"What has caused the judge to grow poorer?"

"The opening of this tavern, as I just said."

"In what way did it affect him?"

"He was among Slade's warmest supporters, as soon as he felt the
advance in the price of building lots, called him one of the most
enterprising men in Cedarville--a real benefactor to the place--
and all that stuff. To set a good example of patronage, he came
over every day and took his glass of brandy, and encouraged
everybody else that he could influence to do the same. Among those
who followed his example was his son Willy. There was not, let me
tell you, in all the country for twenty miles around, a finer
young man than Willy, nor one of so much promise, when this man-
trap"--he let his voice fall, and glanced around, as he thus
designated Slade's tavern--"was opened; and now, there is not one
dashing more recklessly along the road to ruin. When too late, his
father saw that his son was corrupted, and that the company he
kept was of a dangerous character. Two reasons led him to purchase
Slade's old mill, and turn it into a factory and a distillery. Of
course, he had to make a heavy outlay for additional buildings,
machinery, and distilling apparatus. The reasons influencing him
were the prospect of realizing a large amount of money, especially
in distilling, and the hope of saving Willy, by getting him
closely engaged and interested in business. To accomplish, more
certainly, the latter end, he unwisely transferred to his son, as
his own capital, twenty thousand dollars, and then formed with him
a regular copartnership--giving Willy an active business control.