e children?"

"Gladly," she replied. "I suppose it is something very good, such as
little folks like."

"It is one of God's good creatures, madam:" saying which, he turned
towards the other's astonished gaze the broad label on which was printed
in great black letters, "Laudanum--Poison."

"My dear sir, what do you mean?"

"I mean, madam, that the liquid in this bottle is made from the poppy,
which is one of the fruits of the earth; therefore it is one of God's
good creatures, just as the wine and negus are. It produces very
pleasurable sensations, too, if you take it, just as _they_ do;
therefore it is right to indulge in it, and give it to others, just as
it is right for the same reasons to indulge in wine and negus and
spirits, and to give them to others."

"I really don't understand you, sir."

"Don't you, madam? I think you won't be able to pick a hole in my
argument."

"Ah! But this liquid is poison!"

"So is alcohol, madam, only it is not labelled so: more's the pity, for
it has killed thousands and tens of thousands, where laudanum has only
killed units. There, my child," he added, turning to Mary, and taking
an elegant little packet from his pocket, "give these _bonbons_ to the
little ones. I didn't mean to disappoint them."

While this dialogue was going on, the rest of the party was too full of
noisy mirth to notice what was passing. Mark's voice was getting very
wild and conspicuous; and now he made his way with flushed face and
sparkling eyes to Mary, who was sitting quietly between her mother and
Mr Tankardew. He carried a jug in one hand, and a glass in the other,
and, without noticing the elder people, exclaimed, "It is an hour yet to
supper time, and you'll be dead with thirst; I am sure I am. You must
take some of this, it is capital stuff; our butler made it: I have just
had a tumbler--it is punch. Come, Mary, you must," and he thrust the
glass into her hand: "you must, I say; you shall; never mind old Tanky,"
he added, in what he meant to be a whisper. Then he raised the jug with
unsteady fingers, but, before a drop could reach the tumbler, Mr
Tankardew had risen, and with one sweep of his hand dashed it out of
Mary's grasp on the ground. Few heard the crash, amidst the din of the
general merriment, and those who noticed it supposed it to be an
accident. "Nearly lost!" whispered Mr Tankardew in Mary's ear; then he
said, in a louder voice, "Faugh! The atmosphere of this place d