ortant interest with a man who drinks habitually?--one of your
temperate drinkers, I mean, who can take his three or four glasses of
wine at dinner, or twice that number, during an evening while playing
at whist, but who never debases himself by so low a thing as
intoxication."

"Are not you a little peculiar, or, I might say, over-nice, in this?"
remarked Doctor Hillhouse.

"No, I am only prudent. Let me give you a fact in my own experience. I
had a law-suit several years ago involving many thousands of dollars.
My case was good, but some nice points of law were involved, and I
needed for success the best talent the bar afforded. A Mr. B----, I
will call him, stood very high in the profession, and I chose him for
my counsel. He was a man of fine social qualities, and admirable for
his after-dinner speeches. You always met him on public occasions. He
was one of your good temperate drinkers and not afraid of a glass of
wine, or even brandy, and rarely, if ever, refused a friend who asked
him to drink.

"He was not an intemperate man, of course. No one dreamed of setting
him over among that banned and rejected class of men whom few trust,
and against whom all are on guard. He held his place of honor and
confidence side by side with the most trusted men in his profession. As
a lawyer, interests of vast magnitude were often in his hands, and
largely depended on his legal sagacity, clearness of thought and
sleepless vigilance. He was usually successful in his cases.

"I felt my cause safe in his hands--that is, as safe as human care and
foresight could make it. But to my surprise and disappointment, his
management of the case on the day of trial was faulty and blind. I had
gone over all the points with him carefully, and he had seemed to hold
them with a masterly hand. He was entirely confident of success, and so
was I. But now he seemed to lose his grasp on the best points in the
case, and to bring forward his evidence in a way that, in my view,
damaged instead of making our side strong. Still, I forced myself to
think that he knew best what to do, and that the meaning of his
peculiar tactics should soon become apparent. I noticed, as the trial
went on, a bearing of the opposing counsel toward Mr. B---- that
appeared unusual. He seemed bent on annoying him with little side
issues and captious objections, not so much showing a disposition to
meet him squarely, upon the simple and clearly defined elements of the
case, as