the road to ruin.

Meanwhile, the great works at Lone were completed and the ducal family
took possession, and commenced their short and glorious reign there by
a series of splendid entertainments given in honor of the coming of age
of the heir.

John Scott was not an invited guest, either to the castle or the grounds;
but he presented himself there, nevertheless, and caused some confusion
by his close resemblance to his brother, and much scandal by his improper
conduct among the village girls. And many an honest peasant went home
from the feast lamenting the behavior of the young heir, and trying to
excuse or palliate his viciousness by the vulgar proverb:

"Boys will be boys."

And so the reputation of the young Marquis of Arondelle suffered and
continued to suffer from the evil doings of his double.

John Scott kept one part of his compact with the duke; he avoided the
family; even when he could not keep away from Lone, he contrived to keep
out of sight of the duke, the duchess, and the marquis.

The young Marquis of Arondelle, indeed, was very little seen at Lone. He
was at Cambridge, or on his grand tour, nearly all the time of the
family's residence in the Highlands.

John Scott left the university without honors. This was a disappointment
to the duke, who did not, however, reproach his wayward son, but only
wrote and asked him if he would now take a commission in the army. But
the young man, who had lost all his youthful military ardor, and
contracted a roving habit that made him averse to all fixed rules and
all restraints, replied by saying that his income was sufficient for
his wants, and that he preferred the free life of a scholar.

The duke wrote again, and implored him to choose one of the learned
professions, saying that it was not yet too late for him to enter upon
the study of one.

The hopeful son replied that he was not good enough for divinity, bad
enough for law, or wise enough for medicine; that, therefore, he was
unsuited to honor either of the learned professions; and begged his
guardian to disturb himself no longer on the subject of his ward's
future.

Then the duke let him alone, having, in fact, troubles enough of his own
to occupy him--a life of superficial splendor, backed by a condition of
hopeless indebtedness.

We have already, in the earlier portions of this story, described the
short, glorious, delusive reign of the Herewards at Lone, and the
culminating glory and ruin of