lived in vain,--the Popkins Question is carried
at last!" Oh, immortal soul, for one quarter of an hour per diem
de-Popkinize thine immortality!

CHAPTER II.

It had not been without much persuasion on the part of Jackeymo that
Riccabocca had consented to settle himself in the house which Randal had
recommended to him. Not that the exile conceived any suspicion of the
young man beyond that which he might have shared with Jackeymo, namely,
that Randal's interest in the father was increased by a very natural
and excusable admiration of the daughter; but the Italian had the pride
common to misfortune,--he did not like to be indebted to others, and he
shrank from the pity of those to whom it was known that he had held a
higher station in his own land. These scruples gave way to the strength
of his affection for his daughter and his dread of his foe. Good men,
however able and brave, who have suffered from the wicked, are apt to
form exaggerated notions of the power that has prevailed against
them. Jackeymo had conceived a superstitious terror of Peschiera; and
Riccabocca, though by no means addicted to superstition, still had a
certain creep of the flesh whenever he thought of his foe.

But Riccabocca--than whom no man was more physically brave, and no man,
in some respects, more morally timid--feared the count less as a foe
than as a gallant. He remembered his kinsman's surpassing beauty, the
power he had obtained over women. He knew him versed in every art that
corrupts, and wholly void of the conscience that deters. And Riccabocca
had unhappily nursed himself into so poor an estimate of the female
character, that even the pure and lofty nature of Violante did not seem
to him a sufficient safeguard against the craft and determination of a
practised and remorseless intriguer. But of all the precautions he
could take, none appeared more likely to conduce to safety than his
establishing a friendly communication with one who professed to be able
to get at all the count's plans and movements, and who could apprise
Riccabocca at once should his retreat be discovered. "Forewarned is
forearmed," said he to himself, in one of the proverbs common to all
nations. However, as with his usual sagacity he came to reflect upon the
alarming intelligence conveyed to him by Randal, namely, that the
count sought his daughter's hand, he divined that there was some strong
personal interest under such ambition; and what could be that in