to
the tone of woe. Hope once more dawned; and I began to think, strange
as it appeared, that such things as my friend promised me might come to
pass. On the instant I resolved to try, at least, and said to the
stranger:

"Well, I will sign it."

"When?" he asked.

"I cannot do so to-night," I replied, "for I must have some more drink
presently, but I certainly will to-morrow."

"We have a temperance meeting to-morrow evening," he said; "will you
sign it then?"

"I will."

"That is right," said he, grasping my hand; "I will be there to see
you."

"You shall," I remarked, and we parted.

I went on my way much touched by the kind interest which at last some
one had taken in my welfare. I said to myself: "If it should be the
last act of my life, I will perform my promise and sign it, even though
I die in the attempt, for that man has placed confidence in me, and on
that account I love him."

I then proceeded to a low groggery in Lincoln Square, and in the space
of half an hour drank several glasses of brandy; this in addition to
what I had taken before made me very drunk, and I staggered home as
well as I could.

Arrived there, I threw myself on the bed and lay in a state of
insensibility until morning. The first thing which occurred to my mind
on awaking was the promise I had made on the evening before, to sign
the pledge; and feeling, as I usually did on the morning succeeding a
drunken bout, wretched and desolate, I was almost sorry that I had
agreed to do so. My tongue was dry, my throat parched, my temples
throbbed as if they would burst, and I had a horrible burning feeling
in my stomach which almost maddened me, and I felt that I must have
some bitters or I should die. So I yielded to my appetite, which would
not be appeased, and repaired to the same hotel where I had squandered
away so many shillings before; there I drank three or four times, until
my nerves were a little strung, and then I went to work.

All that day the coming event of the evening was continually before my
mind's eye, and it seemed to me as if the appetite which had so long
controlled me exerted more power over me than ever. It grew stronger
than I had any time known it, now that I was about to rid myself of it.
Until noon I struggled against its cravings, and then, unable to endure
my misery any longer, I made some excuse for leaving the shop, and went
nearly a mile from it in order to procure one more glass wherewith to