"Nevernever! Drop in the street
first. I did. The doctor will come
then, and he knows what you
want. Not whisky.Medicine the
kind that makes you warm again
makes you want to live but don't ever
dare touch whisky. Let other people
drink it if they want it Sell it to
them they'll get it anyhow but don't
you touch it! It killed your father,
it killed Tom, andoh!mother!
mother! mother!" Tears actually
teemed from underneath the sleeper's
lids, and glittered down the pallid and
distorted features. "There's a medi
cine that's good for you when you
want whisky," he went on."When
you are weak, and everybody else is
strongand alwajs when the flag
stones give way beneath your feet, and
the long street undulates and wavers
as you walk why, that's a sign for
you to take that medicineand take
it quick! Oh, it will warm you till the
little pale blue streaks in your white
hands will bulge out again with
tingling blood, and it will start up
from its stagnant pools and leap from
vein to vein till it reaches your being's
farthest height and droops and falls
and folds down over icy brow and face
like a soft veil moistened with pure
warmth. Ah! it is so deliriously sweet
and restful!"
I heard a moaning in the room be
low, and then steps on the stairs, and
a tapping at the door. It was Mary.
