We each, conscience-bound, put up
the tips of our fingers to the glasses as soon as Mary had filled
them with froth, and solemnly drank the toast in the eighth of an
inch residuum. But by some freakish chance or the other, there was
nothing left in that quart bottle by the time Mary cleared the
table for dessert. And to tell the honest truth, I don't think the
health of either my hostess or myself was a penny the worse. Let
no man despise generous wine. Treated with due reverence it is a
great loosener of human sympathy.
Generous ale similarly treated produces the same effect. Marigold,
driving me home, cocked a luminous eye on me and said:
"Begging your pardon, sir, would you mind very much if I broke the
neck of that there Gedge?"
"You would be aiding the good cause," said I, "but I should
deplore the hanging of an old friend. What has Gedge been doing?"
Marigold sounded his horn and slowed down round a bend, and, as
soon as he got into a straight road, he replied.
"I m not going to say, sir, if I may take the liberty, that I was
ever sweet on Colonel Boyce. People affect you in different ways.
You either like 'em or you don't like 'em.
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