"Lost it!" Maria exclaimed. "Oh, what a pity! I am so sorry! How did it happen?"
"I lost it over a horse," John Monday informed her.
"Lost it over a horse!" she repeated wonderingly. "I don't understand what you mean." Then a sudden light flashed across her mind, and she cried in accents of mingled reproach and dismay, "You don't mean to tell me that you've been betting!"
"Yes, I do. A young man I know very well told me if I put my money on a certain horse I should make a good bit, but the horse didn't win the race after all, and so I lost my half-crown."
"You foolish lad! That young man who advised you, whoever he is, is no fitting acquaintance for a boy like you. I think it's a very good job you did lose your money. Now, perhaps, you won't be tempted to bet again."
"I might win next time," he said rather sulkily, half regretful that he had confided in her.
"You might," she agreed, "and then, no doubt, you'd bet again. I do hope you'll stop at once. You don't know what a curse betting and gambling becomes, but I do, from sad experience. I had a brother who commenced making small bets when he was but a little older than you, and the habit of betting took such hold of him that it brought him to beggary. There! I've told you what I've never told a living soul besides, and I hope you'll take warning by my poor brother's unhappy fate."
"What became of him?" John Monday asked, deeply impressed.
"He died in a workhouse," Maria responded, her pale face flushing with shame, "after leading the life of a common tramp for years. Oh, the disgrace of it all! Not that there's any disgrace to come to the workhouse at last if a person's lived a respectable life, and been driven there through misfortune; but when a man's been made a pauper by his own folly and wickedness, as my poor brother was, that's very different. Many a good man's been born in a workhouse, and if I were you, I'd make up my mind to lead an upright, honest life, so that if I ever went back to the workhouse it should be by no fault of my own. There's an old proverb which says, 'God helps those who help themselves,' and I believe it's quite true. God doesn't help folks who bet and gamble, but He does those who try to be good, and He'll help you if you ask Him."
John Monday shook his head in a mournful way; then said anxiously—