"Pardon me," said the Italian at last, "if I don't answer your question; you will know later; but, at present, this is a family secret. And now I must turn to another and more alarming cause for my frankness to you." Here Riccabocca's face changed, and assumed an expression of mingled rage and fear. "You must know," he added, sinking his voice, "that Giacomo has seen a strange person loitering about the house, and looking up at the windows; and he has no doubt--nor have I--that this is some spy or emissary of Peschiera's." "Impossible; how could he discover you?" "I know not; but no one else has any interest in doing so. The man kept at a distance, and Giacomo could not see his face." "It may be but a mere idler. Is this all?" "No; the old woman who serves us said that she was asked at a shop 'if we were not Italians?'" "And she answered?" "'No;' but owned that 'we had a foreign servant, Giacomo.'" "I will see to this. Rely on it that if Peschiera has discovered you, I will learn it. Nay, I will hasten from you in order to commence inquiry." "I cannot detain you. May I think that we have now an interest in common?" "O, indeed yes; but--but--your daughter! how can I dream that one so beautiful, so peerless, will confirm the hope you have extended to me?" "The daughter of an Italian is brought up to consider that it is a father's right to dispose of her hand." "But the heart?" "_Cospetto!_" said the Italian, true to his infamous notions as to the sex, "the heart of a girl is like a convent--the holier the cloister, the more charitable the door." * * * * * Randal had scarcely left the house, before Mrs. Riccabocca, who was affectionately anxious in all that concerned Violante, rejoined her husband. "I like the young man very well," said the sage--"very well indeed. I find him just what I expected from my general knowledge of human nature; for as love ordinarily goes with youth, so modesty usually accompanies talent. He is young, _ergo_ he is in love; he has talent, _ergo_ he is modest--modest and ingenuous." "And you think not in any way swayed by interest in his affections?" "Quite the contrary; and to prove him the more, I have not said a word as to the worldly advantages which, in any case, would accrue to him from an alliance with my daughter. In any case; for if I regain my country, her fortune is assured; and if not, I trust (said the poor exile, lifting his brow with stately and becoming pride) that I am too well aware of my child's dignity as well as my own, to ask any one to marry her to his own worldly injury." "Eh! I don't quite understand you, Alphonso. To be sure, your dear life is insured for her marriage portion; but--"