The Lords of High Decision

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1909 edition. Excerpt: ...glasses with the liquor, whose odour nipped the air keenly. Then he set the bottle down and folded his arms. "Addie, every drop of blood in me calls for that stuff; I know every sensation it would give me and three months ago I would have given my immortal soul for a spoonful; but I'm just as safe from it as though it were locked up behind steel doors. No power on earth could make me touch a drop." So long as he made love to her she understood; this bit of bravado disturbed and baffled her. But here at least was something that required prompt commendation, and while she had been better satisfied by the first direction of his talk, here was a zone of safety in which they might stand together in security. She rose and placed her hands on his shoulders. "You are splendid; you are fine and brave and I am proud of you,'Wayne, dear!" His manner changed instantly and he caught her hands and clasped them tight. He was still breathing deeply from his long harangue, but in a moment he spoke quietly, with a return of the tenderness with which he had begun. "I'm a beast to frighten you that way; and I must have hurt this poor little hand." He kissed it and swung her hands lightly, looking into her face tenderly. "What a terrible big bear you are! And everything was peaceable and cosy and you let your temper get the better of you." The snow, still falling densely, had hastened the twilight and night was near. "We must go--at once---at once! What if the car wouldn't run in the snow?" "What if it wouldn't! They can give us dinner here--right here on the hearth. They can always put up something--it's the rule of the Club, and there's no end of wood for the fire." "We are going straight home--just...