He was contracting a habit of drinking, and in a month or two after you had left he rarely came home sober." "And what about his bad friends ?" asked I.
"There you are! why can't you let me tell my story in peace?
His bad friends visited him daily at first, made a lot of him, and praised him loudly for his resolution in dismissing Charlie, and for his `growing a man at last.' They lent him money, they lost to him at cards and billiards, and they made his downward path as easy for him as possible.
"At last, about six months ago, Tom was found tipsy in the dissecting- room at the hospital, and cautioned by the Board.

A fortnight later he was found in a similar state in one of the wards, and then he was summarily expelled from the place, and his name was struck off the roll of students." "Has it come to that ?" I groaned.
"Come to that?
Of course it has; I shouldn't have said so if it hadn't," replied the testy pin, who seemed unable to brook the slightest interruption.

"He took a fit of blues after that; he went to the Board, and begged to be allowed to return to his studies, representing that all his prospects in life depended on his finishing his course there.

They gave him one more chance.

In his gratitude he resolved to discard his companions, and actually sat down and wrote a letter to Charlie, begging him to come and see him." "Did he really ?" I exclaimed, trembling with eagerness.
"All right, I shall not tell you of it again.