ctions; and her dread of this was materially increased by
finding that Hammond was beginning to tamper with a small sum of money
they had placed in the Tutton Bank, under a mutual agreement that it
should remain there, untouched, until Esther's marriage. All this misery
she owed to Jackson, even to the last item in her troubles; for she
discovered that the money had been drawn out to lend to him.

Matters went on in this way from bad to worse. Mrs. Hammond was miserable,
and Mrs. Jackson was breaking her heart, and the business of both houses
was going to the dogs, when Hannah resolved on a last effort to avert the
impending ruin.

Had she thought her husband utterly corrupted, her scheme would have been
vain; but he had moments of remorse still, in which his good heart got the
ascendant: and, persuaded by her unshaken love, she believed that if she
could but wean him from Jackson's company, he might, by her attachment and
vigilance, be reclaimed. It so happened that she had a cousin married to a
farmer in a distant part of England; and, one day, taking George in a
moment of sobriety and repentance, she made a strong appeal to his
feelings and affections. "I know," she said, "that it is Jackson who
tempts you to drink, when of yourself you might resist; and I do believe
that if the habit were once broken, and your acquaintance with him ceased,
we might all be saved yet. Go to my cousin's; she has often invited us,
and I'll write to her and say you are ordered change of air for your
health. You'll see no drinking there; her husband's a very sober man. You
like farming--go into the fields and the gardens, and work with the spade
and plough. It will make another man of you, George. When you return,
we'll break with Jackson entirely."

The appeal prevailed. George sobbed, threw his arms round his wife's neck,
and vowed that he would never touch liquor again. Eventually, with his
wardrobe brushed up, he was dispatched on this hopeful expedition.

Such a course of life as this, however, could not be carried on without
some evil consequences to himself as well as others; and in spite of the
efforts of his miserable wife to keep things together, the house was
ill-conducted; custom forsook it; and although, unknown to Hannah, Jackson
had by degrees extracted from Hammond every penny of the savings deposited
in the bank, he was distressed for money, and could not keep his creditors
quiet. Added to this, he fell ill with a sever