I could not have conceived that so much beauty could be drawn from
what appeared to me the most commonplace of all 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 dreamt 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 graceful 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 neighbor. 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 bushwood; and, though I could not see his features, there
was something in the very outline of his figure and his peculiar
position, 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 new comers, 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--lead me to infer that Signor Riccabocca has some s