ng his age, deeply. His
parents had always admitted him into full fellowship with themselves,
and he had thus acquired their way of thinking upon many subjects. Then
his religious training had been more than ordinarily thorough. The
influences and inspiration of a Christian home had been supplemented and
strengthened by the teaching at Sunday school of one who possessed a
rare gift in the management of boys. Mr. Silver not only understood his
boys: he was in hearty and complete sympathy with them; and the truth
came from him with peculiar force, as he met them Sunday after Sunday.

Bert therefore would appear to have everything in his favour when set
upon by the tempter, and it might seem strange that in this case he
should dally so long with the danger. But the fact is there were unusual
elements in this temptation, such as have been already set forth, and
Bert's course of action from the time when he first saw the translation
of Sallust in Regie Selwyn's room, until when at length after days of
indecision, of halting between two opinions, of now listening to, and
again spurning the suggestions of the tempter, he had a copy of the same
book hidden away in his own room, was but another illustration of the
familiar experience, that he who stops to argue with the tempter, has as
good as lost his case.

He tried hard to persuade himself that it was all right, and that it
would be all right, but nevertheless it was with none too easy a
conscience that he slipped into Gossip's one afternoon, and timidly
inquired for the Sallust translation. The clerk did not understand at
first, and when he asked Bert to repeat his question a cold shiver went
down the boy's back, for he felt sure the man must have divined his
purpose in procuring the book. But, of course, it was only an
unnecessary alarm, and soon with the volume under his arm, and breathing
much more freely, he was hastening homeward.

At first he kept very faithfully to the programme he had laid down of
not resorting to the "pony" until he had done his best without it. Then
little by little he fell into the way of referring to it whenever he
was at a loss regarding a word, until at last he came to depend upon it
altogether, and the fluent translations that won Dr. Johnston's
approbation day after day were really nothing better than stolen matter.

Yet all this time he was far from having peace of mind. That troublesome
conscience of his acted as though it would never be