re, the Frenchman at length proffered his fat hand, and
Ringfield clasped it with a firm, bold grasp; his muscles were twice as
strong as those of the Frenchman, for while the one had been chiefly
employed in the kitchen, at a rude desk, and had rusted in long loafing
and idling intervals, the other had maintained his rowing and paddling
and his interest in other athletic pursuits; even a half-dozen lessons
in boxing had he laid to his credit.

"Now I've got you," said he, smiling, as the fat hand lay tightly
imprisoned in the lean one, "and I'm not going to let you go till you
make me a promise. See here--Poussette--promise me now--not to touch a
drop of liquor again for a whole year. We'll let it go at that; I
won't say anything about beer. By degrees, man, we'll fight the Devil
and all his works. By degrees, and by prayer, and by every argument in
favour of right living that I can bring before you--we'll fight this
thing out together, you and I. Don't wait for some hysterical
occasion, but do your plain duty now, while I hold your hand in mine.
If you should marry again, Poussette, and should ever have those little
children playing about you--what then? You'd want to lead a straight
life then--and before, I know you would. Come--make me the promise
now--and if you break it, as you may do, come to me and tell me of it;
make it a second time and so--each interval may be longer, do you
see--if you 'take the pledge' as it is called, it is likely to be in
public, and your friends and fellow-drinkers hear about it, and
ridicule you and laugh at the idea, and so you are driven to drink
again. What do you say, Poussette?"

"It is then--just between you and me, sir?"

"That's the idea. Of course I shall say nothing about it to a third
person. Come--you promise!"

Poussette seemed uneasy.

"But--m'sieu--just you and me? That seems, sir, just same thing as go
confess to Father Rielle. Beg pardon, Mr. Ringfield, but bigosh,
sir--that is same sure as go on the confession."

Ringfield saw the point.

"I understand, Poussette. You are right. We must not be ashamed of
trying to be good. Nothing done in the corner, eh? Well, then, you
tell--anybody you like."

"The new lady--Mees Cordova! Will that be all right, sir?"

"Why Miss Cordova? Oh, well--never mind! So long as I've got your
word, Poussette, the word of an honest man, eh?"

"I'll thry, sir."

"That's good. That's all right. You're a _man_,