Randal rose at the sound of the first breakfast bell, and on the
staircase met Mrs. Hazeldean. He gave her back the book; and as he was
about to speak, she beckoned to him to follow her into a little
morning-room appropriated to herself. No boudoir of white and gold, with
pictures by Watteau, but lined with walnut-tree presses, that held the
old heir-loom linen strewed with lavender--stores for the housekeeper,
and medicines for the poor.
Seating herself on a large chair in this sanctum, Mrs. Hazeldean looked
formidably at home.
"Pray," said the lady, coming at once to the point with her usual
straightforward candor, "what is all this you have been saying to my
husband as to the possibility of Frank's marrying a foreigner?"
_Randal._--"Would you be as averse to such a notion as Mr. Hazeldean
is?"
_Mrs. Hazeldean._--"You ask me a question, instead of answering mine."
Randal was greatly put out in his fence by these rude thrusts. For
indeed he had a double purpose to serve--first thoroughly to know if
Frank's marriage with a woman like Madame di Negra would irritate the
Squire sufficiently to endanger the son's inheritance, and, secondly, to
prevent Mr. and Mrs. Hazeldean believing seriously that such a marriage
was to be apprehended, lest they should prematurely address Frank on the
subject, and frustrate the marriage itself. Yet, withal, he must so
express himself, that he could not be afterwards accused by the parents
of disguising matters. In his talk to the Squire the preceding day, he
had gone a little too far--farther than he would have done but for his
desire of escaping the cattle-shed and short-horns. While he mused, Mrs.
Hazeldean observed him with her honest sensible eyes, and finally
exclaimed--
"Out with it, Mr. Leslie!"
"Out with what, my dear madam? The Squire has sadly exaggerated the
importance of what was said mainly in jest. But I will own to you
plainly, that Frank has appeared to me a little smitten with a certain
fair Italian."
"Italian!" cried Mrs. Hazeldean. "Well, I said so from the first.
Italian!--that's all, is it?" and she smiled.
Randal was more and more perplexed. The pupil of his eye contracted, as
it does when we retreat into ourselves, and think, watch, and keep
guard.
"And perhaps," resumed Mrs. Hazeldean, with a very sunny expression of
countenance, "you have noticed this in Frank since he was here?"
"It is true," murmured Randal; "but I think his heart or his fancy was
touched even before."
"Very natural," said Mrs. Hazeldean; "how could he help it?--such a
beautiful creature! Well, I must not ask you to tell Frank's secrets;
but I guess the object of attraction; and though she will have no
fortune to speak of--and it is not such a match as he might form--still
she is so amiable, and has been so well brought up, and is so little
like one's general notions of a Roman Catholic, that I think I could
persuade Hazeldean into giving his consent."
"Ah!" said Randal, drawing a long breath, and beginning with his
practised acuteness to detect Mrs. Hazeldean's error, "I am very much
relieved and rejoiced to hear this; and I may venture to give Frank some
hope, if I find him disheartened and disponding, poor fellow!"
"I think you may," replied Mrs. Hazeldean, laughing pleasantly. "But you
should not have frightened poor William so, hinting that the lady knew
very little English. She has an accent, to be sure; but she speaks our
tongue very prettily. I always forget that she's not English born! Ha,
ha, poor William!"
_Randal._--"Ha, ha!"
_Mrs. Hazeldean._--"We had once thought of another match for Frank--a
girl of good English family."
_Randal._--"Miss Sticktorights?"
_Mrs. Hazeldean._--"No; that's an old whim of Hazeldean's. But he knows
very well that the Sticktorights would never merge their property in
ours. Bless you, it would be all off the moment they came to
settlements, and had to give up the right of way. We thought of a very
different match; but there's no dictating to young hearts, Mr. Leslie."
_Randal._--"Indeed no, Mrs. Hazeldean. But since we now understand each
other so well, excuse me if I suggest that you had better leave things
to themselves, and not write to Frank on the subject. Young hearts, you
know, are often stimulated by apparent difficulties, and grow cool when
the obstacle vanishes."
_Mrs. Hazeldean._--"Very possibly; it was not so with Hazeldean and me.
But I shall not write to Frank on the subject, for a different
reason--though I would consent to the match, and so would William, yet
we both would rather, after all, that Frank married an Englishwoman, and
a Protestant. We will not, therefore, do any thing to encourage the
idea. But if Frank's happiness becomes really at stake, _then_ we will
step in. In short, we would neither encourage nor oppose. You
understand?"
"Perfectly."
"And, in the mean while, it is quite right that Frank should see the
world, and try to distract his mind, or at least to know it. And I dare
say it has been some thought of that kind which has prevented his coming
here."
Randal, dreading a further and plainer _éclaircissement_, now rose, and
saying, "Pardon me, but I must hurry over breakfast, and be back in time
to catch the coach"--offered his arm to his hostess, and led her into
the breakfast parlor. Devouring his meal, as if in great haste, he then
mounted his horse, and, taking cordial leave of his entertainers,
trotted briskly away.
All things favored his project--even chance had befriended him in Mrs.
Hazeldean's mistake. She had not unnaturally supposed Violante to have
captivated Frank on his last visit to the Hall. Thus, while Randal had
certified his own mind that nothing could more exasperate the Squire
than an alliance with Madame di Negra, he could yet assure Frank that
Mrs. Hazeldean was all on his side. And when the error was discovered,
Mrs. Hazeldean would only have to blame herself for it. Still more
successful had his diplomacy proved with the Riccaboccas; he had
ascertained the secret he had come to discover; he should induce the
Italian to remove to the neighborhood of London; and if Violante were
the great heiress he suspected her to prove, whom else of her own age
would she see but him? And the old Leslie domains--to be sold in two
years--a portion of the dowry might purchase them! Flushed by the
triumph of his craft, all former vacillations of conscience ceased. In
high and fervent spirits he passed the Casino, the garden of which was
solitary and deserted, reached his home, and, telling Oliver to be
studious, and Juliet to be patient, walked thence to meet the coach and
regain the capital.