“There are more than one or two young men in the group that surrounds him who need a better example than he is now setting.  They need repression in the matter of wine-drinking, not encouragement—­a good example of abstinence in their minister, and not enticement to drink through his exhibition of liberty.  Do you think that I, church member though I am not, could stand as Mr. Elliott is now standing, glass in hand, gayly talking to young Ellis Whitford, who rarely goes to a party without—­poor weak young man!—­drinking too much, and so leading him on in the way of destruction instead of seeking in eager haste to draw him back?  No sir!  It is no light thing, as I regard it, to put a stumbling-block in another’s way or to lead the weak or unwary into temptation.”

“Perhaps you are right about it,” was the answer, “and I must confess that, though not a temperance man myself, I never feel quite comfortable about it when I see clergymen taking wine freely at public dinners and private parties.  It is not a good example, to say the least of it; and if there is a class of men in the community to whom we have some right to look for a good example, it is the class chosen and set apart to the work of saving human souls.”

CHAPTER VI.

Mr. Ridley went home from that first party with his head as clear and his pulse as cool as when he came.  The wine had not tempted him very strongly, though its odor had been fragrant to his nostrils, and the sparkle in the glasses pleasant to his sight.  Appetite had not aroused itself nor put on its strength, but lay half asleep, waiting for some better opportunity, when the sentinels should be weaker or off their guard.

It had been much harder for him to refuse the invitation of his host than to deny the solicitations of the old desire.  He had been in greater danger from pride than from appetite; and there remained with him a sense of being looked down upon and despised by the wealthy and eminent citizen who had honored him with an invitation, and who doubtless regarded his refusal to take wine with him as little less than a discourtesy.  There were moments when he almost regretted that refusal.  The wine which had been offered was of the purest quality, and he remembered but too well the theory advanced by Mr. Elliott, that the moderate use of pure wine would restore the normal taste and free a man whose appetite had been vitiated from its enslaving influence.  His mind recurred to that thought very often, and the more he dwelt upon it, the more inclined he was to accept it as true.  If it were indeed so, then he might be a man among men again.

Mr. Ridley did not feel as comfortable in his mind after as before this party, nor was he as strong as before.  The enemy had found a door unguarded, had come in stealthily, and was lying on the alert, waiting for an opportunity.

A few weeks afterward came another invitation.  It was accepted.  Mrs. Ridley was not really well enough, to go out, but for her husband’s sake she went with him, and by her presence and the quiet power she had over him held him back from the peril he might, standing alone, have tempted.