"Indeed!" suddenly ejaculated Graham, an instant consciousness of what he was, where he was, and what he was about to do, flashing over his mind. "I wish to heaven your conclusion had been true!" This sudden charge in his manner, and his earnestly, indeed solemnly expressed wish, were received with a burst of laughter. "Here Dan," said one, to the bar-keeper, "havn't you a pledge for him to sign." "O, yes! Bring a pledge! Bring a pledge! Has no one a pledge?" rejoined another, in a tone of ridicule. "Yes, here is one," said a man in a firm tone, entering the shop at the moment. "Who wants to sign the pledge?" "I do!" Graham said, in a calm voice. "Then here it is," the stranger replied, drawing a sheet of paper from his pocket, and unrolling it. "Give me a pen Dan," Alfred said, turning to the barkeeper. "Indeed, then, and I won't," retorted that individual, "I'm not going to lend a stick to break my own head." "O, never mind, young man, I can supply pen and ink," said the stranger, drawing forth a pocket inkstand. Alfred eagerly seized the pen that was offered to him, and instantly subscribed the total abstinence pledge. "Another fool caught!" sneered one. "Ha! ha! ha! What a ridiculous farce!" chimed in another. "He'll be rolling in the gutter before three days, feeling upwards for the ground," added a third. "Why, I don't believe he can see through a ladder now;" the first speaker said, with his contemptuous sneer. "Look here, mister," to the stranger who had appeared so opportunely. "This is all gammon! He's been fooling you." "Come along, my friend," was all the stranger said, drawing his arm within that of the penitent young man, as he did so,--"this is no place for you." And the two walked slowly out, amid the laughter, sneers, and open ridicule of the brutal company. Once again in the open air, Alfred breathed more freely. "O, sir," he said, grasping the hand of the individual who had appeared so opportunely--"you have saved me from my last temptation, into which I was led so naturally, that I had not an idea of danger. If I had fallen then, as I fear I should have fallen but for you, I must have gone down, rapidly, to irretrievable ruin. How can I express to you the grateful emotions that I now feel?"