hat there was no one to whom he could safely entrust
the child, I know not, but, in point of fact, he sent him to one
of the last houses where a loyal gentleman would wish his son to
be brought up. We all know by name and reputation--I and your
majors knew him personally--the gallant James O'Carroll, who died,
fighting bravely, at the siege of Limerick. He was succeeded in
his estate by his brother John, one of the few Irishmen of good
family who turned traitor to his king, and who secured the
succession to his brother's possessions by becoming an ardent
supporter of the usurper, and by changing his religion.

"Why Murroch Kennedy should have chosen such a man as the guardian
of his son is a mystery. Whether they had been great friends in
earlier times, when John O'Carroll professed as warm an attachment
to the Stuart cause as did his brother James, or whether Kennedy
possessed such knowledge of O'Carroll's traitorous dealings with
the Dutchman as would, if generally known, have rendered him so
hateful to all loyal men that he could no longer have remained in
the country, and so had a hold over him, Mr. Kennedy can tell us
nothing. He was brought by his nurse to Castle Kilkargan, and was
left with John O'Carroll. It is clear that the latter accepted the
charge unwillingly, for he sent the child to a farm, where he
remained until he was eight years old, and then placed him with
the parish priest, who educated him. The lad visited at the houses
of the neighbouring gentry, shot and rowed and fished with their
sons. O'Carroll, however, beyond paying for his maintenance, all
but ignored his existence, showing no interest whatever in him, up
to the time when he furnished him with a letter of introduction to
de Noailles, except that he made him a present of a gun, as soon
as he became of an age to use one. He never attempted to tamper
with his loyalty to King James, and in fact, until he sent for him
to ask what profession he would choose, he never exchanged ten
words with him, from the time that he was brought to the castle.

"We can each form our own theory as to the cause of such strange
conduct. He may have given a pledge, to Murroch, that the boy
should be brought up a loyalist, and a true son of the church. It
may have been that the loyalty of the boy's father formed so
unpleasant a contrast to his own disloyalty, and apostasy, that he
disliked the sight of him. However, these theories can make no
difference in our re