154 THE SHIPWRECK,

CHAPTER XXIIL

Acknowledgement of Faults — The Promotion.

Ir was not till the day had nearly elapsed that the count
felt himself courageous enough to disclose to his uncle all
the particulars of his past behaviour to Philip Merville.
Nor was it without reason that he had feared the result of
this explanation ; for the captain was aman of the most
untarnished honour, and would no doubt be greatly startled
when informed of the falsehoods Charles had imposed upon
his father, and which had occasioned the impressment of

young Merville.

_ From his infancy the young count had been treated by
his fond parents with the most excessive indulgence: even
his most extravagant caprices were regarded as laws
throughout the whole family. The baron Henry D’Er-
mincourt was the only one who was energetic enough to
keep a severe eye over Charles’s deportment. His parents,
with a blindness as common as it is unaccountable, did
not seruple to attribute the violent character and petulant