"I've lost!" Gerald exclaimed bitterly. "I don't know what I shall do. I haven't a penny to pay any one." "Ask your father to come to the rescue. Get a draw from him. I see he's here! Or, how about your uncle?" "That won't do." Reginald stood thoughtfully whistling under his breath. Perhaps his conscience pricked him at the sight of his companion's dejected appearance, for after hesitating a few minutes, he put his hand in his pocket and drew out half a sovereign. "I can lend you that if it's any good to you," he said, "and you can pay me at some future day. I'm flush of money at present, wonderful to say." Gerald was quite overcome with gratitude. After all, Hope was really a good-natured fellow. He accepted the loan with a profusion of thanks, and immediately went and paid his debts; after which he joined his own people, and was so merry and light-hearted, that his uncle remarked one would have thought the Grammar School had won the match. Later in the evening, when Gerald found himself alone with Mr. Bailey, he asked him if he had known Miss Goodwin's brother. "Why, yes," was the response. "I remember him as a young man when I was a boy. A fine, handsome fellow he was too, but no good—no good!" "How was that, Uncle Edward?" "He was a gambler. I believe he took to betting when he was a boy at school, and never gave up the habit. He squandered everything he could lay his hands upon, not his own money only." "Do you consider betting very wrong?" Gerald inquired, wishing to hear what his uncle thought upon the subject. "Do you consider betting right?" was the question Mr. Bailey put in return. "N—o—o, I suppose not!" the boy admitted. "You suppose not? I am certain it is not. And if it's not right, it's bound to be wrong. There can be no two thoughts about the matter. I've met many folks who've tried to persuade themselves there was no harm in betting and gambling, but they all went one way." "What way was that, Uncle Edward?" "The broad road which is so easy to travel because it's all downhill— the broad road which leads to destruction." Gerald shuddered, for his uncle's tone had so much conviction in it. The broad road which leads to destruction! The words sounded again and again in his ears; he could not forget them.