"'And exert myself I will.'--'And quit the gaming-table?'

"'Ask me to make no promises,' said I; 'I may not be able to keep them;
therefore, ask me to make none.'--'I do ask you, beg of, entreat of you
to promise, and solemnly promise me that you will leave that fearful
place, where men not only lose all their goods, but the feelings of
nature also.'

"'Say no more, Lizzy; if I can get a living elsewhere I will, but if
not, I must get it there.'

"She seemed to be cast down at this, and she shed tears. I left the
room, and again went to the gambling-house, and there that night, I won
a few pounds, which enabled me to take my wife and child away from the
house they had so long lived in, and took them afterwards to a miserable
place,--one room, where, indeed, there were a few articles of furniture
that I had saved from the general wreck of my own property.

"She took things much less to heart than I could have anticipated; she
seemed cheerful and happy,--she endeavoured to make my home as
comfortable as she could.

"Her whole endeavour was to make me as much as possible, forget the
past. She wanted, as much as possible, to wean me away from my gambling
pursuits, but that was impossible. I had no hope, no other prospect.

"Thus she strove, but I could see each day she was getting paler, and
more pale; her figure, before round, was more thin, and betrayed signs
of emaciation. This preyed upon me; and, when fortune denied me the
means of carrying home that which she so much wanted, I could never
return for two days at a time. Then I would find her shedding tears, and
sighing; what could I say? If I had anything to take her, then I used to
endeavour to make her forget that I had been away.

"'Ah!' she would exclaim, 'you will find me dead one of these days; what
you do now for one or two days, you will do by-and-bye for many days,
perhaps weeks.'--'Do not anticipate evil.'

"'I cannot do otherwise; were you in any other kind of employment but
that of gambling,' she said, 'I should have some hope of you; but, as it
is, there is none.'--'Speak not of it; my chances may turn out
favourable yet, and you may be again as you were.'

"'Never.'--'But fortune is inconstant, and may change in my favour as
much as she has done in others.'

"'Fortune is indeed constant, but misfortune is as inconstant.'--'You
are prophetic of evil."

"'Ah! I would to Heaven I could predict good; but who ever yet heard of
a ruined gambler