Frank Hardy's choice, and what came of it

by Charlotte Grace O'Brien

"A long while, off and on, sir," said the man; "I have not been able to work more than a day or so at a time for a good many weeks, or you would not see me as I am now, sir," he added, looking down with confusion on his tattered garb.

"You are in distress, I am afraid, Hallet," said Mr. Ekworth.

"Indeed I am, sir," said the poor man, with a deep-drawn sigh. "I am indeed."

"And yet," rejoined Mr. Ekworth, slowly and sadly, "you have not forsaken your old destructive habit. Your breath betrays you. And I fear you are going on in the Eight Bells' fashion, bringing ruin on your body and soul."

"It was only a drop, sir," said the man, hastily interrupting his monitor, and speaking deprecatingly; "if you will believe me, sir, it was only a drop that I had just now, to keep me from sinking in the street. I was so faint, sir; and it was the last penny I had got. Ah, sir," he went on, "I cannot do as I used to do, if I wished it ever so much. I haven't the money, and I haven't the strength."

"I see you have not, my poor friend," said Mr. Ekworth, sorrowfully; "and you are finding by terrible experience, 'the end of these things is death.'"

The man did not reply in words; the muscles of his countenance moved convulsively.

"Oh, Hallet," Mr. Ekworth continued, "if I could but hope that you had seen the sinfulness of your past course, as you must have felt its wretchedness."

"I know its sinfulness, and I feel its wretchedness, sir," said the convicted man, in a tone of self-abandonment, as he looked down upon the pavement; "and I see you have got the measure of me, Mr. Ekworth, just as you used to have; but where is the use of talking? I am like them that said, 'There is no hope: no; for I have loved strangers, and after them will I go.'"

"Alas! And you can quote Scripture thus to your own condemnation! But, my poor friend, far gone as you are in misery and sin, there is One who can subdue your iniquities, and who says, 'Return unto Me, and I will return unto you.' Think of Him, Hallet; and go to Him, even now, at the eleventh hour."