see you here, eh?"

"Well, I should remark he would," replied George, as he shuffled the
cards and then helped himself to a drink.

"I say, George," said the first speaker, "your sister Bess is getting
to be a beauty. Introduce me, will you?"

"No, I won't," said George shortly. He had been losing all the
evening, and he felt nervous and irritable.

"Ah! We are too bad, eh?"

George made some fierce reply, and the other fellow struck him.
Instantly George sprang to his feet and a fight took place. Mr. Hardy
could not bear it any longer. He thought he broke away from the scene
by the exercise of a great determination.

Next he found himself looking into his own home. It seemed to him it
was an evening when he and all the children had gone out and Mrs. Hardy
sat alone, looking into the fire as she had been looking before he fell
asleep. She was thinking, and her thoughts were like burning coals as
they fell into Mr. Hardy's heart and scorched him, as no other scene,
not even the last, had done.

"My husband!" Mrs. Hardy was saying to herself, "how long it is since
he gave me a caress, kissed me when he went to his work, or laid his
hand lovingly on my cheek as he used to do! How brave, and handsome,
and good I used to think him in the old Vermont days when we were
struggling for our little home, and his best thought was of the home
and of the wife! But the years have changed him; oh, yes! they have
changed him bitterly. I wonder if he realises my hunger for his
affection? Of what value to me are all these baubles wealth brings
compared with a loving look, a tender smile, an affectionate caress! O
Robert! Robert! come back to me! for I am so lonely, so lonely! Would
to God all our riches might be taken from us and our position in
Society be lost to us! for I am fast losing my love for him who is my
husband. Great and long-suffering and forgiving God, help me! I feel
wicked sometimes. I cannot bear this kind of a life. It is killing
me! It is robbing me of all that life contains that is sweet and true.
O Father of mercies, for Jesus' sake do not let me grow insane or
without belief! O Robert, Robert! my lover, my husband; I will, I will
love you!" And Mrs. Hardy fell on her knees by the side of the couch
and buried her face in its cushions and sobbed and prayed.

Suddenly the whole scene changed, and Mr. Hardy, who had stretched out
his arms to comfort his wife as in the old days when love was