y. 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. Birtwell's voice had gained a steadiness and force that made it
very impressive. Her husband continued to walk the floor but with
slower steps.

"I saw things last night that troubled me," she went on. "There is no
disguising the fact that most of the young men who come to these large
parties spend a great deal too much time in the supper-room, and drink
a great deal more than is good for them. Archie Voss was not the only
one who did this last evening. I watched another young man very
closely, and am sorry to say that he left our house in a condition in
which no mother waiting at home could receive her son without sorrow
and shame."

"Who was that?" asked Mr. Birtwell, turning quickly upon his wife. He
had detected more than a common concern in her voice.

"Ellis," she replied. Her manner was very grave.

"