and sixty-eight dollars."

"Very well," said Ellis, controlling himself, "I will attend to it."

The man retired, leaving the mind of Ellis in a complete sea of
agitation.

"If this be so," he muttered in a low, angry voice, "then is all over!
To struggle against such odds is hopeless. But I cannot believe it.
There is--there must be an error. The carpets are not mine. He has
mistaken some other woman for my wife, and some other dwelling for
mine. Yes, yes, it must be so. Cara would never dare to do this! But
all doubt may be quickly settled."

And with, this last sentence on his lips, Ellis left his store, and
walked with hurried steps homeward. Entering his house, he stood for a
moment or two in one of the parlour doors. A single glance sufficed.
Alas! it was but too true.

"Mad woman!" he exclaimed, in a low, bitter tone. "Mad woman! You have
driven me over the precipice!"

Turning quickly away, he left the house--to return to his store?--Alas!
no. With him the struggle was over. The manly spirit, that had, for
nearly two weeks, battled so bravely with difficulty without and
temptation within, yielded under this last assault. In less than an
hour, all sense of pain was lost in the stupor of inebriation!

CHAPTER XX.

WE will not trace, minutely, the particulars attendant on the headlong
downward course of Henry Ellis. The causes leading thereto have been
fully set forth, and we need not refer back to them. Enough, that the
fall was complete. The wretched man appeared to lose all strength of
mind, all hope in life, all self-respect. Not even a feeble effort was
opposed to the down-rushing torrent of disaster that swept away every
vestige of his business. For more than a week he kept himself so
stupefied with brandy, that neither friends nor creditors could get
from him any intelligible statement in regard to his affairs. In the
wish of the latter for an assignment, he passively acquiesced, and
permitted all his effects to be taken from his hands. And so he was
thrown upon the world, with his family, helpless, penniless, crushed in
spirit, and weak as a child in the strong grasp of an over-mastering
appetite, which had long been gathering strength for his day of
weakness.

Over the sad history of the succeeding five years let us draw a veil.
We have no heart to picture its suffering, its desolation, its
hopelessness. If, in the beginning, there was too much pride in the
heart of Mrs. Ellis, all was