! I will return!" No,
once loose from his moorings, he let himself float down the stream,
watching the receding banks in mute despair, raising no shout for
succour, venturing no plunge for safety.

You, who by this time have given him up, disgusted at his weakness, his
vanity, his low instincts, his cowardliness--who say let him wallow in
the mire he has prepared for himself, who know so glibly what you would
have done, what you would have said, what you would have felt, remember
once more that Tom Drift was not such as you; and unfortunately did not
know you. He was not gifted with your heroic resolution or your all-
penetrating wisdom. He was an ordinary sinful being of flesh and blood,
relying only on his own poor strength; and therefore, reader, try to
realise all he went through before you fling your stone.

The toils were closing round him fast. His will had been the first to
suffer, his conscience next. Then with a rush had gone honour,
temperance, and purity; and now finally the flimsy rag, his good name,
had been torn from him, and he stood revealed a prodigal--and a
hypocrite.

Even yet, however, help might have been forthcoming.

"I say, you fellow," said one of his fellow-students this same day,
"I've never spoken to you before, and perhaps shall never do so again;
but _don't be a fool_!"

"What do you mean?" said Tom sharply.

"Only this, and I can't help it if you are angry, keep clear of these
new friends of yours, and still more, keep clear of the places they
visit. If you've been led in once, rather cut off your right hand than
be led in again, that's all!"

What spirit of infatuation possessed Tom Drift, that he did not spring
for very life at the proffered help, that he did not besiege this
friend, however blunt and outspoken, and compel his timely aid? Alas,
for his blindness and folly!

Scowling round at the speaker, he muttered an oath, and said, "What on
earth concern is it of yours who my friends are and where I go? Mind
your own business."

And so, thrusting rudely away the hand that might, by God's grace, have
saved him, he swept farther and farther out towards the dark waters.

One final and great hope was still reserved for him, and that was
Charlie's visit. But to Tom that prospect was becoming day by day mere
distasteful. As the days wore on, and Tom sunk deeper and deeper into
the snare prepared for him, the thought of a week in the society of one
so upright and pur