"It was that boy of mine, Edgar, that led to all my troubles. I suppose
we indulged him too much. It was natural. He was our only child, and so
we ruined him. He got beyond our control at last and used to run about
the streets of York. I did what I could to save him, but it was too
late.

"He went on from bad to worse, until at last he got in with a set of
miscreants who were among the worst in the country. My God! to think how
my boy, once a sweet child, could have fallen so low. But he was weak,
and easily led, and so he went on from bad to worse.

"I can not bear to go into particulars," said the old man, after a long
pause. "I will come at once to point. My poor, wretched boy got in with
these miscreants, as I was telling you, and I did not see him from one
month's end to another. At last a great burglary took place. Three were
arrested. Among these two were old offenders, hardened in vice, the one
named Briggs, the other Crocker; the third was my unhappy boy."

The old man was silent for some time.

"I do not think, after all, that he was guilty: but Briggs turned King's
Evidence, and Crocker and my son were condemned to transportation. There
was no help.

"I sold out all I had in the world, and in compliance with the
entreaties of my poor wife, who nearly went mad with grief, I came out
here. I changed my name to Compton. My boy's term was for three years. I
began a business out here, and as my boy behaved well he was able to get
permission to hire out as a servant. I took him nominally as my servant,
for no one knew that he was my son, and so we had him with us again.