sibilities, or of the world and its hypocrisy than the pets left behind her, when, at the early age of sixteen, she confided all her prospects of earthly happiness to the keeping of another. Too young to comprehend the full nature of the new relation she had assumed, or scan the possibililies of the future, it was only the realization of youth's sunny dreams, enhanced by the rich treasure of an added love. In reply to a suggestion made by a friend who knew Mr. Crawford much better than she did, that the law should be changed which vested the wife's property in her husband at the moment of her marriage, thus exposing her needlessly to all the vicissitudes of fortune that business or speculation may incur, she spoke with a tone of indignation unusual to that gentle nature, "Do you think I would trust myself where I would not trust my property? Whatever is mine shall be my husband's!" a pledge that was fulfilled very differently from what she anticipated. Not naturally an indulgent man, and being ten years the oldest, it was very easy to assume a control to which she unresistingly yielded. He might have been ordinarily kind if strong drink had not made him a tyrant.
Always having borne a good reputation, and scorning drunkenness as if it had been a loathsome reptile, he prided himself greatly on being able to control his appetite; but, on joining a club of young men who met for convivial purposes, he found the power of restraint passing away, and, lacking the strength to resist his associates, resolved to change his residence.
