at fair remnant of the old Leslie property! L20,000 down--how to
get the sum? Why should Levy have spoken, to me of this?"

And lastly, the soliloquy rounded back:--

"The man's motives! His motives?"

Meanwhile, the baron, threw himself into his chariot--the most
comfortable, easy chariot, you can possibly conceive--single man's
chariot--perfect taste--no married man ever has such a chariot; and in a
few minutes he was at ----'s hotel, and in the presence of Giulio
Franzini, Count di Peschiera.

"_Mon cher_," said the baron in very good French, and in a tone of the
most familiar equality with the descendant of the princes and heroes of
grand mediaeval Italy--"_Mon cher_, give me one of your excellent cigars.
I think I have put all matters in train."

"You have found out--"

"No; not so fast yet," said the baron, lighting the cigar extended to
him. "But you said that you should be perfectly contented if it only
cost you L20,000 to marry off your sister (to whom that sum is legally
due), and to marry yourself to the heiress."

"I did indeed."

"Then I have no doubt I shall manage both objects for that sum, if
Randal Leslie really knows where the young lady is, and can assist you.
Most promising, able man is Randal Leslie, but innocent as a babe just
born."

"Ha, ha! Innocent? _Que diable!_"

"Innocent as this cigar, _mon cher_--strong, certainly, but smoked very
easily. _Soyez tranquille!_"

CHAPTER XV.

Who has not seen--who not admired, that noble picture by Daniel Maclise,
which refreshes the immortal name of my ancestor Caxton! For myself,
while with national pride I heard the admiring murmurs of the foreigners
who grouped around it (nothing, indeed, of which our nation may be more
proud had they seen in the Crystal Palace)--heard, with no less a pride
in the generous nature of fellow artists, the warm applause of living
and deathless masters, sanctioning the enthusiasm of the popular
crowd;--what struck me more than the precision of drawing, for which the
artist has been always renowned, and the just though gorgeous affluence
of color which he has more recently acquired, was the profound depth of
conception, out of which this great work had so elaborately arisen. That
monk, with his scowl towards the printer and his back on the Bible, over
which _his form casts a shadow_--the whole transition between the
mediaeval Christianity of cell and cloister, and the modern Christianity
that rejoices in the d