"I will put the other road before you; the one you seem so eager to rush upon. Ah, boy! how many a one, with as hopeful a future before him as you have, has gone sliding, sliding down unconsciously, never meaning, poor fellow, to slide too far, and been lost in the vortex of sin and shame! You are starting on well for it. Wine, and cards, and betting, and debt; and a singing mermaid to lure you on! That woman, with the hard light eyes, and the seductive airs, has cast her spell upon you. You think her an angel, no doubt; I say she's more of an angel's opposite----" "Mr. Brandon!" "There are women in the world who will conjure a man's coat off his back, and his pockets after it," persisted Mr. Brandon, drowning the interruption. "She is one of them. They are bad to the core. They are; and they draw a man into all kinds of irretrievable entanglements. She will draw you: and the end may be that you'd find her saddled on you for good. Who will care to take your hand in friendship then? Will you dare to clasp that of honest people, or hold up your face in the light of day? No: not for very shame. That's what gambling and evil courses will bring a man to: and, his self-respect once gone, it's gone for ever. You will feel that you have raised a barrier between you and your kind: remembrance will be a sting, and your days will be spent in one long cry of too late repentance, 'Oh, that I had been wise in time!'" "You are altogether mistaken in her," burst out Tod. "There's no harm in her. She is as particular as--as any lady need be." "No harm in her!" retorted Mr. Brandon. "Is there any good in her? Put it at its best: she induces you to waste your time and your substance. How much money has the card-playing and the present-giving taken out of you, pray? What amount of debt has it involved you in? More than you know how to pay." Tod winced. "Be wise in time, lad, now, without further delay, and break off this dangerous connection. I know that in your better moments you must see how fatal it may become. It is a crisis in your life; it may be its turning-point; and, as you choose the evil or the good, so may you be lost or saved in this world and in eternity." Tod muttered something about his not deserving to be judged so harshly. "I judge you not harshly yet: I say that evil will come unless you flee from it," said Mr. Brandon. "Don't you care for yourself?--for your good name? Is it nothing to you whether you turn out a scamp or a gentleman?" To look at Tod just then, it was a great deal. "Have you any reverence for your father?--for the memory of your mother? Then you will do a little violence to your own inclinations, even though it be hard and difficult--more difficult than to get a double first; harder than having the best tooth in your head drawn--and take your leave of that lady for ever. For your own sake, Joe; for your own sake!" Tod was pulling gently at his whiskers.