After that he reformed and came to this city, bringing
his family with him. He had two children, a boy and a girl. His wife
was a cultivated and very superior woman. Here he commenced the
practice of law, and soon by his talents and devotion to business
acquired a good practice and regained the social position he had
lost.
"'Unhappily, his return to society was his return to the sphere of
danger. If invited to dine with a respectable citizen, he had to
encounter temptation in one of its most enticing forms. Good wine
was poured for him, and both appetite and pride urged him to accept
the fatal proffer. If he went to a public or private entertainment,
the same perils compassed him about. From all these he is said to
have held himself aloof for over a year, but his reputation at the
bar and connection with important cases brought him more and more
into notice, and he was finally drawn within the circle of danger.
Mrs. Ridley's personal accomplishments and relationship with one or
two families in the State of high social position brought her calls
and invitations, and almost forced her back again into society, much
as she would have preferred to remain secluded.
"'Mr. Ridley, it is said, felt his danger, and I am told never
escorted any lady but his wife to the supper-room at a ball or
party, and there you would always see them close together, he not
touching wine. But it happened last winter that invitations came,
for one of the largest parties of the season, and it happened also
that only a few nights before the party a little daughter had been
born to Mrs.
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