But he could not keep her altogether from
temptation, while they visited constantly at Bolton Villa, and the
houses of other friends. It was in vain that he abstained himself; that
he made himself a fanatic on the question, as all his acquaintances
said; Sophy could not go out without being exposed to temptation, and
she was not strong enough to resist it. Before the next spring came, the
people of Upton spoke of her as confirmed in her miserable failing.
There was no one but herself who could now break off this fatal habit;
and her will had grown wretchedly feeble. The sin domineered over her,
and she felt herself a helpless slave to it. There had been no want of
firmness or tenderness on the part of her husband; but it had taken too
strong a hold upon her before he came to her aid. The intolerable sense
of humiliation which she suffered only drove her to seek to forget it by
sinking lower into the depth of her degradation and his.
A great change came over the rector of Upton. He went about among his
parishioners, no longer gladly taking the leadership among them, and
claiming the pre-eminence as his by right.
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