e which was not followed by a letter from Castle Quin
to Scroope Manor. No direct accusation of any special fault was made
against him in consequence. No charge was brought of an improper
hankering after any special female, because Lady Scroope found herself
bound in conscience not to commit her correspondent; but very heavy
injunctions were laid upon him as to his general conduct, and he was
eagerly entreated to remember his great duty and to come home and settle
himself in England. In the mean time the ties which bound him to the
coast of Clare were becoming stronger and stronger every day. He had
ceased now to care much about seeing Father Marty, and would come, when
the tide was low, direct from Lahinch to the strand beneath the cliffs,
from whence there was a path through the rocks up to Ardkill. And there
he would remain for hours,--having his gun with him, but caring little
for his gun. He told himself that he loved the rocks and the wildness of
the scenery, and the noise of the ocean, and the whirring of the birds
above and below him. It was certainly true that he loved Kate O'Hara.

"Neville, you must answer me a question," said the mother to him one
morning when they were out together, looking down upon the Atlantic when
the wind had lulled after a gale.

"Ask it then," said he.

"What is the meaning of all this? What is Kate to believe?"

"Of course she believes that I love her better than all the world
besides,--that she is more to me than all the world can give or take. I
have told her at least, so often, that if she does not believe it she is
little better than a Jew."

"You must not joke with me now. If you knew what it was to have one
child and only that you would not joke with me."

"I am quite in earnest. I am not joking."

"And what is to be the end of it?"

"The end of it! How can I say? My uncle is an old man,--very old, very
infirm, very good, very prejudiced, and broken-hearted because his own
son, who died, married against his will."

"You would not liken my Kate to such as that woman was?"

"Your Kate! She is my Kate as much as yours. Such a thought as that
would be an injury to me as deep as to you. You know that to me my Kate,
our Kate, is all excellence,--as pure and good as she is bright and
beautiful. As God is above us she shall be my wife,--but I cannot take
her to Scroope Manor as my wife while my uncle lives."

"Why should any one be ashamed of her at Scroope Manor?"

"Bec