Excerpt

The fact was, Beaton had not only had his share of wine at the table, he had been drinking since, liqueur after liqueur. Trifles of that kind, when in sufficient numbers, do not tend to cool a young man's already heated brain.

For longer than they supposed Sydney had not been his real self; many and various were the causes which had been tending to make him lose his balance.

Then, in that supreme moment, when he needed to keep his head more than ever in his life, he lost his balance altogether and played the fool.