Page 428 of 1118

However this may be, when these first fumes had mounted to the

brain of Renzo, wine and words continued to flow without rule or

reason. He felt a great desire to speak, and for a while his

words were arranged with some degree of order, but by little and

little he found it difficult to form a connected sentence. The

thoughts which presented themselves to his mind were cloudy and

indistinct, and his expressions, in consequence, unconnected and

obscure: to relieve his perplexity, by one of those false

instincts which, under similar circumstances, lead men to the

accomplishment of their own ruin, he had recourse to the flagon.