ittle less than a
revolution of his whole system could dislodge or disturb it.

Lord L'Estrange's hand rested now upon a letter in a stiff, legible
Italian character, and instead of disposing of it at once as he had done
with the rest, he spread it before him, and re-read the contents. It was
a letter from Riccabocca, received a few weeks since, and ran thus:--

LETTER FROM SIGNOR RICCABOCCA TO LORD L'ESTRANGE.

I thank you, my noble friend, for judging of me with faith in my honour,
and respect for my reverses.

No, and thrice no, to all concessions, all overtures, all treaty with
Giulio Franzini. I write the name, and my emotions choke me. I must
pause, and cool back into disdain. It is over. Pass from that subject.
But you have alarmed me. This sister! I have not seen her since her
childhood; but she was brought up under his influence,

--she can but work as his agent. She wish to learn my residence! It can
be but for some hostile and malignant purpose. I may trust in you,--I
know that. You say I may trust equally in the discretion of your friend.
Pardon me,--my confidence is not so elastic. A word may give the clew
to my retreat. But, if discovered, what harm can ensue? An English roof
protects me from Austrian despotism: true; but not the brazen tower
of Danae could protect me from Italian craft. And, were there nothing
worse, it would be intolerable to me to live under the eyes of a
relentless spy. Truly saith our proverb, 'He sleeps ill for whom the
enemy wakes.' Look you, my friend, I have done with my old life,--I wish
to cast it from me as a snake its skin. I have denied myself all that
exiles deem consolation. No pity for misfortune, no messages from
sympathizing friendship, no news from a lost and bereaved country follow
me to my hearth under the skies of the stranger. From all these I have
voluntarily cut thyself off. I am as dead to the life I once lived as
if the Styx rolled between it and me. With that sternness which
is admissible only to the afflicted, I have denied myself even the
consolation of your visits. I have told you fairly and simply that
your presence would unsettle all my enforced and infirm philosophy, and
remind me only of the past, which I seek to blot from remembrance. You
have complied on the one condition, that whenever I really want your aid
I will ask it; and, meanwhile, you have generously sought to obtain me
justice from the cabinets of ministers and in the courts of king