the subject, as if gossip had suddenly grown distasteful
to her. Many an hour when she was waiting for her drunken brother to
come in from the Upton Arms, she pondered over what she could do to save
the wife of her beloved Mr. Chantrey. She knew better than Mr. Warden,
who had never been in close domestic contact with the sin, how terrible
and repulsive was the degradation of it; and she was heart-sick for
Sophy and her husband.
"There's one thing I've done," she said one day to Mrs. Bolton, speaking
to her of her brother's drunkenness; "he's never seen me drink a drop of
it since he came home drunk the first time. I hate the very sight of it,
or to hear people talk of the good it's done them! Why, if it did me
worlds of good, and made my poor Richard the miserable wretch he is, I
couldn't touch it. And he knows it; he knows I do it for his sake, and
maybe he'll turn some day. But if he doesn't turn, I couldn't touch what
is ruining him."
"That's very well in your station, Ann," answered Mrs. Bolton, "but it
is quite different with us. We owe a duty to society, which must be
discharged."
"Very likely, ma'am," she replied meekly; "it's my feelings I was
speaking of, not exactly my duty. I hate the name of it; and to think of
the thousands and thousands of folks it ruins! When you've seen anybody
belonging to you ruined by it you'll hate it, I know. But pray God that
may never be!"
"Ann," said Mrs. Bolton, cautiously, "do you suppose any one belonging
to me could ever drink more than is right?"
"It's the town's-talk," answered Ann Holland, bursting into tears;
"everybody knows it. Oh! Mrs. Bolton, if you can do anything to help
her, now is the time to do it. It will get too hard to be rooted up by
and by. I know that by my poor brother. He'll never leave it off till
he's on his deathbed and can't get it. James Brown, your butler, ma'am,
is always talking to him, and exciting him about what he's got charge of
in your cellars; and they sit here talking about it for an hour at a
time, till they go off to the Upton Arms. I hate the very sound of it."
"But I must have cellars, and I must have a butler," said Mrs. Bolton,
somewhat angrily. She was fond of Ann Holland, and liked the reverence
she had always paid to her. But this ridiculous notion of Mr. Warden's
seemed to have taken possession of the poor, uneducated woman's brain,
and threatened to undermine her influence over her. She cut short her
visit to her at this point, and returned home uncomfortable and
disturbed, wishing she had never offered the shelter of her roof to her
nephew's unhappy and weak-minded wife.
Presently, as the dreary winter wore away, Mr. Warden began to shun the
sight of Sophy Chantrey. All his efforts to save her, or even to check
her rapid downfall, had proved vain; and he turned from her sin with a
resentment tinged with disgust. But Ann Holland could feel no resentment
or disgust. If it had been in her power she would have watched over her
and cared for her night and day with unwearied tenderness. As far as she
could she sought to keep alive within her all kinds of softening and
pleasant influences. She went often to see Charlie at school, sometimes
persuading Sophy to go with her, though more often the unhappy mother
shrank from meeting her little son's innocent greetings and caresses.
The terrible fits of depression which followed every indulgence of her
craving frequently unfitted her for any exertion. She clung to Ann
Holland's faithful friendship; but it was not near enough or strong
enough to keep her from yielding when she was tempted.
But Sophy Chantrey had not yet fallen to the lowest depths--perhaps
never would fall. Her husband's return would save her. Ann Holland
looked forward to it as the only hope.