There had been a bargain, no doubt, that he should remain with his regiment for a year, and of that year six months were still unexpired.

His uncle could not quarrel with him for going back to Ireland; but what answer should he make when his uncle asked him whether he were engaged to marry Miss O'Hara,--as of course he would ask; and what reply should he make when his uncle would demand of him whether he thought such a marriage fit for a man in his position.

He knew that it was not fit.

He believed in the title, in the sanctity of the name, in the mysterious grandeur of the family.

He did not think that an Earl of Scroope ought to marry a girl of whom nothing whatever was known.