My Master’s Story. 163

 

to be concentrated on the man whom she desired
to marry. My father, sore and disappointed—for
he had fondled and indulged my sister all his life—
avoided the home in which he met such altered
looks from the one inmate to whom he had devoted
himself, and sought distraction in frequent and pro-
longed absences—costly, not in money only, but in
health and peace. His boon-companions, who seem
to have been chiefly the piano and harp player,
were men from whom he could get no good. They
took to card-playing : money is quickly lost in that
pursuit, and every penny that my father could lay
hands on went init. At the same time, his lessons
fell off, owing to his forgetfulness and unpunc-
tuality ; and he let them go, heeding it little as long
as he could, by his attendance at parties and dances,
obtain money for his private expenses. My poor
mother was in sore trouble, but she would not con-
fide, as usual, in me, for she knew how important it
was that my mind should not be distracted at that
time from my studies by worries and cares. I might
have seen, but for my own selfishness ; I might have
seen, but I remained in my fool’s paradise until the
day before I should have gone up for examination,
when my father, though expected home for the
weekly dancing lesson at the grammar-school, did
not return. My poor mother could not help shew-