l on the other side."

"Ay, but this gulf can be passed: Howard, what _would you give_ to be a
temperate man?"

"What would I give?" said Howard. He thought for a moment, and burst
into tears.

"Ah, I see how it is," said Dallas; "you need a friend, and God has sent
you one."

"What _can_ you do for me, Mr. Dallas?" said Edward, in a tone of wonder
at the confidence of his assurances.

"I will tell you what I can do: I can take you to my house, and give you
a room, and watch over you until the strongest temptations are past--I
can give you business again. I can do _all_ for you that needs to be
done, if you will give yourself to my care."

"O God of mercy!" exclaimed the unhappy man, "is there hope for me? I
cannot believe it possible; but take me where you choose--I will follow
and obey."

A few hours witnessed the transfer of the lost husband to one of the
retired apartments in the elegant mansion of Dallas, where he found his
anxious and grateful wife still stationed as his watchful guardian.

Medical treatment, healthful exercise, useful employment, simple food,
and pure water were connected with a personal supervision by Dallas,
which, while gently and politely sustained, at first amounted to actual
imprisonment.

For a time the reaction from the sudden suspension of habitual stimulus
was dreadful, and even with tears did the unhappy man entreat to be
permitted to abandon the undertaking. But the resolute steadiness of
Dallas and the tender entreaties of his wife prevailed. It is true that
he might be said to be saved "so as by fire;" for a fever, and a long
and fierce delirium, wasted him almost to the borders of the grave.

But, at length, the struggle between life and death was over, and though
it left him stretched on the bed of sickness, emaciated and weak, yet he
was restored to his right mind, and was conscious of returning health.
Let any one who has laid a friend in the grave, and known what it is to
have the heart fail with longing for them day by day, imagine the dreamy
and unreal joy of Augusta when she began again to see in Edward the
husband so long lost to her. It was as if the grave had given back the
dead.

"Augusta!" said he, faintly, as, after a long and quiet sleep, he awoke
free from delirium. She bent over him. "Augusta, I am redeemed--I am
saved--I feel in myself that I am made whole."

The high heart of Augusta melted at these words. She trembled and wept.
Her husband wept al