Birtwell did not reply. Her eyes were cast down and her face
deeply distressed.
"If anything has happened to Archie," she said, after a long
silence, "I shall never have a moment's peace as long as I live."
"Nonsense, Margaret! Suppose something has happened to him? We are
not responsible. It's his own fault if he took away more wine than
he was able to carry." Mr. Birtwell spoke with slight irritation.
"If he hadn't found the wine here, he could not have carried it
away," replied his wife.
"How wildly you talk, Margaret!" exclaimed Mr. Birtwell, with
increased irritation.
"We won't discuss the matter," said his wife. "It would be useless,
agreement being, I fear, out of the question; but it is very certain
that we cannot escape responsibility in this or anything else we may
do, and so long as these words of Holy Writ stand, _'Woe unto him
that giveth his neighbor drink, that putteth the bottle to him and
maketh him drunken'_, we may well have serious doubts in regard to
the right and wrong of these fashionable entertainments, at which
wine and spirits are made free to all of both sexes, young and old."
Mr. Birtwell started to his feet and walked the floor with
considerable excitement.
"If _we_ had a son just coming to manhood--and I sometimes thank God
that we have not--would you feel wholly at ease about him, wholly
satisfied that he was in no danger in the houses of your friends?
May not a young man as readily acquire a taste for liquors in a
gentleman's dining-room as in a drinking-saloon--nay, more readily,
if in the former the wine is free and bright eyes and laughing lips
press him with invitations?"
Mrs.
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