The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1910-07-02

 comfortably in his chair and light ing a cigar, ''did I hide my senti ments at MT. Castlemaine's? Did pose as a moral reformer? And wha is more. did you spare me? Did yol not with great and loyal friendship give both Mr. and Miss Castlemains your views concerning me? Did yol not tell Miss Castlemaine of my re putation at Oxford, and of my terri ble opinions? Did you not tell Mir Castlemaine that I was an atheist that I had laughed at Christian nor. ality, and that I was a hard drinker Come now, deny it if you can."
 "You know what you said to me, said Purvis looking on the floor like man ashamed.
 "Of course I did, my dear fellow Don't look so miserable about it We'll, I did my worst, and you die your worst Now look at that.'
 He threw letter to Purvis as he spoke.
 "Am I to read it.'
 Else why did I give it to you?"
 Purvis opened the letter and read it. It was an invitation to MT. Cas- tlemain's to dinner.
 Are you going?" asked Purvis.
 "Of course l am. Do you think am going to let such an opportunity slip? Oh, you need not be afraid to show it to Sprague. It is not an in vitation to a drawing-room meeting, it is only to a dinner"
 well, that means nothing," said Sprague.
 ''No? I think it proves my state ments to the hilt. That invitation would not have come from John Cas- tlemaines without his daughter consent-perhaps it was at her in- stigation. And yet she knows that I am well-al you've described me to be. I am an atheist, I've thrown boybook morals overheard, I am a hard drinker. But what then? conform. to the convention; no man has ever seen me drunk, but more than all that, lam mentioned as one who is going to have a career. Hence the invitation"
 '.An invitation to dinner means nothing" urged Sprague.
 Hence the invitation, and hence the future justification of my state ments," he persisted. Goodnight my friends, I am sorry can't stay longer"
 He walked out of the room quite gaily. A casual passer-by, if he had met him, would at that moment have thought of him as a happy man.
 And yet, although Sprague and Purvis did not know it, Leicester had entered the smoking-room of the club that night with a strong in clination to refuse the invitation to John Castlemaine's house. He had been ashamed of making a woman the subject of wager, and more he had for several days been fighting against the craving for alcohol. He realized more than any man the mastery which it had gained over him, and he knew that unless he conquered the habit he would soon be a slave to it body and soul. An evening spent in the society of a good woman, moreover aroused his latent manhood, and he felt that he would not degrade himself by standing by the challenge he had made. He knew under the influence of whisky and that no man of honor should stand by it.
 During the days he had been fight ing his craving for drink the thought of what he had done became more repugnant and when he entered the room where Purvis and Sprague were, he intended telling them tha, nothing more mustebe said about it
 It seemed, however ,that the fates were against him. He was in a ner- vous, irritable mood, caused by his abstention from the poison which had become almost a necessity to him and the significant glances of the two men maddened him. Had they met him in the right spirit, it is possible that the affair, which did not reflect credit upon any of them, might have been dismissed as an idle joke. As we have seen, however, they had haunted him, they had aroused him to anger; these men whom he re- garder as his interiors had assumed an air of superiority, and this in the present state of his nerves was more than he could bear. He had ordered whisky, and after that his good reso- lutions went by the board. Radford Leicester would have died rather than have confessed himself beaten Thus do@great- -issues-often rest: upon important events.
 After he had gone a silence fell between the two young men for some time.