'Well, there you ask me a question! Ah! here comes Kirsty with my seltzer. Here's to you, Stella—and many of them,' said Ritchie, clinking Stella's cup with his tall tumbler, and tossing off half its contents at a draught.
'What a pretty pale amber colour! Is that ordinary soda water?' asked Stella.
'Yes, ordinary soda water—but not ordinary old Irish whisky. I'd back your brother Tom's judgment in that article against any man's. Have a little nip. It's ever so much better than tea. I say, Stella, why does the old woman—Kirsty, I mean—set her daughter to learn such stuff?'
'Ted, I am afraid you are almost a heathen. Do you ever read the Bible?'
'Well, I sometimes begin to read it on Sunday evening after a game or two at billiards. But I generally drop off to sleep. I seem as if I always knew what was coming.'
'I wonder how much you really know of it?'
'Oh, lots! You try. Ask me about Noah or any of those old buffers.'
'Then what can you tell me about Noah?'
'Ah, Noah! Well, he was the one that put all the insects into an ark and drank too much wine, and was going to put a knife into his son Esau, till the ram called out, "Here am I." If he had been a proper prize animal he'd never have given himself away like that. Well, what are you laughing at?'
'Oh, Ted, Ted! Then what about Abraham?'