lew
to some secret it might profit him to gain. For Randal Leslie hated
Egerton; and hated him the more because, with all his book-knowledge and
his conceit in his own talents, he could not despise his patron;
because he had not yet succeeded in making his patron the mere tool or
stepping-stone; because he thought that Egerton's keen eye saw through
his wily heart, even while, as if in profound disdain, the minister
helped the protege. But this last suspicion was unsound. Egerton had not
detected Leslie's corrupt and treacherous nature. He might have other
reasons for keeping him at a certain distance, but he inquired
too little into Randal's feelings towards himself to question the
attachment, or doubt the sincerity, of one who owed to him so much. But
that which more than all embittered Randal's feelings towards Egerton
was the careful and deliberate frankness with which the latter had, more
than once, repeated and enforced the odious announcement, that Randal
had nothing to expect from the minister's WILL, nothing to expect from
that wealth which glared in the hungry eyes of the pauper heir to
the Leslies of Rood. To whom, then, could Egerton mean to devise his
fortune? To whom but Frank Hazeldean? Yet Audley took so little notice
of his nephew, seemed so indifferent to him, that that supposition,
however natural, was exposed to doubt. The astuteness of Randal was
perplexed. Meanwhile, however, the less he himself could rely upon
Egerton for fortune, the more he revolved the possible chances of
ousting Frank from the inheritance of Hazeldean,--in part, at least, if
not wholly. To one less scheming, crafty, and remorseless than Randal
Leslie, such a project would have seemed the wildest delusion. But there
was something fearful in the manner in which this young man sought to
turn knowledge into power, and make the study of all weakness in others
subservient to his own ends. He wormed himself thoroughly into Frank's
confidence. He learned, through Frank, all the squire's peculiarities of
thought and temper, and pondered over each word in the father's letters,
which the son gradually got into the habit of showing to the perfidious
eyes of his friend. Randal saw that the squire had two characteristics,
which are very common amongst proprietors, and which might be invoked as
antagonists to his warm fatherly love. First, the squire was as fond of
his estate as if it were a living thing, and part of his own flesh and
blood;