Tom broke into a sudden laugh.

"They like that toll well enough, father, I can tell you; else they
could go round the other way. Why, you yourself salute the farmers'
little wenches on the cheek sometimes--I have seen you do it; and
why not I the older ones?"

The Squire looked at his son with mournful intensity of gaze.

"Tom, Tom, I think sometimes that thou dost err more from
thoughtlessness than from wickedness; but, my son, thoughtlessness,
if carried to excess, may become wickedness, and may breed vice. I
verily believe that in half thy pranks thou dost mean no great
harm; but thou art growing to man's estate, Tom. It is time that
thou didst put away childish things. What is pardoned to youth, may
not so easily be pardoned to manhood. Have a care, Tom, have a
care! Oh, my son, remember that the day will come when thou too
must lie face to face with death, even as I do tonight. Let not the
record upon which thou wilt then look be one of vice and
profligacy. It needs must be that in such a moment our lives seem
deeply stained by sin; but strive so to live that thou mayest at
least be able to say, 'I have striven to do my duty--the Lord
pardon all my imperfections!' For, Tom, if thou dost persevere in
careless and evil courses, it may be that the power to ask the
Lord's forgiveness may pass from thee; and if it comes to such a
pass, may the Lord have mercy upon thy wretched soul!"

The dying man stopped short, a spasm of suffering passing over his
face. The thought had been a terrible one to him. Yet he had been
bred up in the somewhat stern Puritan tenets, and it was not in his