“Ah, you are single! then have patience; they will only give you a smaller portion.”
“That is but just. But if soon, as I hope—by the help of God—enough; suppose I have a wife.”
“Then the ticket must be changed, and the portion increased, as I have said, according to the mouths,” replied the unknown, rising.
“That would be very good,” cried Renzo, thumping the table with his fist; “and why don’t they make such a law?”
“How can I tell you? meanwhile I wish you a good night, as my wife and children must have been expecting me this long while.”
“Another drop, another drop,” filling his glass, and endeavouring to force him to sit down again; “another drop!”
But his friend contrived to disengage himself; and leaving Renzo, pouring forth a torrent of entreaties and reproaches, he departed. Renzo continued to talk until he was in the street, and then fell back on his seat. He looked at the glass which he had filled to the brim; and seeing the boy pass before the table, he beckoned to him, as if he had something particular to communicate. He pointed to the glass, and with a tone of solemnity said, “See there! I prepared it for that worthy man; you see it is full, as it should be for a friend; but he would not have it. Sometimes people have singular ideas; however, I have shown my good will; but now, since the thing is done, it must not be lost.” So saying, he emptied it at one draught.
“I understand,” said the boy, moving off.
“You understand too, do you? It is true, when the reasons are sufficient——”
Here we have need of all our love of truth to induce us to pursue faithfully our hero’s history; at the same time this same impartiality leads us to inform the reader, that this was his first error of a similar character; and precisely because he was so unaccustomed to merry-making did this prove so fatal. The few glasses of wine which he swallowed so rapidly, contrary to his custom, partly to cool his throat, and partly from an exaltation of spirits, which deprived him of the power of reflection, went immediately to his head. Upon an habitual drinker it would have produced no visible effect; our author observes this, that “temperate and moderate habits have this advantage, that the more a man practises them, the more he finds a departure from them to be disagreeable and inconvenient; so that his fault itself serves as a lesson to him for the future.”