And, indeed, his uncle was the last man in the world with whom Percy would have chosen to trifle. Not his father, not Dr. Leacraft, had half the influence over him that this hero-uncle had, the brave, distinguished soldier whose very name was a synonym for all that was honorable and daring. There was no one in the world whose good opinion could have influenced him so much; no one whose scorn and disapprobation he so dreaded, or from whose reproof he would have shrunk. He had shown this when he had pleaded with Lena not to betray him to their uncle, of all people. He would really rather have borne some severe punishment at the hands of his parents or teacher than he would one contemptuous word or look from him who was regarded by all his young relations and friends as a chevalier _sans peur et sans reproche_. No prevarication, no shuffling would do here; if he said anything, if he answered at all, it must be the truth and nothing but the truth.