t best is only supposition,
not argument. I have as good a right to suppose it _was_ intoxicating as
you have to suppose it was not."

"Have you?" said Theodore, with elevated eyebrows. "In that we should
differ."

"Then that is the very point upon which I need enlightenment," answered
Mr. Ryan, with a good-humored laugh. "Won't you please proceed?"

"I presume you grant, sir, that it is not superstition but _certainty_
that there _were_ two kinds of wine in those days," said Theodore.

"Oh yes. I'll accept that as fact."

"Well, then, as I am not a Greek nor Hebrew scholar, and I understand
that you are, I will simply remind you of the very satisfactory and
generally accepted statements of learned men concerning the two words
used in those languages to express two distinct kinds of liquid, which
words were not, I am told, used interchangeably. Then I should like to
pass at once to simpler, and, for unlearned people like myself, more
practical arguments. Do you lawyers allow your authors to interpret
themselves, sir?"

"Certainly."

"Which is precisely what we do with the Bible. In a sense, the same
Jesus who made wine of water at the marriage feast, is the author of the
Bible, and if he is divine there must be no discrepancy in its pages.
Now I find that this same Bible says, 'Wine is a mocker,' 'Look not
upon the wine when it is red,' 'Woe to him that giveth his neighbor
drink,' and a long array of similar and more emphatic expressions. Now
how am I to avoid thinking either that Jesus of Nazareth was a mere man,
and a very inconsistent one at that, or else that the wine at the
marriage supper was _not_ the wine with which we are acquainted, and
which we will not use at all until 'it giveth its color in the cup and
moveth itself aright?'"

Mr. Ryan laughed still good-humoredly, and said:

"Have you committed to memory the entire Bible as well as Habakkuk,
Mallery? But I can quote Scripture, too. Doesn't your Bible read, 'Give
wine to those that be of heavy hearts?'"

"Yes, sir; and, according to our translation, the same article is used
as a symbol of God's wrath: 'For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Take
the wine cup of this fury at my hand.' Does that look probable or
reasonable? It talks, moreover, about 'wine that maketh glad the heart
of man,' and I leave it to your judgment whether we know anything about
any such wine as that?"

"But, Mallery," interposed Mr. Stephens, "I want to question you now