If his wife had not been standing by his side, he would have accepted the glass, and for what seemed good breeding's sake have sipped a little, just tasting its flavor, so that he could compliment his host upon its rare quality.
"Thank you," Mr.Ridley was able to say, "but I do not take wine." His voice was not clear and manly, but unsteady and weak.
"Oh, excuse me," said the gentleman, setting down the glass quickly.

"I was not aware of that." He stood as if slightly embarrassed for a moment, and then, turning to a clergyman who stood close by, said: "Will you take a glass of wine with me, Mr.Elliott ?" An assenting smile broke into Mr.Elliott's face, and he reached for the glass which Mr.Ridley had just refused.
"Something very choice," said the host.
The clergyman tasted and sipped with the air of a connoisseur.
"Very choice indeed, sir," he replied.

"But you always have good wine." Mrs.Ridley drew her hand in her husband's arm and leaned upon it.
"If it is to be had," returned the host, a little, proudly; "and I generally know where to get it.

A good glass of wine I count among the blessings for which one may give thanks--wine, I mean, not drugs." "Exactly; wine that is pure hurts no one, unless, indeed, his appetite has been vitiated through alcoholic indulgence, and even then I have sometimes thought that the moderate use of strictly pure wine would restore the normal taste and free a man from the tyranny of an enslaving vice." That sentence took quick hold upon the thought of Mr.Ridley.It gave him a new idea, and he listened with keen interest to what followed.
"You strike the keynote of a true temperance reformation, Mr.Elliott," returned the host.

"Give men pure wine instead of the vile stuff that bears its name, and you will soon get rid of drunkenness.