The house in which he lived cost four hundred and fifty dollars a year.

Two hundred dollars could easily be saved, he thought, by taking a smaller house, where, if they were only willing to think so, they might be just as comfortable as they now were.

Beyond this reduction in rent, Ellis did not see clearly how to proceed.

The rest would have mainly to depend upon his wife, who had almost the entire charge of the home department, including the expenditures made on account thereof.
The earnestness with which Ellis pondered these things lifted his thoughts so much above the sensual plane where they too often rested, that he felt not the desire for stimulating drink returning at certain hours, but passed through the whole of the afternoon without either thinking of or tasting his usual glass of brandy and water.

On coming home to his family in the evening, his mind was as clear as a bell.
This, unhappily, was not always the case.
And now for the task of making Cara comprehend the real state of his affairs; and to produce in her a cheerful, loving, earnest co-operation in the work of salutary reform.