"I 'm afraid so. He has been there once before."
"The habit has been long upon him?"
"It is inherited. This is the third generation," she admitted, turning her head aside in shame.
"But he himself—"
"Only after his father's death. The father feared this and watched him every minute. He died thinking the danger was passed, but he left me a prescription which had been of help to him. It was given him by our old family physician who has since died. Mr. Barstow knew Dr. Emory and so has always prepared it for me."
"How long this last time did he go without the drug?"
"It is three months since the first attack. This medicine tided him over five days. He was nervous to-night and begged me to go out to dinner with him. I 'm afraid it was unwise—the lights and the music excited him."
"But you have n't been here alone with him?"
"There is Marie."
"Two women alone with a man in that condition—it is n't safe."