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.
"When he entered the apartment, the poor culprit, convinced by the presence of his Colonel that all was lost, fell on his knees, and supplicated if possible that his fame, not his life, might be spared for the sake of his afflicted but innocent and injured family.

Language has no power to describe the surprise and consternation with which, after a severe lecture, he received the joyful intelligence of ~205~~which his Colonel was the bearer.

He returned with his Commanding Officer to -- -- Square, where he was received by the Baronet as a repentant friend; and has lived to repair his error, and become deservedly distinguished as an ornament to society, civil and religious as well as military." "That must be truly gratifying to the worthy Baronet,{1}' said Tom.
"No doubt of it," continued Sparkle, "it must be a source of continued pleasure to find his labours have had so beneficial a result, having in all probability saved a whole family from destruction.

Surely it may be said, that "Among the idiot pranks of Wealth's abuse, None seem so monstrous, none have less excuse, Than those which throw an heritage away Upon the lawless chance of desperate play; Nor is there among knaves a wretch more base Than he who steals it with a smiling face, Who makes diversion to destruction tend, And thrives upon the ruin of a friend." -- "Yet the Greek, like the swindler{l} and the horse jockey, 1 Swindler--Is a term originally derived from the German, Schwindel, which signifies merely to cheat.