"Then why don't you do as you like, and come and have a glass of ale now?"
"I have never taken any in my life."
"Don't even know the taste? You are 'a ninny.'"
"I'm not 'a ninny,' but I would not take any for the world."
"Afraid of it?"
"No, I don't think so. But we will not discuss it, please Frank."
"Why not, if you're not afraid of it? What made your father a teetotaller?"
"He said it was the dreadful evil he had seen it grow to in his professional experience."
"Very likely, but everyone is not so silly; and I can't see why you should go without a pleasure and all that, just because other people abuse it. You won't take too much. Come along, I mean to have a glass; I'm awfully thirsty. You never signed, I suppose?"
"No; but I would not break my determination. You go if you like, Frank, but I shan't."