“Here,” he said, “take this. It will cheer you up.[up.] You must be dead sore on yourself. I’ll drink with you; Defarge will join us. Let’s be agreeable.”
The one invited shook his head.
“No,” he said; “I am one of those peculiar persons who practises what he preaches.”
“You do not drink?”
“No.”
“Not even beer?”
“Not a drop of anything that has alcohol in it. I am an athlete, and no man who seeks to reach his highest ability as an athlete should deliberately poison himself with alcohol.”
“But a little is good for a man. At least, it is good just when he is on the point of making some great exertion.”
“It is not!” positively declared the other. “It is the very worst thing he can take.”
“Oh, get out! Anybody knows it gives him a feeling of strength.”