A shadow came down on the bright future of her son--a future to which her heart had turned with such proud anticipations.

She was oppressed by a sense of humiliation.

Her son had stepped down from his pedestal of dignified self-respect, and stood among the common herd of vulgar young men to whom in her eyes he had always been superior.
But greater than her humiliation were the fears of Mrs.Whitford.

A thoughtful and observant woman, she had reason for magnifying the dangers that lay in the path of her son.

The curse of more than one member of both her own and husband's family had been intemperance.
While still a young man her father had lost his self-control, and her memory of him was a shadow of pain and sorrow.