“Undoubtedly.  And I wish you all to use a little brandy.”

“Not a drop of the poison shall pass either my lips or those of the children,” replied Mrs. Hobart, with emphasis.

“As you please,” said the husband, coldly, and turned away.

“Edward!” Mrs. Hobart laid her hand upon his arm.  “Edward!  Let me beg of you not to follow this advice.”

“Why will you act so foolishly?  Has not the doctor ordered the brandy?  I look to him as the earthly agent for the preservation of my health and the saving of my life.  If I do not regard his advice, in what am I to trust?”

“Remember the past, Edward,” said the wife, solemnly.

“I do remember it.  But I fear no danger.”

Mrs. Hobart turned away sadly, and went up to her chamber to give vent to her feelings alone in tears.  Firm to his purpose of using the preventive recommended by the doctor, Mr. Hobart, after dinner, took a draught of brandy and water.  Nearly five years, as his wife remarked, had elapsed since a drop of the burning fluid had passed his lips.  The taste was not particularly agreeable.  Indeed, his stomach rather revolted as the flavor reached his palate.

“It’s vile stuff at best,” he remarked to himself, making a wry face.  “Fit only for medicine.  Not much danger of my ever loving it again.  I wish Anna was not so foolish.  A flattering opinion she has of her husband!”

The sober countenance of his wife troubled Mr. Hobart, as he left home for his place of business earlier by half an hour than usual.  Neither in mind nor body were his sensations as pleasant as on the day before.  The brandy did something more than produce an agreeable warmth in his stomach.  A burning sensation soon followed its introduction, accompanied by a feeling of uneasiness that he did not like.  In the course of half an hour, this unnatural heat was felt in every part of his body, but more particularly about his head and face; and it was accompanied by a certain confusion of mind that prevented his usual close application to business during the afternoon.

Towards evening, these disagreeable consequences of the glass of cholera-preventive he had taken in a great measure subsided; but there followed a dryness of the palate, and a desire for some drink more pleasant to the taste than water.  In his store was a large pitcher of ice-water; but, though thirsty, he felt no inclination to taste the pure beverage; but, instead, went out and obtained a glass of soda water.  This only made the matter worse.  The half gill of syrup with which the water was sweetened, created, in a little while, a more uneasy feeling.  Still, there was no inclination for the water that stood just at hand, and which he had daily found so refreshing during the hot weather.  In fact, when he thought of it, it was with a sense of repulsion.

In this state, the idea of a cool glass of brandy punch, or a mint julep, came up in his mind, and he felt the draught, in imagination, at his lips.