And since I was a mere baby I have been acustomed to
intoxicants."
"Barbara!" she intergected, in the most dreadful tone.
"I mean, in the Familey," I said. "I have seen wine on our
table ever since I can remember. I knew to put salt on a claret
stain before I could talk."
Well, you know how it is to see an Enemy on the run, and
although I regret to refer to my dear mother as an Enemy, still
at that moment she was such and no less. And she was beating it.
It was the referance to my youth that had aroused me, and I was
like a wounded lion. Besides, I knew well enough that if they
refused to see that I was practicaly grown up, if not entirely,
I would get a lot of Sis's clothes, fixed up with new ribbons.
Faded old things! I'd had them for years.
Better to be considered a bad woman than an unformed child.
"However, mother," I finished, "if it is any comfort to
you, I did not buy that Flask. And I am not a confirmed
alcoholic. By no means."
"This settles it," she said, in a melancoly tone. "When I
think of the comfort Leila has been to me, and the anxiety you
have caused, I wonder where you get your--your _Deviltry_ from.
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