y yours, MARY OLIPHANT."

Frank read this letter over and over again, and groaned in the fulness
of his distress. She had not asked him to become an abstainer. Was it
because she felt that it was hopeless? _He_ knew it to be so. He knew
that if he signed the pledge he should only add a broken vow to his
other sins. He felt that, dearly as he loved Mary, he could not forego
all intoxicating drinks even for her sake. He dared not pray that he
might be able to abstain, for he felt that he should not really wish for
the accomplishment of such a prayer. Habitual indulgence had taken all
the stiffness out of his will. And yet the thought of losing Mary was
utter misery. He leaned his head on his hands, and gazed for a long
time on her letter. At last there came a thought into his mind. All
might not yet be lost. There was still one way of escape. He rose up
comforted, and thrusting the letter into his pocket, sought out his
mother. He found her alone. She looked at him with deep anxiety and
pitying love, as well she might, when she marked the gloom that had
settled down on his once happy face. Alas she knew its cause too well.
She knew that he was on the downward path of intemperance, and she knew
how rapid was the descent. She was well aware that his sinful excess
had been the cause of the breaking off of his engagement with the
rector's daughter. Oh, how her heart ached for him. She would have
given all she possessed to see him what he once was. She was prepared
for any sacrifice, if only he could be reclaimed before it should be too
late.

"Dearest mother," he said, throwing himself down beside her, clasping
her knees, and looking up imploringly into her face, "I'm a miserable
creature, on the road to ruin, body and soul, unless something comes to
stop me."

"Oh, my boy, my boy!" cried his mother, bursting into tears; "do not say
so. You have gone astray; but so have we all, one way or other. There
is hope for you if you return. Surely the evil habit cannot be already
so strong upon you that you cannot summon strength and resolution to
break through it."

"Oh, you do not, you cannot know what a helpless creature I am!" was his
reply. "When once I begin to taste, every good resolution melts away in
a moment."

"Then give up such things, and abstain altogether, my beloved Frank, if
that be the case," said Lady Oldfield.

"I cannot," he replied bitterly. "I cannot keep from them, they must be