t not be rash. Indeed, I
was thinking of you and poor dear Frank at the very moment I met you. It
occurred to me whether we might not make Frank's very embarrassments a
reason to induce Madame di Negra to refuse him; and I was on my way to
Mr. Egerton, in order to ask his opinion, in company with the gentleman
yonder."

"Gentleman yonder. Why should he thrust his long nose into my family
affairs? Who the devil is he?"

"Don't ask, sir. Pray let me act."

But the squire continued to eye askant the dark-whiskered personage thus
interposed between himself and his son, and who waited patiently a
few yards in the rear, carelessly readjusting the camellia in his
button-hole.

"He looks very outlandish. Is he a foreigner too?" asked the squire at
last.

"No, not exactly. However, he knows all about Frank's embarrassments;
and--"

"Embarrassments! what, the debt he paid for that woman? How did he raise
the money?"

"I don't know," answered Randal; "and that is the reason I asked Baron
Levy to accompany me to Egerton's, that he might explain in private what
I have no reason--"

"Baron Levy!" interrupted the squire. "Levy, Levy--I have heard of a
Levy who has nearly ruined my neighbour Thornhill,--a money-lender.
Zounds! is that the man who knows my son's affairs? I'll soon learn,
sir."

Randal caught hold of the squire's arm: "Stop, stop; if you really
insist upon learning more about Frank's debts, you must not appeal to
Baron Levy directly, and as Frank's father: he will not answer you. But
if I present you to him as a mere acquaintance of mine, and turn the
conversation, as if carelessly, upon Frank, why, since, in the London
world, such matters are never kept secret, except from the parents of
young men, I have no doubt he will talk out openly."

"Manage it as you will," said the squire.

Randal took Mr. Hazeldean's arm, and joined Levy--"A friend of mine from
the country, Baron." Levy bowed profoundly, and the three walked slowly
on.

"By the by," said Randal, pressing significantly upon Levy's arm,
"my friend has come to town upon the somewhat unpleasant business of
settling the debts of another,--a young man of fashion,--a relation of
his own. No one, sir (turning to the squire), could so ably assist you
in such arrangements as could Baron Levy."

BARON (modestly, and with a moralizing air).--"I have some experience in
such matters, and I hold it a duty to assist the parents and relations
of young men w