Though a great trial to the young wife, she followed him unsuspectingly, ignorant of any reason that could induce him to leave the home of her childhood where they were so pleasantly situated. When she ventured to make any inquiry, his manner instantly silenced her, without the wished for information. He hoped that in leaving his old companions and the scene of his temptations he might break off his former habits and save his reputation which he regarded as the apple of his eye, from any imputation by his old friends.
Here he was mistaken. Although moderate drinking was fashionable, the world was not so stupid, as it never is, to regard a man with quite so much favor after he has begun to debase the god-like within him, which it discovers much sooner than he is aware.
For three months he struggled bravely with his appetite, and kept his resolution; but, alas! one of his old companions followed him here, and enticed him again to the terrible abyss whence he had apparently escaped. Knowing the weak side of his character, and exaggerating the facts, he persuaded him that it was a vain attempt to save the respectability already lost, for every body knew the reason of his sudden removal. A certain ingenuousness about Mr. Crawford made him spurn hypocrisy, and these words added to the humiliation already felt. That proud spirit chafed under the galling thought of honor irretrievably gone, and his craving thirst for drink was too strong to be resisted by one whose controlling sentiment was pride rather than principle, and he fell never to rise again.
