[The Claverings by Anthony Trollope]@TWC D-Link bookThe Claverings CHAPTER VIII 21/27
Whatever women may say about wild fowl, men never profess an indifference to good wine, although there is a theory about the world, quite as incorrect as it is general, that they have given up drinking it.
"Indeed I do," said Harry. "Then I'll give you a bottle of port," said Burton, and so saying he left the room. "I'm very glad you have come to-day," said Jones, with much gravity.
"He never gives me any of that when I'm alone with him; and he never, by any means, brings it out for company." "You don't mean to accuse him of drinking it alone, Tom ?" said his sister, laughing. "I don't know when he drinks it; I only know when he doesn't." The wine was decanted with as much care as had been given to the concoction of the gravy, and the clearness of the dark liquid was scrutinized with an eye that was full of anxious care.
"Now, Cissy, what do you think of that? She knows a glass of good wine when she gets it, as well as you do Harry, in spite of her contempt for the duck." As they sipped the old port, they sat round the dining-room fire, and Harry Clavering was forced to own to himself that he had never been more comfortable. "Ah," said Burton, stretching out his slippered feet, "why can't it all be after-dinner, instead of that weary room at the Adelphi ?" "And all old port ?" said Jones. "Yes, and all old port.
You are not such an ass as to suppose that a man in suggesting to himself a continuance of pleasure suggests to himself also the evils which are supposed to accompany such pleasure.
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