Miles Milton, our hero, at the age of nineteen, stood at the dividing ridge of his life.  If the oscillating spirit, trembling between right and wrong, had decided to lean to the right, what might have been his fate no one can tell.  He paused on the balance a short time, then he leaned over to the left, and what his fate was it is the purpose of this volume to disclose.  At the outset, we may remark that it was not unmixed good.  Neither was it unmitigated evil.