And your own wife's nephew! Why, you ought to take his part through thick and thin, whatever you may think of him.

From all I hear he must be a young man of exceedingly high principle; and I shall make a point of calling upon him the first half-hour I get to spare.

To-morrow, if possible; or if not, the day after, at the very latest." But the needful half-hour had not yet been found; and Carne, who was wont to think the worst of everybody, concluded that the Darling race still cherished the old grudge, which had always been on his own side.
For this he cared little, and perhaps was rather glad of it.

For the old dwelling-place of his family (the Carne Castle besieged by the Roundheads a hundred and sixty years agone) now threatened to tumble about the ears of any one knocking at the gate too hard.

Or rather the remnants of its walls did so; the greater part, having already fallen, lay harmless, and produced fine blackberries.
As a castle, it had been well respected in its day, though not of mighty bulwarks or impregnable position.