“'Hold,' said the Baronet, 'don't be rash, remember the solemn promise you have given, and do not deceive me--I hold you bound to me, and will not permit you to break your engagement--I have better objects in view than the death of a fellow-creature.' “He then requested to be informed of the general tenor of the young man's conduct, which he found to be excellent, and that he was an indefatigable officer--'Indeed,' said the Colonel, 'it would give me the greatest ~204~~pain to lose him--an incomparably affectionate husband and father. He has but one vice, to which may be attributed his destruction, viz. his inordinate passion for gaming; but I cannot feel justified in screening so flagrant an offender--the law must take its course.' “'Moderate your indignation,' said the worthy Baronet, assuming a more serious tone, 'and remember you must be personalty answerable to me for any disclosure you may think proper to make; and that inasmuch as you injure him, you must injure me. You have already given him so high a character in every respect but one, that I must interest you further in his behalf, and beg you to assist me in my endeavours to reclaim, instead of punishing him.' “The Colonel was surprised; but the Baronet was inflexible. In vain he urged that the magnitude of the crime utterly precluded such a proceeding. “' It must be done,' said the Baronet, 'it shall be done. Leave all the consequences to me; he has now left us in extreme, though suppressed agitation--There is no time to lose--fly to save him.' “The Colonel expressed his readiness to try the experiment. “' Then,' said the Baronet, 'follow him immediately, assure him of my forgiveness, and that if he will pledge his word to forsake this dangerous vice, what he has already obtained he may hold as a gift, and I will add whatever may be necessary to extricate him from any temporary embarrassment.' “It was an important embassy--life or death was to be decided by it. The Colonel took his departure, certain of finding him at home taking leave of his family, and, reaching his habitation a short time after his arrival, witnessed a scene of misery which, although he had partly anticipated, he could not have conceived. He found him, surrounded by his wife and children, in an agony of desperation and despair.