No man at his age drinks himself to death without
cause; I told him so, but he only laughed at me. I'd give a good deal
to know what the truth is; not from curiosity, mind you, but to find
the disease in order to apply a remedy. Dan's father died of drink."
"No," said I coldly; "he was shot."
"Oh, I know that," was the reply; "but give a conditioned man the same
wound and he will recover, nine times out of ten. The elder Hillars
was so enervated by drink that he had no strength to fight the fever
which came on top of the bullet-hole. Something happened over there;
and it's pounds to pence there's a woman back of the curtain. It is
some one worth while. Hillars is not a man to fall in love with a
barmaid."
I began to respect the young man's wisdom.
"So you believe it to be a woman?"
"Yes. The wind blows from one point at a time. There are four points
to the vane of destiny; there is ambition for glory, ambition for
power, ambition for wealth, and ambition for love. In Hillars's case,
since the wind does not blow from the first three, it must necessarily
blow from the fourth.
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