He and Esther carried her upstairs and laid her on the bed in the
spare room.
"She'll be precious bad to-morrow," said Journeyman.
"I don't know how you could have gone on helping her," Esther said to
Charles when she got inside the bar; and she seemed so pained that out of
deference to her feelings the subject was dropped out of the conversation.
Esther felt that something shocking had happened. Sarah had deliberately
got drunk. She would not have done that unless she had some great trouble
on her mind. William, too, was of this opinion. Something serious must
have happened. As they went up to their room Esther said--
"It is all the fault of this betting. The neighbourhood is completely
ruined. They're losing their 'omes and their furniture, and you'll bear
the blame of it."
"It do make me so wild to hear you talkin' that way, Esther. People will
bet, you can't stop them. I lays fair prices, and they're sure of their
money. Yet you says they're losin' their furniture, and that I shall have
to bear the blame."
When they got to the top of the stairs she said--
"I must go and see how Sarah is."
"Where am I? What's happened?... Take that candle out of my eyes.... Oh,
my head is that painful." She fell back on the pillow, and Esther thought
she had gone to sleep again. But she opened her eyes.
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