"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it."--_Bible._ Compounding a Felony There was a knock at the door, but no one thought of answering it until it was repeated--more faintly, a second time--then one of the young men opened it, saying to the newcomer, "It is never locked, my boy." In stepped a lad some seventeen years of age, and inquired in a voice hardly audible if he could stay all night. The young men sent the new arrival to me for an answer to his request. It was readily to be seen that the boy was in a state of great excitement. He acted so strangely that, contrary to custom, I asked him why he had come. "The police are after me," he stammered, as he turned and looked nervously at the door. "What have you done?" I questioned the boy. "I stole a bicycle and the owner just saw me walking along the street and started to chase me, calling after me, 'Stop, thief!' A crowd began to gather and I had all I could do to get away. I ran around a building and joined the crowd in the search; then, after a little, I dropped out of sight again and decided that I would go out to you for advice." "Where is the bicycle now?" I questioned. "I sold it," he said. "Where is the money you got for it?" "I spent it." He began to cry. "And now your conscience starts to trouble you." "Yes, sir." "My lad," I told him, "this is no hiding place for boys who steal, and for whom the police are searching." The boy did not reply; he turned aside and brushed away the tears with his cap. Then he started slowly towards the door. "So I can't stay?" he said finally. "I am afraid not," I replied. He went to the window and peered out into the night. "They'll get me," he said, hopelessly, "and when they do it means a long term in prison for me." "Wait a moment," I said. "Have you been arrested before." "Yes, another boy and myself took some fancy postal cards from a stationery stand. They were funny pictures that we wanted for our collection. We were sent to Jamesburg that time. Then since I came from that institution I was arrested again for something else I did and I am now out on probation. Next time the judge said he would give me a long sentence in the Rahway Reformatory." "You should have thought of all this sooner," I said, with a sternness that I did not feel, for I knew how easily one can drift from an evil thought into an evil act. "I heard you helped boys when they needed it," ventured the young rascal. "I surely need it now." "I may help them when I can," I replied, "but I never intentionally make myself a partner in their wrong doing." "The judge ought not to give me more than three years," said the boy thoughtfully, "even that is a long time.... The bicycle wasn't worth more than five dollars any way. The owner said he would sell it to me for that amount." At that moment there was a noise in the next room. "What was that?" asked the lad, trembling with fear.