On p.217, AV asks: "One does wonder what John Shackleton stood to gain from such debauched conduct" (his excessive drinking and the consequences of it). I was surprised that she would ask that, because the details she lists add up to a pretty clear description of an alcoholic to me. I don't think that by that time he was drinking to take a stand, or to make his wife's life miserable, but because he was past the point of quitting on his own.