"I see you have no intention of paying this bill, Mr. Moore," said the clerk, abandoning hope of collection.
"You must be a mind reader," observed Moore. "You could make a fortune exhibiting your gifts in public, sir. Now, my dear fellow, before you go, just to show there is no hard feeling between us personally, even if I owe your employer, have a drink with me."
"But," began Dabble.
"I 'll take no denial," said Moore, winningly. "Come, sir, you shan't refuse me. Buster, bring forth the precious liquor and we will do honor to our guest."
"I never drink a drop," expostulated the clerk, telling an outrageous lie incidentally.
"Well," said Moore, with a laugh, "I never drop a drink, so we cancel that objection. We will have a tiny wet together socially as two honest gentlemen should. We will drink health to Mrs. Dibble and all the little Dubbles."
"There is no little Dubbles, sir," answered the clerk, mollified in spite of himself by Moore's charming manner.
"What? No twins? That is an oversight, sir. Oh, well, we 'll be sanguine, Dibble, for there is no telling what may occur in the future. Accidents will happen in the best-regulated families, and I am sure yours is one of the best, so cheer up and don't despair. Buster, you devil, what is keeping you?"
"Hall ready, sir, hall ready," replied the boy, who, having extracted the cork from one of the stolen bottles, had carefully wrapped a cloth around it, so that the label would not betray his secret to the enemy while he was filling the glasses.
Moore, taking for granted that the beverage decanted by Buster was the poteen he had previously denied himself, watched Dabble eagerly as that gentleman raised his glass to his lips, expecting the usual cough and sputter to follow the first swallow of the fiery liquid. In this he was disappointed, for the clerk drank calmly and with evident enjoyment.