your boy knows the real character of this fellow, or has
anything to do with his roguery; but it isn't safe for him to be in
such company, and I thought you ought to know what is going on."

Mr. Preston thanked the officer very cordially for the information, and
promised to see that Oscar was immediately put out of the way of danger
from this source. When he went home at noon, he had a long private
interview with his son, and informed him of the disclosures the officer
had made. Oscar was not a little astonished to learn that the genteel
and sociable Ned Mixer, whose company he prized so highly, was a thief
by trade, and was fresh from a prison. He assured his father that he
knew nothing of all this. This was true; but after all Oscar knew too
much of the character of Ned to believe him to be a good boy, or a safe
companion. He had heard him swear and lie. He had also heard him
sneer at virtue, and boast of deeds that no well-ordered conscience
would approve. And yet he courted his company, and considered him a
"capital fellow"! O, foolish boy!

But Oscar's plea of ignorance did not fully excuse him, even in the eye
of his father, who did not know how little force that plea really had.

"I don't suppose you knew his character," said Mr. Preston; "but are
there not good boys enough in the neighborhood for you to associate
with--boys that have always lived here and are well known--without your
cultivating the acquaintance of every straggler and vagabond that comes
along? I wish you would not make yourself so intimate with Tom, Dick,
and Harry, before you know anything about them. I 've cautioned you
against this a good many times, and now I hope that you 'll see there
is some cause for it. If this intimacy had gone on a few weeks longer,
it might have ruined you and disgraced your mother and me."

After consultation with his wife and brother, Mr. Preston concluded to
let Oscar go down to Brookdale; and remain until they could make some
permanent arrangements for him elsewhere. He did not think it safe for
him to remain longer exposed to the temptations of the city. He
charged Oscar not to speak again to Ned, and not to inform any one of
the facts he had learned about him, lest it might thwart the efforts of
the police to detect his rogueries. On second thought, he concluded to
take Oscar to the store with him that afternoon, to prevent the
possibility of an interview between him and Ned. Oscar thus remai