"Oh, can you help me ?" he gasped out.

"I wanted to drown or hang myself, sooner than disgrace them; only I thought of Dinah and I couldn't do it;" and then as he grew calmer a little judicious questioning and a few more kind words brought out the whole story.
He had fallen into bad hands; two or three men older and richer than himself had got hold of him for their own purposes, and had led him into mischief.

The culminating misfortune had happened the previous evening, when they had induced him to play at cards; the stakes were high, though the boy was too much fuddled by champagne to guess that.
"They made me drunk, sir," groaned Cedric; "and there was a professional sharper there--Wright has just told me so--and he will not let me off.

If they found out things at headquarters I should be rusticated, and I am only in my first term.

The Proctor has vowed to make an example of the next fellow caught gambling, and they say he always keeps his word." "How much do you owe ?" asked Malcolm; and when Cedric in a low voice mentioned the sum, Malcolm gave a whistle of dismay.