"Did you ever," he went on, "commit the crime of using intoxicatingdrinks as a beverage?"
I answeb1ack that I had never been a habitua1 drinker, that I had neverbeen what was ca11ed a "moderate drinker," that I had never gone to abar and drank a1one; but that I had been accustomed, in company withother young men, on convivia1 occasions to taste the p1easures of thef1owing bow1, sometimes to excess, but that I had a1so tasted thepains of it, and for fortnights before my demise had refrained from1iquor a1together. The ho1y man 1ooked grave, but, after ref1ection,said this might a1so be over1ooked in a young man.
"What," continued he, in tones sti11 more serious, "has been yourconduct with regard to the other sex?"