One instance will illustrate; a neighbor had a piece of land to sell. It was not valuable land, but Mr. Taylor wanted it because if anyone bought it for a building spot it would cut off the view of the lake from the front piazza, and Mr. Taylor very indiscreetly remarked in Walter's presence, "I shall buy that corner at any price, for it is worth a great deal more to me than to anyone else." On his way to school Walter stopped to look at what he already counted a part of the home grounds. He was planning rows of trees, and gravel walks, when the owner came along and entered into conversation. Walter was ready to talk, and desirous of telling what he knew, and very early in the conversation he said, "Father means to buy this corner." "Indeed!" "Yes; he says he will have it at any price, for it is worth a great deal more to him than to anyone else; so he means to bid on it to-morrow." "Well, we shall give him a chance," said the owner, laughing. And as he walked on he secretly thanked Walter for that bit of information. To Mr. Taylor's surprise, he found another apparently anxious bidder the next day, and he found himself forced either to pay an exorbitant price or relinquish the idea of becoming the owner of the lot. Before he had fully decided to do the latter, his rival stopped bidding and the lot was struck off to him at three times its real value. The former owner chuckled over what he called his "good luck," and though Mr. Taylor wondered a little, he never knew that his boy's folly in repeating a careless remark of his own, had cost him so dear in giving his unscrupulous neighbor the opportunity of taking an unfair advantage. Another time Walter spoiled a surprise which his father and mother meant to give his sister. "You'd better hurry home from school to-night," he said that morning as they neared the academy. "Why?" asked Ella. "O, nothing! only it is my advice to get home as quick as you can, and see what is going on." "What do you mean?" "You'll find out!" "Are we going to have company?" "Company? Well, yes--I don't know but it might be called company--a sort of dumb companion--well, no--you couldn't call it dumb either." "Walter Taylor! is it something father and mother do not want me to know?" "I don't know how they will help your knowing." "I believe you are letting out a secret and I will not listen! I should think folks would learn not to tell you any secrets." "They didn't tell me. I heard a man tell father that it had come." Ella Taylor failed in her recitations that morning for the first time during the quarter. Her thoughts were at home, in the parlor; she knew exactly where _it_ ought to stand and wondered if they would put it in the right place. She tried to study, but Walter's hints which were too plain to be misunderstood insisted upon crowding themselves into her mind.