Now say no more, only promise me you won't do the like, again."
"Frank, listen to me--by all the--"
"Hould, Art," replied Frank, stopping him again; "I tell you once more,
this rash swearin' is a bad sign--I'll hear no rash oaths; but listen
you to me; if your mind is made up against drinkin' this way again, jist
look me calmly and steadily in the face, and answer me simply by yes
or no. Now take your time, an' don't be in a hurry--be cool--be
calm--reflect upon what you're about to say; and whether it's your
solemn and serious intention to abide by it. My question 'll be very
short and very simple; your answer, as I said, will be merely yes or no.
Will you ever allow these fellows to make you drunk again? Yes or no,
an' not another word."
"No."
"That will do," said Frank; "now give me your hand, and a single word
upon what has passed you will never hear from me."
In large manufactories, and in workshops similar to that in which the
two brothers were now serving their apprenticeship, almost every
one knows that the drunken and profligate entertain an unaccountable
antipathy against the moral and the sober. Art's last fit of
intoxication was not only a triumph over himself, but, what was still
more, a triumph over his brother, who had so often prevented him from
falling into their snares and joining in their brutal excesses.
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