a swift trotting horse, bearing a light sulky and a man,
went by.

"There goes young Hammond's three hundred dollar animal," said the last
speaker.

"It was Willy Hammond's yesterday. But there has been a change of
ownership since then; I happen to know."

"Indeed."

"Yes. The man Green, who has been loafing about Cedarville for the last
few years--after no good, I can well believe--came into possession
to-day."

"Ah! Willy must be very fickle-minded. Does the possession of a coveted
object so soon bring satiety?"

"There is something not clearly understood about the transaction. I saw
Mr. Hammond during the forenoon, and he looked terribly distressed."

"The embarrassed condition of things at the mill readily accounts for
this."

"True; but I think there are causes of trouble beyond the mere
embarrassments."

"The dissolute, spendthrift habits of his son," was suggested. "These
are sufficient to weigh down the father's spirits,--to bow him to the
very dust."

"To speak out plainly," said the other, "I am afraid that the young man
adds another vice to that of drinking and idleness."

"What?"

"Gaining."

"No!"

"There is little doubt of it in my mind. And it is further my opinion,
that his fine horse, for which he paid three hundred dollars only a few
days ago, has passed into the hands of this man Green, in payment of a
debt contracted at the gaming table."

"You shock me. Surely, there can be no grounds for such a belief."

"I have, I am sorry to say, the gravest reasons for what I allege. That
Green is a professional gambler, who was attracted here by the
excellent company that assembled at the 'Sickle and Sheaf' in the
beginning of the lazy miller's pauper-making experiment, I do not in
the least question. Grant this, and take into account the fact that
young Hammond has been much in his company, and you have sufficient
cause for the most disastrous effects."

"If this be really so," observed the gentleman, over whose face a
shadow of concern darkened, "then Willy Hammond may not be his only
victim."

"And is not, you may rest assured. If rumor be true, other of our
promising young men are being drawn into the whirling circles that
narrow toward a vortex of ruin."

In corroboration of this, I mentioned the conversation I had held with
one of the frequenters of Slade's bar room, on this very subject; and
also what I had myself observed on the previous evening.

The man, who had until now