“‘I am exceedingly sorry,’ said he, ‘that Mr. Wallingford should be disposed to censure me for stating facts, when he must know that the discovery of these facts did not afford any pleasure to me; I may say I was pained to find that circumstances were continually pointing to Miss Bramlett as the guilty one. I had hoped to find evidence of her innocence, and such a result would have given me ten-fold more pleasure than anything we could find against her. It is clear to my mind that the poor young lady has been the victim of some heartless villain--or that she has been laboring under temporary insanity. Whether or not I am correct in that opinion it is not my business just now to inquire. That is a question for the courts and lawyers to settle when she is put on trial; my business is to show what has been done, and nothing shall cause me to shrink from the performance of that duty. There is a young man keeping a gambling hell in this city; a young man of handsome face and fascinating manners, though a shrewd, sly scoundrel, who had something to do with this business; and I flatter myself that I shall be able to expose him before I get through with this affair. I have been shadowing him--he often gets drunk, and I never failed to manage his sort. He talks freely when drinking, and I will pump the secret out of him before I quit. I played poker with him the other night; he beat me out of forty dollars--the rascal! but I shall let him win, and give him rope to hang himself with. I’ll catch up with the villain yet. His apartments are furnished like the palace of a king. Where did the money come from to pay for it? I dare say he wheedled Miss Bramlett out of it. That unfortunate young girl has been so imprudent as to make frequent visits to these apartments during the dark hours of night.’ “‘Oh, Heavens! Eddie,’ exclaimed Harry, as he seized me by the arm, ‘have I got to hear such as this, and say nothing? It’s more than humanity can bear; it will kill me; for Heaven’s sake let this interview terminate--else I shall lose my reason!’ “‘Be quiet, I pray you, Harry,’ I said, though I felt the demon rising in my own breast, and needed all the prudence I could command in order to keep me from knocking the man down myself. “My attempt to soothe and quiet Harry, however, served to aid me in keeping cool, and after the lapse of a few moments, I directed Mr. Dabbs to proceed. “‘I was about to observe, a moment ago, that Miss Bramlett has been exceedingly imprudent, if not criminal, in her intrigue with Ben Bowles.’ “‘With whom did you say?’ groaned Harry. “‘Why, with Ben Bowles, that unprincipled gambler.’ “‘He must be the same fellow you knocked on the head at our camp,’ I said to Harry. “‘I should not be surprised,’ he replied. Then turning to Dabbs, I requested him to give me a description of Bowles.