ared, considerable excitement of mind. In
answering him, Matthew glanced his eyes upward, as if indicating some
room in the house. The young man then retired, hurriedly, through the
sitting-room.

"What's the matter with Willy Hammond tonight?" asked some one of the
bar-keeper. "Who's he after in such a hurry?"

"He wants to see Judge Lyman," replied Matthew.

"Oh!"

"I guess they're after no good," was remarked.

"Not much, I'm afraid."

Two young men, well dressed, and with faces marked by intelligence,
came in at the moment, drank at the bar, chatted a little while
familiarly with the bar-keeper, and then quietly disappeared through
the door leading into the sitting-room. I met the eyes of the man with
whom I had talked during the afternoon, and his knowing wink brought to
mind his suggestion, that in one of the upper rooms gambling went on
nightly, and that some of the most promising young men of the town had
been drawn, through the bar attraction, into this vortex of ruin. I
felt a shudder creeping along my nerves.

The conversation that now went on among the company was of such an
obscene and profane character that, in disgust, I went out. The night
was clear, the air soft, and the moon shining down brightly. I walked
for some time in the porch, musing on what I had seen and heard; while
a constant stream of visitors came pouring into the bar-room. Only a
few of these remained. The larger portion went in quickly, took their
glass, and then left, as if to avoid observation as much as possible.

Soon after I commenced walking in the porch, I noticed an elderly lady
go slowly by, who, in passing, slightly paused, and evidently tried to
look through the bar-room door. The pause was but for an instant. In
less than ten minutes she came back, again stopped--this time
longer--and again moved off slowly, until she passed out of sight. I
was yet thinking about her, when, on lifting my eyes from the ground,
she was advancing along the road, but a few rods distant. I almost
started at seeing her, for there no longer remained a doubt on my mind,
that she was some trembling, heartsick woman, in search of an erring
son, whose feet were in dangerous paths. Seeing me, she kept on, though
lingeringly. She went but a short distance before returning; and this
time, she moved in closer to the house, and reached a position that
enabled her eyes to range through a large portion of the bar-room. A
nearer inspection appeared to