ou, your mother will not interfere one way or the other,--such
interference would weaken her influence with the Squire. Besides, as she
said, she can't _wish_ you to marry a foreigner; though once married,
she would----But how do you stand now with the Marchesa? Has she
consented to accept you?"

"Not quite: indeed, I have not actually proposed. Her manner, though
much softened, has not so far emboldened me; and, besides, before a
positive declaration, I certainly must go down to the Hall, and speak at
least to my mother."

"You must judge for yourself, but don't do any thing rash: talk first
to me. Here we are at my office. Good bye; and--and pray believe that,
in whatever you do with Levy, I have no hand in it."

CHAPTER XI.

Towards the evening, Randal was riding fast on the road to Norwood. The
arrival of Harley, and the conversation that had passed between that
nobleman and Randal, made the latter anxious to ascertain how far
Riccabocca was likely to learn L'Estrange's return to England, and to
meet with him. For he felt that, should the latter come to know that
Riccabocca, in his movements, had gone by Randal's advice, Harley would
find that Randal had spoken to him disingenuously; and, on the other
hand, Riccabocca, placed under the friendly protection of Lord
L'Estrange, would no longer need Randal Leslie to defend him from the
machinations of Peschiera. To a reader happily unaccustomed to dive into
the deep and mazy recesses of a schemer's mind, it might seem that
Randal's interest, in retaining a hold over the exile's confidence,
would terminate with the assurances that had reached him, from more than
one quarter, that Violante might cease to be an heiress if she married
himself. "But, perhaps," suggests some candid and youthful
conjecturer--"perhaps Randal Leslie is in love with this fair creature?"
Randal in love!--no! He was too absorbed by harder passions for that
blissful folly. Nor, if he could have fallen in love, was Violante the
one to attract that sullen, secret heart; her instinctive nobleness, the
very stateliness of her beauty, womanlike though it was, awed him. Men
of that kind may love some soft slave--they cannot lift their eyes to a
queen. They may look down--they cannot look up. But, on the one hand,
Randal, could not resign altogether the _chance_ of securing a fortune
that would realize his most dazzling dreams, upon the mere assurance,
however probable, which had so dismayed him; and