in Paris in sorry plight enough; but, fortunately, Clarke,
whose influence with the Emperor was unbounded, was a distant connection
of our family. By his intervention my father obtained an interview with
his Majesty, who was greatly struck by the adventurous spirit and daring
character of the man; not the less so because he had the courage to
disabuse the Emperor of many notions and impressions he had conceived
about the readiness of Ireland to accept French assistance.

"Though my father would much have preferred taking service in the army,
the Emperor, who had strong prejudices against men becoming soldiers
who had not served in every grade from the ranks upwards, opposed
this intention, and employed him in a civil capacity. In fact, to his
management were intrusted some of the most delicate and difficult secret
negotiations; and he gained a high name for acuteness and honorable
dealing. In recognition of his services, his name was inscribed in the
Grand Livre for a considerable pension; but at the fall of the dynasty,
this, with hundreds of others equally meritorious, was annulled; and my
father, worn out with age and disappointment together, sank at last, and
died at Dinant, where my mother was buried but a few years previously.
Meanwhile he was tried and found guilty of high treason in Ireland, and
all his lands and other property forfeited to the Crown. My present
journey was simply a pilgrimage to see the old possessions that once
belonged to our race. It was my father's last wish that I should visit
the ancient home of our family, and stand upon the hills that once
acknowledged us as their ruler. He never desired that I should remain a
French subject; a lingering love for his own country mingled in his
heart with a certain resentment towards France, who had certainly
treated him with ingratitude; and almost his last words to me were,
'Distrust the Gaul.' When I told you awhile back that I was nurtured in
affluence, it was so to all appearance; for my father had spent every
shilling of his-capital on my education, and I was under the firm
conviction that I was born to a very great fortune. You may judge the
terrible revulsion of my feelings when I learned that I had to face the
world almost, if not actually, a beggar.

"I could easily have attached myself as a hanger-on of some of my
well-to-do relations. Indeed, I will say for them, that they showed
the kindest disposition to befriend me; but the position of a