Page:Isvar Chandra Vidyasagar, a story of his life and work.djvu/669

622 "Having heard the conversation you had with my friend * * * yesterday evening it becomes indispensably necessary for me to give you a detailed account of my conduct in the garden party complained of.

"The fact was that I accompanied by Baboos * * *, and * * * reached the place at 9 P. M. on the night previous. Some of my friends pressed me to drink, I protested, pleaded ill heath, but finding them too importunate to be refused did at length take two sips. The quantity imbibed was literally not more than a kutcha, the remainder of the liquid in the glass being somehow managed to be poured down upon the floor. This was the actual extent of my drunkenness on that night. The following morning I was again pressed to drink, but I steadfastly refused. Now as to the other and more serious part of the charge that has been brought against me by * * *, circumstanced as I was I had no other alternative but to remain where I was. To return home at that hour of the night would have been exceedingly inconvenient, and even if it were otherwise I did not like to play the Puritan unnecessarily. Several times I attempted to run away into an adjoining room but was on each occasion compelled to come back by sheer physical force. That I did not quit the company that very instant, is the only impropriety I have been guilty of, but beyond that I can most solemnly aver that I did not by my act, word or