Following the instincts of his Irish ancestors, he then leagued with a professional smuggler, and began to deal in contraband liquors and cigars.

But before this occurred, he had sent his sister to a little secluded town, where she should be well out of earshot of his doings or possible troubles.

He would have shielded her from harm at the cost of his life.

His loyalty to her was only limited by the irresponsibility of his nature and a certain incapacity to see the difference between radical right and radical wrong.

His honour was a matter of tradition, such as it was, and in all else he had the inherent invalidity of some of his distant forebears.