"Why, the Casino property is entailed on you, and you might obtain a sum upon that, not to be paid until the property becomes yours." "At my poor father's death? Oh, no--no! I cannot bear the idea of this cold-blooded calculation on a father's death. I know it is not uncommon; I know other fellows who have done it, but they never had parents so kind as mine; and even in them it shocked and revolted me. The contemplating a father's death and profiting by the contemplation,--it seems a kind of parricide--it is not natural, Randal. Besides, don't you remember what the governor said--he actually wept while he said it, 'Never calculate on my death; I could not bear that.' Oh, Randal, don't speak of it!" "I respect your sentiments; but still all the post-obits you could raise could not shorten Mr. Hazeldean's life by a day. However, dismiss that idea; we must think of some other device. Ha, Frank! you are a handsome fellow, and your expectations are great--why don't you marry some woman with money?" "Pooh!" exclaimed Frank, coloring. "You know, Randal, that there is but one woman in the world I can ever think of, and I love her so devotedly, that, though I was as gay as most men before, I really feel as if the rest of her sex had lost every charm. I was passing through the street now,--merely to look up at her windows--" "You speak of Madame di Negra? I have just left her. Certainly she is two or three years older than you; but if you can get over that misfortune, why not marry her?" "Marry her!" cried Frank in amaze, and all his color fled from his cheeks. "Marry her!--are you serious?" "Why not?" "But even if she, who is so accomplished, so admired--even if she would accept me, she is, you know, poorer than myself. She has told me so frankly. That woman has such a noble heart! and--and--my father would never consent, nor my mother either. I know they would not." "Because she is a foreigner?" "Yes--partly." "Yet the Squire suffered his cousin to marry a foreigner." "That was different. He had no control over Jemima; and a daughter-in-law is so different; and my father is so English in his notions; and Madame di Negra, you see, is altogether so foreign. Her very graces would be against her in his eyes." "I think you do both your parents injustice. A foreigner of low birth--an actress or singer, for instance--of course would be highly objectionable; but a woman, like Madame di Negra, of such high birth and connections--" Frank shook his head. "I don't think the governor would care a straw about her connections, if she were a king's daughter. He considers all foreigners pretty much alike. And then, you know"--Frank's voice sank into a whisper--"you know that one of the very reasons why she is so dear to me would be an insuperable objection to the old-fashioned folks at home." "I don't understand you, Frank."