tion Mr. Ridley wished to
gain. If his wife had not been standing by his side, he would have
accepted the glass, and for what seemed good breeding's sake have
sipped a little, just tasting its flavor, so that he could compliment
his host upon its rare quality.

"Thank you," Mr. Ridley was able to say, "but I do not take wine." His
voice was not clear and manly, but unsteady and weak.

"Oh, excuse me," said the gentleman, setting down the glass quickly. "I
was not aware of that." He stood as if slightly embarrassed for a
moment, and then, turning to a clergyman who stood close by, said:

"Will you take a glass of wine with me, Mr. Elliott?"

An assenting smile broke into Mr. Elliott's face, and he reached for
the glass which Mr. Ridley had just refused.

"Something very choice," said the host.

The clergyman tasted and sipped with the air of a connoisseur.

"Very choice indeed, sir," he replied. "But you always have good wine."

Mrs. Ridley drew her hand in her husband's arm and leaned upon it.

"If it is to be had," returned the host, a little, proudly; "and I
generally know where to get it. A good glass of wine I count among the
blessings for which one may give thanks--wine, I mean, not drugs."

"Exactly; wine that is pure hurts no one, unless, indeed, his appetite
has been vitiated through alcoholic indulgence, and even then I have
sometimes thought that the moderate use of strictly pure wine would
restore the normal taste and free a man from the tyranny of an
enslaving vice."

That sentence took quick hold upon the thought of Mr. Ridley. It gave
him a new idea, and he listened with keen interest to what followed.

"You strike the keynote of a true temperance reformation, Mr. Elliott,"
returned the host. "Give men pure wine instead of the vile stuff that
bears its name, and you will soon get rid of drunkenness. I have always
preached that doctrine."

"And I imagine you are about right," answered Mr. Elliott. "Wine is one
of God's gifts, and must be good. If men abuse it sometimes, it is
nothing more than they do with almost every blessing the Father of all
mercies bestows upon his children. The abuse of a thing is no argument
against its use."

Mrs. Ridley drew upon the arm of her husband. She did not like the
tenor of this conversation, and wanted to get him away. But he was
interested in what the clergyman was saying, and wished to hear what
further he might adduce in favor of the health influence of