not be harsh to him. The Captain endeavoured to hold up his head,
and to swagger, and to assume an air of pinchbeck respectability. But
the attorney would not permit it. He required that the man should own
himself to be penniless, a scoundrel, only anxious to be bought; and
the Captain at last admitted the facts. The figure was the one thing
important to him,--the figure and the nature of the assurance. Mr. Crowe
had made his calculations, and put the matter very plainly. A certain
number of francs,--a hundred francs,--would be paid to him weekly at any
town in France he might select,--which however would be forfeited by any
letter written either to Mrs. O'Hara, to Miss O'Hara, or to the Earl.

"The Earl!" ejaculated the Captain.

Mr. Crowe had been unable to refrain his tongue from the delicious
title, but now corrected himself. "Nor Mr. Neville, I mean. No one will
be bound to give you a farthing, and any letter asking for anything more
will forfeit the allowance altogether." The Captain vainly endeavoured
to make better terms, and of course accepted those proposed to him. He
would live in Paris,--dear Paris. He took five pounds for his journey,
and named an agent for the transmission of his money.

And so Fred Neville was the Earl of Scroope. He had still one other task
to perform before he could make his journey home. He had to send tidings
in some shape to Ardkill of what had happened. As he returned to the
barracks from Mr. Crowe's residence he thought wholly of this. That
other matter was now arranged. As one item of the cost of his adventure
in County Clare he must pay two hundred a year to that reprobate, the
Captain, as long as the reprobate chose to live,--and must also pay Mr.
Crowe's bill for his assistance. This was a small matter to him as his
wealth was now great, and he was not a man by nature much prone to think
of money. Nevertheless it was a bad beginning of his life. Though he had
declared himself to be quite indifferent on that head, he did feel that
the arrangement was not altogether reputable,--that it was one which
he could not explain to his own man of business without annoyance, and
which might perhaps give him future trouble. Now he must prepare his
message for the ladies at Ardkill,--especially to the lady whom on his
last visit to the cottage he had found armed with a dagger for the
reception of her husband. And as he returned back to the barracks
it occurred to him that a messenger might