d as that."

"Rickeybockey! Well, if it was his daughter! But not speak English!
and not go to the parish church! By George, if Frank thought of such a
thing, I'd cut him off with a shilling. Don't talk to me, sir; I would.
I 'm a mild man, and an easy man; but when I say a thing, I say it, Mr.
Leslie. Oh, but it is a jest,--you are laughing at me. There 's no such
painted good-for-nothing creature in Frank's eye, eh?"

"Indeed, sir, if ever I find there is, I will give you notice in
time. At present, I was only trying to ascertain what you wished for a
daughter-in-law. You said you had no prejudice."

"No more I have,--not a bit of it."

"You don't like a foreigner and a Catholic?"

"Who the devil would?"

"But if she had rank and title?"

"Rank and title! Bubble and squeak! No, not half so good as bubble
and squeak. English beef and good cabbage. But foreign rank and
title!--foreign cabbage and beef!--foreign bubble and foreign squeak!"
And the squire made a wry face, and spat forth his disgust and
indignation.

"You must have an Englishwoman?"

"Of course."

"Money?"

"Don't care, provided she is a tidy, sensible, active lass, with a good
character for her dower."

"Character--ah, that is indispensable?"

"I should think so, indeed. A Mrs. Hazeldean of Hazeldean--You frighten
me. He's not going to run off with a divorced woman, or a--"

The squire stopped, and looked so red in the face that Randal feared he
might be seized with apoplexy before Frank's crimes had made him alter
his will.

Therefore he hastened to relieve Mr. Hazeldean's mind, and assured him
that he had been only talking at random; that Frank was in the habit,
indeed, of seeing foreign ladies occasionally, as all persons in the
London world were; but that he was sure Frank would never marry without
the full consent and approval of his parents. He ended by repeating his
assurance, that he would warn the squire if ever it became necessary.
Still, however, he left Mr. Hazeldean so disturbed and uneasy that that
gentleman forgot all about the farm, and went moodily on in the opposite
direction, reentering the park at its farther extremity. As soon as they
approached the house, the squire hastened to shut himself with his wife
in full parental consultation; and Randal, seated upon a bench on the
terrace, revolved the mischief he had done, and its chances of success.

While thus seated, and thus thinking, a footstep approached cautiousl