“I can not allow you to make such a sacrifice,” said Brandon.     

       “Stop,” said Mr. Compton. “I have not said all. I attach a condition to this which I implore you not to refuse. Listen to me, and you will then be able to see.”      

       Mr. Compton rose and looked carefully out into the office. There was no one near. He then returned, locked the door, and drawing his chair close to Brandon, began, in a low voice:     

       “You have your secrets and I have mine. I don’t wish to know yours, but my own I am going to tell to you, not merely for the sake of sympathy, but rather for the sake of your assistance. I am going to tell you who I am, and why I came out here.     

       “My name is not Compton. It is Henry Lawton. All my early life was passed at York. There I married, had a son, and lived happily for years—in fact, during the childhood of my boy.     

       “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 

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