himself and look for his daughter, as
he could not speak so freely to her before all that company.

He went up, knocked at the chamber door, and its not being opened,
made him push it with some violence. He heard a bustling noise
within, and again made a fruitless attempt to open the door. At this
the noise increased, and Mr. Bragwell was struck to the heart at the
sound of a pistol from within. He now kicked so violently against
the door that it burst open, when the first sight he saw was his
daughter falling to the ground in a fit, and Mr. Squeeze dying by a
shot from a pistol which was dropping out of his hand. Mr. Bragwell
was not the only person whom the sound of the pistol had alarmed.
The servants, the company, all heard it, and all ran up to the scene
of horror. Those who had the best of the game took care to bring up
their tricks in their hands, having had the prudence to leave the
very few who could be trusted, to watch the stakes, while those who
had the prospect of losing profiled by the confusion, and threw up
their cards. All was dismay and terror. Some ran for a surgeon,
others examined the dying man; some removed Mrs. Squeeze to her bed,
while poor Bragwell could neither see, nor hear, nor do any thing.
One of the company took up a letter which lay open upon the table,
and was addressed to him; they read it, hoping it might explain the
horrid mystery. It was as follows:

"TO MR. BRAGWELL.

"Sir--Fetch home your daughter; I have ruined her, myself, and
the child to which she every hour expects to be a mother. I have
lost my contracts. My debts are immense. You refuse me money; I
must die then; but I will die like a man of spirit. They wait to
take me to prison; I have two executions in my house; but I have
ten card-tables in it. I would die as I have lived. I invited
all this company, and have drank hard since dinner to get primed
for this dreadful deed. My wife refuses to write to you for
another thousand, and she must take the consequences. _Vanity_
has been my ruin; it has caused all my crimes. Whoever is
resolved to live beyond his income is liable to every sin. He
can never say to himself, Thus far shalt thou go and no further.
Vanity led me to commit acts of rapine, that I might live in
splendor; vanity makes me commit self-murder, because I will not
live in poverty. The new philosophy says that death is an
eternal sleep; but the new philosophy lies. Do you