"Sans reproche" was the motto of his house, and was emblazoned on the wall of the hall that was now his own.

If it might be possible to him he would live up to it and neither degrade his order nor betray his country.
But as he thought of all this, he thought also of Kate O'Hara.

With what difficulties had he surrounded the commencement of this life which he purposed to lead! How was he to escape from the mess of trouble which he had prepared for himself by his adventures in Ireland.

An idea floated across his mind that very many men who stand in their natural manhood high in the world's esteem, have in their early youth formed ties such as that which now bound him to Kate O'Hara,--that they have been silly as he had been, and had then escaped from the effects of their folly without grievous damage.

But yet he did not see his mode of escape.