Of course the whole truth had now been elicited.

He was not married but he was engaged;--engaged to a girl of whom he knew nothing, a Roman Catholic, Irish, fatherless, almost nameless,--to one who had never been seen in good society, one of whom no description could be given, of whom no record could be made in the peerage that would not be altogether disgraceful, a girl of whom he was ashamed to speak before those to whom he owed duty and submission! That there might be a way to escape the evil even yet Lady Scroope acknowledged to herself fully.

Many men promise marriage but do not keep the promise they have made.

This lady, who herself was really good,--unselfish, affectionate, religious, actuated by a sense of duty in all that she did, whose life had been almost austerely moral, entertained an idea that young men, such as Fred Neville, very commonly made such promises with very little thought of keeping them.

She did not expect young men to be governed by principles such as those to which young ladies are bound to submit themselves.