Danger | Page 6

and footpads generally know their game
before bringing it down. I'm sorry for poor Mrs. Voss; she isn't strong
enough to bear such a shock. But it will all come right; I don't feel a bit
concerned."
But for all that he did feel deeply concerned. The policemen went away,
and Mr. and Mrs. Birtwell sat down by an open grate in which the fire
still burned.
"Don't let it distress you so, Margaret," said the former, trying to
comfort his wife. "There's nothing to fear for Archie. Nobody ever
heard of a man getting lost in a city snow-storm. If he'd been out on a

prairie, the case would have been different, but in the streets of the city!
The thing's preposterous, Margaret."
"Oh, if he'd only gone away as he came, I wouldn't feel so awfully
about it," returned Mrs. Birtwell. "That's what cuts me to the heart. To
think that he came to my house sober and went away--"
She caught back from her tongue the word she would have spoken, and
shivered.
"Nothing of the kind, Margaret, nothing of the kind," said her husband,
quickly. "A little gay--that was all. Just what is seen at parties every
night. Archie hasn't much head, and a single glass of champagne is
enough to set it buzzing. But it's soon over. The effervescence goes off
in a little while, and the head comes clear again."
Mrs. Birtwell did not reply. Her eyes were cast down and her face
deeply distressed.
"If anything has happened to Archie," she said, after a long silence, "I
shall never have a moment's peace as long as I live."
"Nonsense, Margaret! Suppose something has happened to him? We
are not responsible. It's his own fault if he took away more wine than
he was able to carry." Mr. Birtwell spoke with slight irritation.
"If he hadn't found the wine here, he could not have carried it away,"
replied his wife.
"How wildly you talk, Margaret!" exclaimed Mr. Birtwell, with
increased irritation.
"We won't discuss the matter," said his wife. "It would be useless,
agreement being, I fear, out of the question; but it is very certain that
we cannot escape responsibility in this or anything else we may do, and
so long as these words of Holy Writ stand, _'Woe unto him that giveth
his neighbor drink, that putteth the bottle to him and maketh him
drunken'_, we may well have serious doubts in regard to the right and

wrong of these fashionable entertainments, at which wine and spirits
are made free to all of both sexes, young and old."
Mr. Birtwell started to his feet and walked the floor with considerable
excitement.
"If we had a son just coming to manhood--and I sometimes thank God
that we have not--would you feel wholly at ease about him, wholly
satisfied that he was in no danger in the houses of your friends? May
not a young man as readily acquire a taste for liquors in a gentleman's
dining-room as in a drinking-saloon--nay, more readily, if in the former
the wine is free and bright eyes and laughing lips press him with
invitations?"
Mrs. Birtwell's voice had gained a steadiness and force that made it
very impressive. Her husband continued to walk the floor but with
slower steps.
"I saw things last night that troubled me," she went on. "There is no
disguising the fact that most of the young men who come to these large
parties spend a great deal too much time in the supper-room, and drink
a great deal more than is good for them. Archie Voss was not the only
one who did this last evening. I watched another young man very
closely, and am sorry to say that he left our house in a condition in
which no mother waiting at home could receive her son without sorrow
and shame."
"Who was that?" asked Mr. Birtwell, turning quickly upon his wife. He
had detected more than a common concern in her voice.
"Ellis," she replied. Her manner was very grave.
"You must be mistaken about that," said Mr. Birtwell, evidently
disturbed at this communication.
"I wish to Heaven that I were! But the fact was too apparent. Blanche
saw it, and tried to get him out of the supper-room. He acted in the
silliest kind of a way, and mortified her dreadfully, poor child!"

"Such things will happen sometimes," said Mr. Birtwell. "Young men
like Ellis don't always know how much they can bear." His voice was
in a lower key and a little husky.
"It happens too often with Ellis," replied his wife, "and I'm beginning to
feel greatly troubled about it."
"Has it happened before?"
"Yes; at Mrs. Gleason's, only last week. He was loud and boisterous in
the supper-room--so much so