o the heart of
the person he addressed, and heard him speak, you would have cried
admiringly, "Knowledge is power; and this man, if as able on a larger
field of action, should play no mean part in the history of his time."

Slowly Beatrice roused herself from the reveries which crept over her as
he spoke,--slowly, and with a deep sigh, and said,

"Well, well, grant all you say! at least before I can listen to so
honourable a love, I must be relieved from the base and sordid pleasure
that weighs on me. I cannot say to the man who wooes me, 'Will you pay
the debts of the daughter of Franzini, and the widow of Di Negra?'"

"Nay, your debts, surely, make so slight a portion of your dowry."

"But the dowry has to be secured;" and here, turning the tables upon her
companion, as the apt proverb expresses it, Madame di Negra extended her
hand to Randal, and said in the most winning accents, "You are, then,
truly and sincerely my friend?"

"Can you doubt it?"

"I prove that I do not, for I ask your assistance."

"Mine? How?"

"Listen; my brother has arrived in London--"

"I see that arrival announced in the papers."

"And he comes, empowered by the consent of the emperor, to ask the hand
of a relation and countrywoman of his,--an alliance that will heal long
family dissensions, and add to his own fortunes those of an heiress. My
brother, like myself, has been extravagant. The dowry which by law
he still owes me it would distress him to pay till this marriage be
assured."

"I understand," said Randal. "But how can I aid this marriage?"

"By assisting us to discover the bride. She, with her father, sought
refuge and concealment in England."

"The father had, then, taken part in some political disaffections, and
was proscribed?"

"Exactly; and so well has he concealed himself, that he has baffled
all our efforts to discover his retreat. My brother can obtain him his
pardon in cementing this alliance--"

"Proceed."

"Ah, Randal, Randal, is this the frankness of friendship? You know
that I have before sought to obtain the secret of our relation's
retreat,--sought in vain to obtain it from Mr. Egerton, who assuredly
knows it--"

"But who communicates no secrets to living man," said Randal, almost
bitterly; "who, close and compact as iron, is as little malleable to me
as to you."

"Pardon me. I know you so well that I believe you could attain to any
secret you sought earnestly to acquire. Nay, more, I believe th