"Perhaps," was the curt response.
"Harry, my boy," said his father the following morning, "how many cases did I hear you say you had at the hospital the other day which were the result of drink?"
"About three-fourths, father; of course, not all caused by the drinking habits of the patients themselves: but when a child is brought in badly burned because its mother was off on a drinking spree, or when a man has been run over because a driver is the worse for drink, or even when a woman is dying of disease, the result of want and neglect which drink has brought about, I suppose it's quite fair to credit the drink as the indirect cause of such cases."
"Oh, decidedly! Good gracious! I wish the Government would let all other questions go to the wall, Ireland included, while they did something to mend matters!"
"My dear, how would you like Government to step in and stop your supplies?"
"I'd be content they should do that, if it were for the public good," warmly replied Mr. Groombridge.
"I have heard of private individuals not waiting for the interference of Government; but who, believing it to be for the public good, have themselves banished all intoxicants from their homes," said Mrs. Groombridge, in a meaning tone.
Mr. Groombridge looked thoughtfully at his wife across the table, but said nothing, and the subject dropped.
That evening Jane the housemaid bounced into the kitchen, and flung herself into the nearest chair.
"What's the matter now?" asked cook, glancing at her disturbed face.