Not that Charley went, open-mouthed, and told; there was nothing of that disreputable character--which the school held in especial dislike--the sneak, about Charles Channing. Charley would have bitten his tongue out first. By an unfortunate accident Charles was pinned by the master, and questioned; and he had no resource but to speak out. In honour, in truth, he could not do otherwise; but, the consequence was--punishment to the boys; and they turned against him. Schoolboys are not famous for being swayed by the rules of strict justice; and they forgot to remember that in Charles Channing’s place they would (at any rate, most of them) have felt bound to do the same. They visited the accident upon him, and were determined--as you have heard them express it in their own phrase--to “serve him out.” Leaving this decision to fructify, let us turn to Constance. Lady Augusta Yorke--good-hearted in the main, liberal natured, swayed by every impulse as the wind--had been particularly kind to Constance and Annabel Channing during the absence of their mother. Evening after evening she would insist upon their spending at her house, Hamish--one of Lady Augusta’s lasting favourites, probably from his good looks--being pressed into the visit with them by my lady. Hamish was nothing loth. He had given up indiscriminate evening visiting; and, since the coolness which had arisen in the manner of Mr. Huntley, Hamish did not choose to go much to Mr. Huntley’s, where he had been a pretty constant visitor before; and he found his evenings hang somewhat heavily on his hands. Thus Constance saw a good deal of the Earl of Carrick; or, it may be more to the purpose to say, the earl saw a good deal of her. For the earl grew to like her very much indeed. He grew to think that if she would only consent to become his wife, he should be the happiest man in ould Ireland; and one day, impulsive in his actions as was ever Lady Augusta, he told Constance so, in that lady’s presence. Constance--much as we may regret to hear it of her--behaved in by no means a dignified manner. She laughed over it. When brought to understand, which took some little time, that she was actually paid that high compliment, she laughed in the earl’s face. He was as old as her father; and Constance had certainly regarded him much more in the light of a father than a husband. “I do beg your pardon, Lord Carrick,” she said, apologetically “but I think you must be laughing at me.” “Laughing at ye!” said the earl. “It’s not I that would do that. I’d like ye to be Countess of Carrick to-morrow, me dear, if you can only get over me fifty years and me grey hair. Here’s me sister--she knows that I’d like to have ye. It’s you that are laughing at me, Miss Constance; at me ould locks.”