“That will do—enough upon that head. Pull yourself together, and keep away from that cursed drink; it is that alone which has made you the wreck you are.”
“Ah, I am a wreck—you are right enough! I am a wreck, that is true enough. I’m not the Jack Bristow you knew some three or four years ago.”
“And what about Bessie?” said Peace. “What of her? She left her old quarters about——”
“About the same time as the missus. Ah, they both took their hook at the same time. I don’t think the old woman would have had the heart to go by herself. I’ll never be brought to believe that. She wouldn’t ha’ gone had it not a’ been for Bessie.”
“And have you no idea where they went?”
“Said they were going abroad, that’s all I know. Gone to America, Australia, or some such place. But, lord, I’ve given over thinking about ’em. What’s the use?”
“I don’t know that it is of much use, but I cannot understand the reason for so sudden a flight.”
“Oh, there’s good reason for the matter of that, leastways as far as my old woman is concerned. I don’t believe she ever cared a great deal about me, and that’s the honest truth. Well, latterly you see, she got fairly sick of me.”
“You have nobody but yourself to blame for that.”
“So you always told me. Well, one thing is quite clear, I can’t afford to keep a wife now—can’t keep myself.”