Was his extraordinary opinion of the wine sincere? Or was it Mr.
Mountjoy's wicked design to entrap her into praising her claret and
then to imply that she was a cheat by declaring what he really thought
of it? She took refuge in a cautious reply:
"You are the first gentleman, sir, who has not found fault with it."
"In that case, perhaps you would like to get rid of the wine?" Mr.
Mountjoy suggested.
The landlady was still cautious. "Who will buy it of me, sir?"
"I will. How much do you charge for it by the bottle?"
It was, by this time, clear that he was not mischievous--only a little
crazy. The worldly-wise hostess took advantage of that circumstance to
double the price. Without hesitation, she said: "Five shillings a
bottle, sir."
Often, too often, the irony of circumstances brings together, on this
earthly scene, the opposite types of vice and virtue. A lying landlady
and a guest incapable of deceit were looking at each other across a
narrow table; equally unconscious of the immeasurable moral gulf that
lay between them, Influenced by honourable feeling, innocent Hugh
Mountjoy lashed the landlady's greed for money to the full-gallop of
human cupidity.
"I don't think you are aware of the value of your wine," he said.
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