ge to be a Good Samaritan;
it is not easy for a shy man, for example, to render first aid to a
poor chap with a fractured limb in the middle of a crowd of
sympathising bystanders--one's self-consciousness and British hatred of
a scene seem to choke one off."

So, true to his diffident nature, Malcolm walked to the other end of
Addison's Walk; then something seemed to drag at him, and he retraced
his steps slowly and reluctantly; finally, as though constrained by
some unseen power that overmastered his reserve, he sat down on the
bench and touched the youth lightly on the arm.

"You are in trouble, I fear; is there anything I can do to help you?"

The words were simple almost to bluntness, but they were none the worse
for that, for they rang true from a good heart.

Malcolm's voice was pleasant; when he chose, it could be both winning
and persuasive; to the lad sitting there in the Egyptian darkness of a
terrifying despair, it sounded honey-sweet. He put out a hot hand to
his new friend, and then broke into a fit of tears and sobs. "Oh, can
you help me?" he gasped out. "I wanted to drown or hang myself, sooner
than disgrace them; only I thought of Dinah and I couldn't do it;" and
then as he grew calmer a little judicious questioning and a few more
kind words brought out the whole story.

He had fallen into bad hands; two or three men older and richer than
himself had got hold of him for their own purposes, and had led him
into mischief. The culminating misfortune had happened the previous
evening, when they had induced him to play at cards; the stakes were
high, though the boy was too much fuddled by champagne to guess that.

"They made me drunk, sir," groaned Cedric; "and there was a
professional sharper there--Wright has just told me so--and he will not
let me off. If they found out things at headquarters I should be
rusticated, and I am only in my first term. The Proctor has vowed to
make an example of the next fellow caught gambling, and they say he
always keeps his word."

"How much do you owe?" asked Malcolm; and when Cedric in a low voice
mentioned the sum, Malcolm gave a whistle of dismay. No wonder he was
in despair.

"If I had not drunk too much, I should have stopped playing when I saw
I was losing," went on Cedric in a contrite tone; "but they plied me
with liquor, and I got reckless, and then I knew no more till I found
myself in bed with my clothes on."

Cedric was not shirking the truth certainl