"No more brandy for me!"
"See, dear, how seriously you take it, and all because you want the comfort."
"No brandy," was all he could say.
She looked at the label on the bottle. Alas! she knew whence it came, and what its quality. She could cheat herself about it when herself only was concerned—but she wavered at the thought of forcing it upon Robert as trusty medicine, though it had a pleasant taste, and was really, as she conceived, good enough for customers.
She tried him faintly with arguments in its favour; but his resolution was manifested by a deaf ear.
With a perfect faith in it she would, and she was conscious that she could, have raised his head and poured it down his throat. The crucial test of her love for Robert forbade the attempt. She burst into an uncontrollable fit of crying.
"Halloa! mother," said Robert, opening his eyes to the sad candlelight surrounding them.
"My darling boy! whom I do love so; and not to be able to help you! What shall I do—what shall I do!"
With a start, he cried, "Where's the horse!"
"The horse?"