dresses second to none in the set in which she moves. What more could a woman want?"
"A husband and his love," said Marrion, emphatically. "Would you say you had a wife and that wife's love, if half the time she was in no condition to care for your home?"
"That is not a parallel case. Drinking in a man is not so bad, it is a popular evil; more men drink than sin in any other way."
"And all the other sins follow in its train."
"You know, Latham, I am moral in the main. I need a stimulant; it is something a brain worker must have. Besides"
"Besides what?"
"I am not happy since I became so ambitious," said Robert, gloomily, and, continuing—"I cannot stand the bitterness of self-reproach. When reason is wide awake, remorse fastens its fangs upon it. I—" His head fell heavily upon the table, and he lay there in silent suffering.
"It is your yielding to temptation, more than your ambition, that hurts a refined nature like yours; but as long as you can feel sorrow you are not wholly bad."
"I don't know, Marrion, for brooding over this unfortunate habit I have all unconsciously drifted into, sometimes drives me almost mad; it is then
