find cards in their hands."

"What a school, and what teachers for the youth who just went with
them!" I could not help remarking.

"Willy Hammond?"

"Yes."

"You may well say that. What can his father be thinking about to
leave him exposed to such influences!"

"He's one of the few who are in raptures about this tavern,
because its erection has slightly increased the value of his
property about here, but if he is not the loser of fifty per cent
for every one gained, before ten years go by, I'm very much in
error."

"How so?"

"It will prove, I fear, the open door to ruin to his son."

"That's bad," said I.

"Bad! It is awful to think of. There is not a finer young man in
the country, nor one with better mind and heart, than Willy
Hammond. So much the sadder will be his destruction. Ah, sir! this
tavern-keeping is a curse to any place."

"But I thought, just now, that you spoke in favor of letting even