"No matter," he said at last, "I ain't going to sign a pledge for anybody, but I'm willing to get out of that business. I don't like making drunkards any better than you do, and I should have quit before if I could have seen any chance just on mother's account, but I never expected an offer like this." To all of which Theodore made answer only by setting himself comfortably back in his arm-chair, pushing a fruit-basket toward his companion, and saying: "Have a pear, Jim?" Then the talk drifted on to pears and peaches, and divers other fruits, until Jim said: "Come, let's talk business." Theodore opened his eyes large, and looked inquiring. "I thought we were done with business," he said, innocently. "Do you really mean that you withdraw your offer unless I will sign the pledge?" "Why certainly. I thought you understood that to be my proviso." "But, Tode, don't you think that is forcing a fellow?" "Not at all. You are perfectly free, of course, to do as you please. If you please to decline a good offer, merely because you won't promise not to drink what you say you don't drink, and not to sell what you say you don't want to sell, why that is your own matter, of course, and I can not help myself." Jim mused a little. "Well, you see," he said presently, "I do now and then take a drop of wine, not enough to amount to much, and I'm in no danger of doing it very often, for I honestly don't care much for it." "No. What then?" "Why, I'd have to stop that, of course, if I signed your pledge." "Of course. What then?" "Why, then," and here Jim broke down and laughed, and finally added: "Tode, I wish you were not such an awful fanatic about this." "But since I am, what is to be done?" Silence fell between the two for a time, until Jim said with a little touch of disgust: "Tode, you're as set in your way as a stone wall." "All right. What is the conclusion of the whole matter?" "Oh fudge! bring on your pledge and give us a pen." Instantly a drawer from a side table was drawn energetically out, and pen, ink, and a veritable pledge were placed before the young man. A few quick dashes of the pen, and "James H. McPherson" stood out in plain relief under the strongly worded total abstinence pledge. His companion waited with flushing cheek and eager eyes until the last letter was written; then he sprang up with an energy that set the arm-chair upside down, and uttered a vehement: "Good! Jim, oh Jim, I could shout for joy. I have fairly held my breath for fear you would not reach the point." Jim laughed. "What a fanatic you are!" he said in a tone of assumed carelessness. "How do you know I won't break it to-morrow?" "I know perfectly well. If I had not I should not have been so anxious to have you sign to-night. You happen to be as set in _your_ way as an acre of stone fences."