`` i am sorry to give you any cause for alarm , but liu bao alone can drink two of me under the table ; i have seen him put away three bottles of wine in a sitting , '' laurence said ruefully , speaking from much painful experience : the envoy had dined with him convivially several more times since christmas , and if he were suffering any lingering ill-effects whatsoever from the sea-sickness , it could not be told from his appetite .