At this moment Mr. Reed, who had been talking to Mr. Horton, rose and faced the boys.
“I have a story to tell,” he began; “a story in which, I am sure, you will all be interested, as it deeply concerns one of your number. It is a true story—true in every detail.
“In a neighboring city there lived, not long ago, a man who stood very high in the community. He was wealthy, he held positions of trust—of honor, and no man in the land seemed less likely to fall than he; yet he did fall. Not satisfied with the wealth and station he had gained, he wanted to double his millions. He speculated—risked all that he had, and lost. Then he used the trust-funds in his hands, and again he lost.
“Then, with wealth gone, with honor gone, he would have taken his own life, but for one thing. His wife was very, very ill, and she had no one in the world but him, for they had no children.
“While he sat in his office, trying to decide whether he could leave his dying wife alone in the world, and commit this last great crime, there came to him one who was associated with him in business, one to whom he had years before given a helping hand. This man had never forgotten the help he had received, and the other knew that he could count upon help and sympathy from him in this hour of his shame and trouble.
“He told his friend the whole story, and asked of him what I believe no man has a right to ask of another. It could be made to appear to the world as if this other were the one who had betrayed his trust, and the guilty man proposed to let the world believe this. He asked his friend to bear in his stead the shame and dishonor that rightfully belonged to himself.
“‘It is only for a few days,’ he pleaded. ‘You know how very ill my poor wife is. The doctors say it is a question of but a few hours now. It is only for her sake—that she may die in peace—and, as soon as she is gone, the world shall know the whole story, and your name shall be fully cleared.’
“That was an awful sacrifice to ask of an upright, honorable man.
“At first the man refused utterly, but the other reminded him of past kindness received not only from himself, but from the wife whose life was so near its end—and at last he yielded. He agreed to bear the blame and the shame for the little time she had to live, only making the condition that his own wife should know the truth.
“Think, boys, what it was to that man to have the papers full of the story, to see friends pass him coldly by—even when he believed that in a few days all would be made right again!