But not having taken enough
to hurt him much, he was unfortunately able, the next morning, to
regard Mr Cupples's lecture from a ludicrous point of view. And what
danger was he in more than the rest of the fellows, few of whom would
refuse a tumbler of toddy, and fewer of whom were likely to get
drunk?--Had not Alec been unhappy, he would have been in less danger
than most of them; but he was unhappy.
And although the whisky had done him no great immediate injury, yet its
reaction, combined with the loss of blood, made him restless all that
day. So that, when the afternoon came, instead of going to Mr Cupples
in the library, he joined some of the same set he had been with the
evening before. And when he came home, instead of going up-stairs to Mr
Cupples, he went straight to bed.
The next morning, while he was at breakfast, Mr Cupples made his
appearance in his room.
"What cam' o' ye last nicht, bantam?" he asked kindly, but with evident
uneasiness.
"I cam' hame some tired, and gaed straucht to my bed."
"But ye warna hame verra ear'."
"I wasna that late."
"Ye hae been drinkin' again. I ken by the luik o' yer een."
Alec had a very even temper.
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