After supper, the uneasiness he had felt during the afternoon, returned, and worried his mind considerably.  The fact was, the brandy had already disturbed the well balanced action of the lower viscera.  The mucous membrane of the whole (sic) alementry canal had been stimulated beyond health, and its secretions were increased and slightly vitiated.  This was the cause of the uneasiness he felt, and the slight pains which had alarmed him.  By ten o’clock his feelings had become so disagreeable, that he felt constrained to meet them with another “mouthful,” of brandy.  Thus, in less than ten hours, Mr. Hobart had wronged his stomach by pouring into it three glasses of brandy; entirely disturbing its healthy action.

The morning found Mr. Hobart far from feeling well.  His skin was dry and feverish and his mouth parched.  There was an uneasy sensation of pain in his head.  Immediately upon rising he took a strong glass of brandy.  That, to use his own words, “brought him up,” and made him feel “a hundred per cent better.”  During the forenoon, however, a slight diarrhoea manifested itself.  A thrill of alarm was the consequence.

“I must check this!” said he, anxiously.  And, in order to do so, another and stronger glass of brandy was taken.

In the afternoon, the diarrhoea appeared again.  It was still slight, and unaccompanied by pain.  But, it was a symptom not to be disregarded.  So brandy was applied as before.  In the evening, it showed itself again.

“I wish you would give me a little of that brandy,” said he to his wife.  “I’m afraid of this, it must be stopped.”

“Hadn’t you better see the doctor?”

“I don’t think it necessary.  The brandy will answer every purpose.”

“I have no faith in brandy,” said Mrs. Hobart.  Poor woman! she had cause for her want of faith!

“I have then,” replied her husband.  “It’s the doctor’s recommendation.  And he ought to know.”

“You were perfectly well before you commenced acting on his advice.”

“I was well, apparently.  But, it is plain that the seeds of disease were in me.  There is no telling how much worse I would have been.”

“Nor how much better.  For my part I charge it all on the brandy.”

“That’s a silly prejudice,” said Mr. Hobart, with a good deal of impatience.  “Every one knows that brandy is a remedy in diseases of this kind; not a producing cause.”

Mrs. Hobart was silent.  But she did not get the brandy.  That was more than she could do.  So her husband got it himself.  But, in order to make the medicinal purpose more apparent, he poured the liquor into a deep plate, added some sugar, and set it on fire.

“You will not object to burnt brandy at least,” said he.  “That you know to be good.”

Mrs. Hobart did not reply.  She felt that it would be useless.  Only a disturbance of harmony could arise, and that would produce greater unhappiness.  The brandy, after having parted with its more volatile qualities, was introduced into Mr. Hobart’s stomach, and fretted that delicate organ for more than an hour.