ses of amendment. She made no resolutions
now, and in place of shame, poor soul, was conscious only of the
physical penalties which her excesses brought in their train. These
made her very sullen, and, at the same time, very irritable. There
were times, as I well knew, when she had no other means of obtaining
drink, but yet did obtain it, from that misguided woman--her mother,
whose craving she inherited, without a tithe of the brute strength
which apparently enabled the older woman to defy all consequences.

I do not think it necessary to set down here precisely the miserable
ways in which I saw her habits gradually sap all self-restraint and
womanly decency from my wife. The process was gradual, pitilessly
inexorable as the growth of a malignant tumour, and a ghastly and
humiliating thing to witness. In the case of a woman, my impression is
that alcoholism reacts even more directly upon character, and the
mental and nervous system, than it does in men. Their fall is more
complete. At least, for a man it is more horrible to witness than any
degradation of another man.

XIV

In these days it was my habit each evening to make my way as directly
as might be from the _Advocate_ office to our home of the moment.
There was, of course, always a certain measure of uncertainty in my
mind as to what might await me in our rooms; and there were many
occasions when my presence there as early as possible was highly
desirable. It was my dismal task upon more than two or three occasions
to visit police stations, and enter into bail to save my wife from
spending a night in the cells.

Naturally, in view of all these circumstances, I remained as much a
hermit as though living in Livorno Bay, so far as the social life of
my colleagues and of London generally was concerned. During all this
time social intercourse was for me confined to Fanny (who became
steadily less social in her habits and inclinations) and to occasional
meetings with Sidney Heron. Once and again a man at the office would
ask me to dine with him (regarding me as a bachelor, of course), and
always I felt bound to plead a prior engagement. One night, when Fanny
had gone early to bed, feeling wretchedly ill, and sullenly angry
because I would have no liquor of any sort on the premises, not even
the lager beer which it had been my own habit for some time past to
drink with meals, Heron sat with me in our living-room, smoking and
staring into the fire. It was late,