I
was a child when I lived here before, and then Camilla took all the
management. When we came to London, two months ago, I soon saw the
kind of people he got round him for his comforters. I knew how he
spent his evenings. It is second nature to him--he can't get put of
it, I believe! I persuaded him to come down here, thinking it a
haven of peace and safety. Alas! I little knew what old habits
there were to resume, nor what was the real reason Camilla brought
us away after paying our debts. I was a happy child _then_, when I
only knew that papa was gone to his club. Now I know that it is a
billiard-room--and that it is doing all the more harm because he is
there--and I see him with people whom he does not like me to speak
to. I don't know whether I could get him away, and it would be as
bad anywhere else. I don't think he can help it. And he is often
unwell; he can't do without me when he has the gout, and I ought not
to leave him to himself. And then, if--if we did marry and he lived
with us in London, think what it would be for Frank to have such a
set brought about him.
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