basket.

"No use for me to go in there," muttered the unhappy man. "I shall only
increase the storm; and I've had storms enough!"

So he went from the chamber by way of the passage, descended to the
entry below, and, taking up his hat, left the house.

Now, of all things in the world, in the peculiar state of body and mind
in which Ellis then was, did he want a good strong cup of coffee at his
own table, and a kind, forbearing, loving wife to set it before him.
These would have given to his body and to his mind just what both
needed, for the trials and temptations of the day; and they would have
saved him, at least for the day, perhaps for life; for the pivot upon
which the whole of a man's future destiny turns is often small, and
scarcely noticed.

As Ellis stepped from his door, and received the fresh air upon his
face and in his lungs, he was instantly conscious of a want in his
system, and a craving for something to supply that want. Having taken
no breakfast, the feeling was not to be wondered at. Ellis understood
its meaning, in part, and took the nearest way to an eating-house where
he ordered something to eat. For him, it was the most natural thing in
the world, under the circumstances, to call for something at the bar
while his breakfast was preparing. He felt better after taking a glass
of brandy.

Ellis had finished his breakfast, and was standing at the bar with a
second glass of liquor in his hand, when he was accosted in a familiar
manner by the same individual who had lured Wilkinson to the
gaming-table.

"Ah, my boy! how are you?" said Carlton, grasping the hand of Ellis and
shaking it heartily.

"Glad to see you, 'pon my word! Where do you keep yourself?"

"You'll generally find me at my store during business hours," replied
Ellis.

"What do you call business hours?" was asked by Carlton.

"From eight or nine in the morning until six or seven in the evening."

"Yes--yes--yes! With you as with every other 'business' man I know.
Business every thing--living nothing. You'll get rich, I suppose; but,
by the time your sixty or a hundred thousand dollars are safely
invested in real estate or good securities, health will have departed,
never to return."

"Not so bad as that, I presume," returned Ellis.

"How can it be otherwise? The human body is not made of iron and steel;
and, if it were, it would never stand the usage it receives from some
men, you among the number. For what are the pure ai