r of that scoundrel?"

"You should have thought of that before."

"But I was not told. Do you not see that I was deceived there. Mrs.
O'Hara clearly said that the man was dead. And she told me nothing of
the galleys."

"How could she tell you that?"

"But if she has deceived me, how can I be expected to keep my promise? I
love the girl dearly. If I could change places with you, I would do so
this very minute, and take her away with me, and she should certainly be
my wife. If it were only myself, I would give up all to her. I would, by
heaven. But I cannot sacrifice the family. As to solemn promises, did I
not swear to my uncle that I would not disgrace the family by such a
marriage? Almost the last word that I spoke to him was that. Am I to be
untrue to him? There are times in which it seems impossible that a man
should do right."

"There are times in which a man may be too blind to see the right," said
Jack,--sparing his brother in that he did not remind him that those
dilemmas always come from original wrong-doing.

"I think I am resolved not to marry her," said Fred.

"If I were in your place I think I should marry her," said Jack;--"but I
will not speak with certainty even of myself."

"I shall not. But I will be true to her all the same. You may be sure
that I shall not marry at all." Then he recurred to his old scheme. "If
I can find any mode of marrying her in some foreign country, so that her
son and mine shall not be the legitimate heir to the title and estates,
I would go there at once with her, though it were to the further end of
the world. You can understand now what I mean when I say that I do not
know how to begin." Jack acknowledged that in that matter he did
understand his brother. It is always hard for a man to commence any new
duty when he knows that he has a millstone round his neck which will
probably make that duty impracticable at last.

He went on with his life at Scroope for a week after the funeral without
resolving upon anything, or taking any steps towards solving the O'Hara
difficulty. He did ride about among the tenants, and gave some trifling
orders as to the house and stables. His brother was still with him, and
Miss Mellerby remained at the Manor. But he knew that the thunder-cloud
must break over his head before long, and at last the storm was
commenced. The first drops fell upon him in the soft form of a letter
from Kate O'Hara.

DEAREST FRED,

I am not quite sure