“I know this, at least, that if he did lay such a wager, I would advise you to take any odds against him that his backers may give,” said L’Estrange, drily; and while his lip quivered with anger, his eye gleamed with arch, ironical humor. “You think, then, that this poor kinsman will not need such an alliance in order to regain his estates?” “Yes; for I never yet knew a rogue whom I would not bet against, when he backed his own luck as a rogue against Justice and Providence.” Randal winced, and felt as if an arrow had grazed his heart; but he soon recovered. “And, indeed, there is another vague rumor that the young lady in question is married already—to some Englishman.” This time it was Harley who winced. “Good Heavens! that can not be true—that would undo all! An Englishman just at this moment! But some Englishman of correspondent rank, I trust, or, at least, one known for opinions opposed to what an Austrian would call revolutionary doctrines?” “I know nothing. But it was supposed, merely a private gentleman of good family. Would not that suffice? Can the Austrian Court dictate a marriage to the daughter as a condition for grace to the father?” “No—not that!” said Harley, greatly disturbed. “But put yourself in the position of any minister to one of the great European monarchies. Suppose a political insurgent, formidable for station and wealth, had been proscribed, much interest made on his behalf, a powerful party striving against it, and just when the minister is disposed to relent, he hears that the heiress to this wealth and this station is married to the native of a country in which sentiments friendly to the very opinions for which the insurgent was proscribed are popularly entertained, and thus that the fortune to be restored may be so employed as to disturb the national security—the existing order of things; this, too, at the very time when a popular revolution has just occurred in France,(5) and its effects are felt most in the very land of the exile:—suppose all this, and then say if any thing could be more untoward for the hopes of the banished man, or furnish his adversaries with stronger arguments against the restoration of his fortune? But, pshaw—this must be a chimera! If true, I should have known of it.” “I quite agree with your lordship—there can be no truth in such a rumor. Some Englishman hearing, perhaps, of the probable pardon of the exile, may have counted on an heiress, and spread the report in order to keep off other candidates. By your account, if successful in his suit, he might fail to find an heiress in the bride?” “No doubt of that. Whatever might be arranged, I can’t conceive that he would be allowed to get at the fortune, though it might be held in suspense for his children. But, indeed, it so rarely happens that an Italian girl of high name marries a foreigner, that we must dismiss this notion with a smile at the long face of the hypothetical fortune-hunter. Heaven help him, if he exist!”