Sheaf'; and it was not easy for him to pass there without being
drawn into the bar, either by his own desire for drink, or through
the invitation of some pleasant companion, who was lounging in
front of the tavern."

"There may have been something even more impelling than his love
of drink," said I.

"What?"

I related, briefly, the occurrences of the preceding night.

"I feared--nay, I was certain--that he was in the toils of this
man! And yet your confirmation of the fact startles and confounds
me," said he, moving about his office in a disturbed manner. "If
my mind has questioned and doubted in regard to young Hammond, it
questions and doubts no longer. The word 'mystery' is not now
written over the door of his habitation. Great Father! and is it
thus that our young men are led into temptation? Thus that their
ruin is premeditated, secured? Thus that the fowler is permitted
to spread his net in the open day, and the destroyer licensed to
work ruin in darkness? It is awful to contemplate!" The man was
strongly excited.

"Thus it is," he continued; "and we who see the whole extent,
origin, and downward rushing force of a widely sweeping
desolation, lift our voices of warning almost in vain. Men who
have everything at stake--sons to be corrupted, and daughters to
become the wives of young men exposed to corrupting influences--
stand aloof, questioning and doubting as to the expediency of