HOW JARVIS WAS SAVED.
T'S quite true, ma'am, I've been a drinker; but, indeed, I've given it up, and if you'll only give me a chance of redeeming my character, you shan't ever regret it."
The lady who was thus addressed looked up from the letter she had been reading, somewhat doubtfully, at the speaker who was a woman past her early youth, red-faced and coarse-featured, but with honest gray eyes and a set mouth that bore witness to the purpose indicated by her words.
"But you lost your last situation by giving way to drink," said Mrs. Reston.
"Yes, ma'am, I did. I had got into the habit, and nothing was kept locked up, and I couldn't help taking it when the longing came on me."
The woman was singularly frank the lady thought, and after further conversation, it was decided that she should enter Mrs. Reston's service as cook.
"You will find no temptation to drink here," said Mrs. Reston. "I keep all intoxicants under lock and key, and the housemaid does not take anything of the kind. So you see, if you really wish to reform you have a good chance, and, indeed, if I did not think you were sincere in your wish to turn over a new leaf, I would not engage you."