At first I shrank from remonstrating with him, until the burden lay so heavy on my heart that I felt I must speak out, let the consequences be what they might.

And so one evening I told him plainly and seriously my fears about his future.

He laughed lightly and said my fears were unfounded; that I was nervous and giving away to idle fancies; that his father always had wine at the table, and that he had never seen him under the influence of liquor.

Silenced, but not convinced, I watched his course with painful solicitude.

All remonstrances on my part seemed thrown away; he always had the precedent of his father to plead in reply to my earnest entreaties.