exchanges with some barbarian for gold dust;--he thought of Frank Hazeldean married to the foreign woman of beggared means, and repute that had known the breath of scandal--married, and living on post-obit instalments of the Casino property;--he thought of the poor Squire's resentment;--his avarice swept from the lands annexed to Rood on to the broad fields of Hazeldean;--he thought of Avenel, of Lansmere, of Parliament;--with one hand he grasped fortune, with the next power. "And yet I entered on life with no patrimony--(save a ruined hall and a barren waste)--no patrimony but knowledge. I have but turned knowledge from books to men; for books may give fame after death, but men give us power in life." And all the while he thus ruminated, his act was speeding his purpose. Though it was but in a miserable hack cab that he erected airy scaffoldings round airy castles, still the miserable hack cab was flying fast, to secure the first foot of solid ground whereon to transfer the mental plan of the architect to foundations of positive slime and clay. The cab stopped at the door of Lord Lansmere's house. Randal had suspected Violante to be there; he resolved to ascertain. Randal descended from his vehicle and rang the bell. The lodge-keeper opened the great wooden gates. "I have called to see the young lady staying here--the foreign young lady." Lady Lansmere had been too confident of the security of her roof to condescend to give any orders to her servants with regard to her guest, and the lodge-keeper answered directly-- "At home, I believe, sir. I rather think she is in the garden with my lady." "I see," said Randal. And he did see the form of Violante at a distance. "But, since she is walking, I will not disturb her at present. I will call another day." The lodge-keeper bowed respectfully, Randal jumped into his cab--"To Curzon Street--quick!" CHAPTER XXII. Harley had made one notable oversight in that appeal to Beatrice's better and gentler nature, which he intrusted to the advocacy of Leonard--a scheme in itself very characteristic of Harley's romantic temper, and either wise or foolish, according as his indulgent theory of human idiosyncracies in general, and of those peculiar to Beatrice di Negra in especial, was the dream of an enthusiast, or the inductive conclusion of a sound philosopher.