What Happened to Tad by Mary E. Ropes

THE lads dared not exchange even so much as a whisper during their / drive, for old Foxy was close beside them in the back of the cart. / But both Phil and Tad felt that they had cause for dread now if never / before. Anything so unusual as a midnight drive, in the company, too, / of strangers, had never happened before, and the poor boys, as they / thought over everything, realised that a crisis of some sort was at / hand.

Of the two, Tad was the more miserable. With him, hitherto, temptation / had invariably meant yielding, had brought fresh sin and new troubles. / And now he feared lest once more he should fall and sink yet deeper in / the mire.