kept from me, and then I should have some chance."

"But, my dear boy, how can that always be? You cannot expect your
father to banish beer and wine from his table, and to refuse to set them
before his guests. You cannot expect that he should debar himself the
moderate use of these things because you have, unhappily, learned to
take them immoderately."

"No. I cannot, of course. I cannot, and I do not expect it, and
therefore I am come to put before you, my dearest mother, what I believe
will be my only chance. You know that Hubert Oliphant is going to join
his Uncle Abraham in South Australia. He sails in October. He is going
by a total abstinence ship, which will not therefore carry any
intoxicating drinks. Will you and my dear father consent to my going
with Hubert? My unhappy taste would be broken through by the time the
voyage was over, as I should never so much as see beer, or wine, or
spirits; and the fresh sea-air would be a better tonic than porter,
wine, or ale; so that you would have no need to fear about my health."

Lady Oldfield did not reply for several minutes. She was, at first,
utterly confounded at such a proposal from the son whom she idolised,
and she was on the point of at once scouting the idea as altogether wild
and out of the question. But a few moments' reflection made her pause.
Terrible as was the thought of the separation, the prospect of her son's
becoming a confirmed drunkard was more terrible still. This plan, if
carried out, might result in Frank's return to habitual sobriety. Ought
she therefore to refuse her sanction absolutely and at once? At last
she said,--

"And who, my dearest boy, has put such a strange thought into your head?
And how long do you mean to remain away? And what are you to do when
you reach Australia?"

"No one has suggested the thing to me," he replied. "It came into my
mind as I was thinking over all the misery the drink has brought on me
of late. If I could go with Hubert, you know what a friend and support
I should have in him. I might remain in the colony two or three years,
and then come back again, please God, a thoroughly sober man; and then
perhaps dear Mary would relent, and give me back my old place in her
heart again."

Lady Oldfield drew him close to her, and clasping her arms round him,
wept long and bitterly.

"Oh, my boy, my Frank!" she exclaimed; "how shall I bear to part with
you? Yet it may be that this is God's doing; t