were called upon to
predict what your fate is likely to be. It seems to me that you
have an equal chance of becoming a French marshal, or being broken
on the wheel. Here you are, not yet seventeen. You have, as I
doubt not, somewhat interfered with the king's plans, and caused
him the loss of one of his personal friends. You have twice
rescued a noble lady from the hands of her abductors. You have
brought disgrace and death upon a member of one of the most
powerful families in France. You have earned the gratitude and
friendship of one of the leading nobles of Southern France, that
of the fiance of his daughter, and of the daughter herself. As
soon as this affair spreads abroad, you will be the object of
general remark and attention. You have rendered the regiment to
which you belong proud of you, its junior ensign, and made Paris
emphatically too hot to hold you.

"If all this is done before you are seventeen, what may we expect
when another ten years have passed over your head?"

"You had better wait for the ten years to pass, O'Neil," Desmond
laughed; "by which time, perhaps, you and O'Sullivan will both
have learned wisdom, and will see that, because a man happens to
have gone through a very exciting adventure without discredit, it
by no means proves him to be anything in the smallest degree out
of the way."

Chapter 8: To Scotland.

Two days later the regiment was paraded, but no order had been
received for their start, and their destination was still
uncertain. The officers stood in a group, awaiting the arrival of
the colonel, who entered, accompanied by Colonel Wauchop and
several other Irish officers. As there had been no notice of an
official inspection, there was a general feeling of surprise at
the appearance of the visitors. The colonel rode up to the group
of officers.

"Gentlemen," he said, "I must ask you all to accompany me to the
common room. I have news of importance to give you."

He and those with him dismounted, and, followed by the wondering
officers of the regiment, went into the large room where they
gathered in the evening.

"The news that I am about to give you is of an important and happy
nature. His Most Gracious Majesty has decided to send an
expedition to Scotland, where the whole country is ready to rise
in favour of our lawful king."

A cheer broke from his hearers.

"Many Scottish and Irish gentlemen," the colonel went on, "have
been selected to accompany it. Among