CHAPTER V.
TOWN'S TALK
Perhaps no two persons, outside that nearest circle of kinship which
surrounds us all, ever suffered more grief and anxiety in witnessing the
slow but sure downfall of a fellow-being, than did Mr. Warden and Ann
Holland while watching the gradual working of the curse that was
destroying David Chantrey's wife.
It was a miserable time for Mr. Warden. Now and then he accepted Mrs.
Bolton's formal invitations to dine with her, and those few
acquaintances who were considered worthy to visit at Bolton Villa. On
the first occasion he had gone with a faint hope that she had thought
over his advice, and resolved to act upon it. But there had been no such
result of his solemn warning, which had been so painful to him to
deliver. He abstained from taking wine himself, as he believed Christ
would have done for the sake of any one so tempted to sin; but his
example had no weight. There was a pleasant jest or two at his
asceticism, and that was all, Sophy Chantrey took wine as the others
did; and, in spite of her resolution, more than the others did; whilst
Mrs.
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