Years before, Hobart had often stood at the bar where he now found himself. Old, familiar objects and associations brought back old feelings, and he was affected by an inward glow of pleasure. "What! you here?" said a man who stood at the bar, with a glass in his hand. He was also a member of the Order. "And you here!" replied Mr. Hobart. "It isn't for the love of it, I can assure you," remarked the man, as he looked meaningly at his glass. "These are not ordinary times." "You are right there," said Hobart. "A little brandy sustains and fortifies the system. That all admit." "My physician has ordered it for me. He takes a glass or two every day himself, and tells me that, so far, he has not been troubled with the first symptom." "Indeed. That is testimony to the point." "So I think." "Who is your physician?" "Dr. L--." "He stands high. I would at any time trust my life in his hands." "I am willing to do so." Then turning to the bar-keeper, Mr. Hobart said--"I'll take a glass of brandy and water, and you may add some mint." "Perhaps you'll have a mint julep?" suggested the barkeeper, winking aside to a man who stood near, listening to what passed between the two members of the Order. "Yes--I don't care--yes. Make it a julep," returned Hobart. "It's the brandy and mint I want. I've had a disagreeable sensation," he added, speaking to the friend he had met, and drawing his hand across his stomach as he spoke, "that I don't altogether like. Here it is again!" "A little brandy will help it." "I hope so." When the mint julep was ready, Hobart took it in his hand and retired to a table in the corner of the room, and the man he had met went with him. "Ain't you afraid to tamper with liquor?" asked this person, a little seriously, as he observed the relish with which Hobart sipped the brandy. Some thoughts had occurred to himself that were not very pleasant. "Oh, no. Not in the least," replied Mr. Hobart. "I only take it as a medicine, under my physician's order; and I can assure you that the taste is quite as disagreeable as rhubarb would be. I believe the old fondness has altogether died out." "I'm afraid it never dies out," said the man, whose eyes told him plainly enough, that it had not died out in the case of the individual before him, notwithstanding his averment on the subject. "I feel much better now," said Mr. Hobart, after he had nearly exhausted his glass. "I had such a cold sensation in my stomach, accompanied by a very disagreeable pain. But both are now gone. This brandy and mint have acted like a charm. Dr. L--understands the matter clearly. It is fortunate that I saw him this morning. I would not have dared to touch brandy, unless under medical advice; and, but for the timely use of it, I might have been dangerously ill with this fatal epidemic." After sitting a little while longer, the two men retired through the back entrance to escape observation.