suburban gardens. Why, surely, where
that charming fountain now plays stood the rude bench in which I read
your verses."

"It is true; I wished to unite all together my happiest associations. I
think I told you, my Lord, in one of my letters, that I had owed a very
happy, yet very struggling time in my boyhood to the singular kindness
and generous instructions of a foreigner whom I served. This fountain
is copied from one that I made in his garden, and by the margin of which
many a summer day I have sat and dreamed of fame and knowledge."

"True, you told me of that; and your foreigner will be pleased to hear
of your success, and no less so of your grateful recollections. By the
way, you did not mention his name."

"Riccabocca."

"Riccabocca! My own dear and noble friend!--is it possible? One of my
reasons for returning to England is connected with him. You shall go
down with me and see him. I meant to start this evening."

"My dear Lord," said Leonard, "I think that you may spare yourself so
long a journey. I have reason to suspect that Signor Riccabocca is
my nearest neighbour. Two days ago I was in the garden, when suddenly
lifting my eyes to yon hillock I perceived the form of a man seated
amongst the brushwood; and though I could not see his features, there
was something in the very outline of his figure and his peculiar
posture, that irresistibly reminded me of Riccabocca. I hastened out of
the garden and ascended the hill, but he was gone. My suspicions were so
strong that I caused inquiry to be made at the different shops scattered
about, and learned that a family consisting of a gentleman, his wife,
and daughter had lately come to live in a house that you must have
passed in your way hither, standing a little back from the road,
surrounded by high walls; and though they were said to be English, yet
from the description given to me of the gentleman's person by one who
had noticed it, by the fact of a foreign servant in their employ, and
by the very name 'Richmouth,' assigned to the newcomers, I can scarcely
doubt that it is the family you seek."

"And you have not called to ascertain?"

"Pardon me, but the family so evidently shunning observation (no one but
the master himself ever seen without the walls), the adoption of another
name too, led me to infer that Signor Riccabocca has some strong motive
for concealment; and now, with my improved knowledge of life, and
recalling all the past, I cannot but su