id the Baronet, 'follow him immediately, assure him of
my forgiveness, and that if he will pledge his word to forsake this
dangerous vice, what he has already obtained he may hold as a gift, and
I will add whatever may be necessary to extricate him from any temporary
embarrassment.'

"It was an important embassy--life or death was to be decided by it. The
Colonel took his departure, certain of finding him at home taking leave
of his family, and, reaching his habitation a short time after his
arrival, witnessed a scene of misery which, although he had partly
anticipated, he could not have conceived. He found him, surrounded by
his wife and children, in an agony of desperation and despair.

"When he entered the apartment, the poor culprit, convinced by the
presence of his Colonel that all was lost, fell on his knees, and
supplicated if possible that his fame, not his life, might be spared for
the sake of his afflicted but innocent and injured family. Language has
no power to describe the surprise and consternation with which, after a
severe lecture, he received the joyful intelligence of ~205~~which
his Colonel was the bearer. He returned with his Commanding Officer
to ---- Square, where he was received by the Baronet as a repentant
friend; and has lived to repair his error, and become deservedly
distinguished as an ornament to society, civil and religious as well as
military."

"That must be truly gratifying to the worthy Baronet,{1}' said Tom.

"No doubt of it," continued Sparkle, "it must be a source of continued
pleasure to find his labours have had so beneficial a result, having in
all probability saved a whole family from destruction. Surely it may be
said, that

"Among the idiot pranks of Wealth's abuse,
None seem so monstrous, none have less excuse,
Than those which throw an heritage away
Upon the lawless chance of desperate play;
Nor is there among knaves a wretch more base
Than he who steals it with a smiling face,
Who makes diversion to destruction tend,
And thrives upon the ruin of a friend."

--"Yet the Greek, like the swindler{l} and the horse jockey,

1 Swindler--Is a term originally derived from the German,
Schwindel, which signifies merely to cheat. It was first
introduced as a cant term, and used to signify obtaining of
goods, credit, or money, under false pretences. It has since
had a legis