ed her to the house. There was great excitement among
the ragged children; in fact, the atmosphere became so
dangerously full of love and charity that I commenced to feel
uncomfortable,--the shower of roses again,--and was glad to find
myself in the open air. We went for a walk and had several
drinks, which made the usual change in Dolly. I got tired of her,
determined I would leave her, spoke cruelly, and finally--after
having connection with her on the dry seaweed--rose and left her
brutally, walked away faster and faster, deaf to her
remonstrances, and careless whether or how she reached the
station....

"I had gone to lodge with a family whom I had been accustomed to
visit as a friend; there were two daughters; the elder, engaged
to a young German who was away with a survey party, had a rather
plain face, but a strong one and was herself a strong character,
and I came to like her in spite of myself; the second girl had
light golden hair, a fresh complexion, a short nose, and rather
large mouth, which contained beautiful teeth; they were both
good, obedient, innocent church-going daughters. As there was
plenty of amusement there of an evening, singing and dancing, I
did not go out, got into better ways, and gradually gave up
drinking to excess. I was so improved in appearance that an old
acquaintance did not recognize me. My anecdotes and fun amused
Mrs. S., the mother of the girls. She could be very violent on
occasions, I found, and I learned that there had been terrible
scenes at times, and that from time to time it had been necessary
to place her in an asylum. I went for drives with the girls and
to theatres, and ought to have been happy and glad to find myself
in such good quarters. The mother trusted me so entirely that she
left me for hours with the girls, the younger one of whom I would
kiss sometimes. She was engaged to a young fellow whom I spoke to
patronizingly, but whose shoes I was not worthy to fasten. I was
the cause of quarrels between them. They made it up again but I
think he noticed the change that was taking place in Alice. For
from kissing her I had gone on--all larking at first. We formed
the habit of sitting down on the sofa when alone and kissing
steadily for ten minutes or more at a time. She was excited
without knowing what was the matter with