cornet replied, hanging his head. 'I meant to take them up before they
fell due, Uncle Hugh,' he said. 'I did, indeed; I stood to win a hatful
of money upon the Liverpool Summer Meeting, and I made sure I should be
able to take up those bills: but I've had the devil's own luck all this
year. I never thought those bills would be presented; indeed, I never
did.'

"'Henry Dunbar,' Mr. Hugh said, very solemnly, 'nine men out of ten, who
do what you have done, think what you say you thought: that they shall
be able to escape the consequences of their deeds. They act under the
pressure of circumstances. They don't mean to do any wrong--they don't
intend to rob any body of a sixpence. But that first false step is the
starting point upon the road that leads to the gallows; and the worst
that can happen to a man is for him to succeed in his first crime.
Happily for you, detection has speedily overtaken you. Why did you do
this?'

"The young man stammered out some rambling excuse about his turf losses,
debts of honour which he was compelled to pay. Then Mr. Hugh asked him
whether the forged signature was his own doing, or the work of any body
else. The cornet hesitated for a little, and then told his uncle the
name of his accomplice. I thought this was cruel and cowardly. He had
tempted my brother to do wrong, and the least he could have done would
have been to try to shield him.

"One of the messengers was sent to fetch poor Joseph. The lad reached
the banking house in an hour's time, and was brought straight into the
private room, where we had all been sitting in silence, waiting for him.

"He was as pale as his master, but he didn't tremble, and he had