"Father," said Hugh, when, late that night, after their parents had come back from visiting their grandmother next door, they all sat together round the fire, as if loth to part, "Father, would you mind telling us all, now we are together, what you said to me upstairs?"
His father gave a quick look at him; for upstairs Hugh had told him all about that episode with Tom on Christmas-day.
"Would you rather, dear boy?" asked his father.
"Yes; I was not brave once, but I'll try to be brave now."
His mother held out one hand to him, the other being clasped by Agnes, while Minnie sat at their feet, leaning against them, though she disdained the idea of being in the least sleepy.
John sat by his father, his eyes shining with a serene light.
"Well, my boy," said Mr. Headley, after a moment, only pausing to draw Alice close to his side, "what I said upstairs was this, I think. Mother and I decided long ago for ourselves, that, seeing the misery which drink brings to thousands in our country, we will not, for our part, take one drop of it except as medicine. We will do our best to prove that men and women can live, and be happy too, without it. If you read the fourteenth of Romans, you will see all the arguments set down which influenced us. Feeling that this is for us a sacred duty, we have brought you up in the same way, expecting you as a matter of obedience to abstain while you are young. By-and-by you will be able to judge more wisely than you can now."
"Then explain to them where I was wrong, father."
"You failed in obedience—and in courage," added his father.