The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1888-06-08
MAUD THORNToN's CURSE.

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1t was James Earlston who spoke, in
angry and yet alarmed tones, and lac struck
his clenched fist on the table with a weight
that made all the glasses rattle. 1t was
dinner-hour at Haddley House; the ladies
of the household, consisting of Earlston's
mother and sister, had retired to the draw
ing-room, and Eailston and his friend,
Crawford Grant, who was also his sisters
intended husband, were sitting over their
wines, as was the custom at lladdley
House when there were visitors there-at
other times Earlston left the wine alone.
He was a good looking young man of sew
en-and-twenty, and he was the junior, not
principal, partner of the firm of Earlston
& Gillies, Glasgow. His friend Grant was
some years older, and was the youngest
son of Sir Thomas Grant, of Heronhill,
Baronet.
II am not one, you know well, Earlston,
wlo would SANDER woman's character
Grant replied, slowly. 81 speak for your
sake alone. There is no greater evil un-
III III Nttiit diiti lOtit NOV 10 b'i tlNAiJ
gathering a footing in the best circles,
than this cursed habit"
''And why, in the name of consistency,
man, don't you give it up, root and branch,
YOURSELF" demanded James Earlston, tap
ping his companions glass of champagne
with an impatient finger.
"Because | have never felt | was in duty
bound to give up a thing which can take
way" replied Grant. "Still, don't know
sometimes it seems to me, for the sake
of others, | am bound to give it up. But,
James, do look into this thing; | have only
told yon to put you on your guard"
James Earlston made no reply. The
thing Grant had told him of was so terri
BILE, so shameful, that none but a true
friend wonld have dared to risk his anger
by telling him of it; and this was what
made Earlston so uneasy. But how could
he believe so horrible a thing as that Maud
Thornton, the prettiest, sweetest creature
on earth, his own betrothed wife, was
given TO drink.
That was the thing, Invested Of all its
euphemistic names, that Grant had said of
her. That was the thing, in all its naked,
bare. open shame and horror. 1t could
not-no, it could not be true. And yet
terrible thoughts and memories came up
before James Earlston-of how he had
heard that, years ago, Maud's mother had
been confined in a private ''place," where
she had died-of how it had been wills
pcred that ever when Maud was born the
young mother had been a hopeless victim
to that terrible monster which yearly
claims so many men and women as its
prey-of how he himself had seen Maud's
pretty lips toss off a glass with moro relish
than pretty lips should-of how one day
but he dared not let himself think of
that day-when, calling unexpectedly in
the morning, he had found Maud looking
| strange, dishcvelled, and stupid. She had
excused it afterwards by saying she had
had such a headache, but now it fitted
strangely in with what Grant had SAID.
James Earlston was not a total abstainer
any more than his friend, but Marion
Earlston was-indeed, she was "rabid"
on the subject, her brother SAID. When
the young men joined the ladies in the
dr~awing-room, oddly enough Marion in
troduced the topic. She had been hearing
a temperance lecture the night before, and
was full of it.
"She said-Miss Fothergill, | mean
what was quite true, that if we ladies do
not band ourselves together against it,
nothing will hinder the progress of the
work of soberizing the people so much. |,
for one, have made up my mind never, so
long as | have the sense of right and
wrong left me, to stop in my fight against
the whole system-moderate drinking as
we'll as drunkenness"
"Then you'll have to begin by making
a convert of your husband" said Grant,
laughing gaily at her energetic tones.
lone thing I'm determined about,
Crawford" said Marion, bringing her
bright eyes to bcar upon his half-amused
face, sand that is, never shall that thing,
in whatever refined form, as they call it,
it may be, enter the house of which | am
mistress. So now you know what is be-
fore you."
81 tremble at the prospect, said Grant,
looking as cheerful as possible over it.
'Wha do you think of Miss Marion's
st;nuJations amiepr
'Jamie is as bad as you. Men have no
idea of giving up their own creature CON-
forts, as they call thcm.' cried Miss Mari
on. 81 hope Maud will do the same by
you, Jamie"
Earlston turned away with q bitter pang.
At parting that night, he said to his friend:
81 havc made up my mind to do as you
say, Grant. For my sake, don't breathe
a word of this to any living being. What
restaurant did you say?"
ssThe Princess of Wales, p" replied Grant,
naming a well-known and aristocratic res
taurant. "You know | am your friend,
Jamie, at all times and with a firm grasp
of each others hands, the two friends part
ed, Grant to walk homo with his mind full
of pity for Marion's brother, Earlston to
muse gloomily and despairingly over the