Finally the husband died of strong drink at an
advanced age, leaving Mrs. Jasher a somewhat elderly widow.
The poor woman again took to the stage and tried to earn her
bread, but was unsuccessful. Afterwards she lectured. Then she
kept a boarding establishment, and finally went out as a nurse.
In every way, it would seem, she tried to keep her head above
water, and roamed the world like a bird of passage, finding rest
nowhere for the sole of her foot. Yet throughout her story both
the young men could see that she had always aspired to a quiet
and decent, respectable existence, and that only force of
circumstances had flung her into the whirlpool of life.
"As I said," remarked Random at this stage, "the miserable
creature was more sinned against than sinning."
"Her moral sense seemed to have become blunted, however," said
Archie doubtfully.
"And small wonder, amidst such surroundings; but it seems to me
that she was much better under the circumstances than many
another woman would have been. Go on."
In Melbourne Mrs. Jasher made a lucky speculation in mines, which
brought her one thousand pounds. With this she came to England,
and resolved to make a bid for respectability. Chance led her
into the neighborhood of Gartley, and thinking that if she set up
her tent in this locality she might manage to marry an officer
from the Fort--since amidst such dismal surroundings a young man
might be the more easily fascinated by a woman of the world--she
took the cottage amidst the marshes at a small rent.
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