_ BOOK EIGHTH CHAPTER VII
RANDAL advanced--"I fear, Signor Riccabocca, that I am guilty of some want of ceremony."
"To dispense with ceremony is the most delicate mode of conferring a compliment," replied the urbane Italian, as he recovered from his first surprise at Randal's sudden address, and extended his hand.
Violante bowed her graceful head to the young man's respectful salutation. "I am on my way to Hazeldean," resumed Randal, "and, seeing you in the garden, could not resist this intrusion."
RICCOBOCCA.--"YOU come from London? Stirring times for you English, but I do not ask you the news. No news can affect us."
RANDAL (softly).--"Perhaps yes."
RICCABOCCA (startled).--"How?"
VIOLANTE.--"Surely he speaks of Italy, and news from that country affects you still, my father."
RICCABOCCA.--"Nay, nay, nothing affects me like this country; its east winds might affect a pyramid! Draw your mantle round you, child, and go in; the air has suddenly grown chill."
Violante smiled on her father, glanced uneasily towards Randal's grave brow, and went slowly towards the house. Riccabocca, after waiting some moments in silence, as if expecting Randal to speak, said, with affected carelessness,
"So you think that you have news that might affect me? Corpo di Bacco! I am curious to learn what?"
"I may be mistaken--that depends on your answer to one question. Do you know the Count of Peschiera?"
Riccabocca winced, and turned pale. He could not baffle the watchful eye of the questioner.
"Enough," said Randal; "I see that I am right. Believe in my sincerity. I speak but to warn and to serve you. The count seeks to discover the retreat of a countryman and kinsman of his own."
"And for what end?" cried Riccabocca, thrown off his guard, and his breast dilated, his crest rose, and his eye flashed; valour and defiance broke from habitual caution and self-control. "But--pooh!" he added, striving to regain his ordinary and half-ironical calm, "it matters not to me. I grant, sir, that I know the Count di Peschiera; but what has Dr. Riccabocca to do with the kinsman of so grand a personage?"
"Dr. Riccabocca--nothing. But--" here Randal put his lip close to the Italian's ear, and whispered a brief sentence. Then retreating a step, but laying his hand on the exile's shoulder, he added, "Need I say that your secret is safe with me?"
Riccabocca made no answer. His eyes rested on the ground musingly.
Randal continued, "And I shall esteem it the highest honour you can bestow on me, to be permitted to assist you in forestalling danger."
RICCABOCCA (slowly).--"Sir, I thank you; you have my secret, and I feel assured it is safe, for I speak to an English gentleman. There may be family reasons why I should avoid the Count di Peschiera; and, indeed, he is safest from shoals who steers clearest of his relations."
The poor Italian regained his caustic smile as he uttered that wise, villanous Italian maxim.
RANDAL.--"I know little of the Count of Peschiera save from the current talk of the world. He is said to hold the estates of a kinsman who took part in a conspiracy against the Austrian power."
RICCABOCCA.--"It is true. Let that content him; what more does he desire? You spoke of forestalling danger; what danger? I am on the soil of England, and protected by its laws."
RANDAL.--"Allow me to inquire if, had the kinsman no child, the Count di Peschiera would be legitimate and natural heir to the estates he holds?"
RICCABOCCA.--"He would--What then?"
RANDAL.--"Does that thought suggest no danger to the child of the kinsman?"
Riccabocca recoiled, and gasped forth, "The child! You do not mean to imply that this man, infamous though he be, can contemplate the crime of an assassin?"
Randal paused perplexed. His ground was delicate. He knew not what causes of resentment the exile entertained against the count. He knew not whether Riccabocca would not assent to an alliance that might restore him to his country,--and he resolved to feel his way with precaution.
"I did not," said he, smiling gravely, "mean to insinuate so horrible a charge against a man whom I have never seen. He seeks you,--that is all I know. I imagine, from his general character, that in this search he consults his interest. Perhaps all matters might be conciliated by an interview!"
"An interview!" exclaimed Riccabocca; "there is but one way we should meet,--foot to foot, and hand to hand."
"Is it so? Then you would not listen to the count if he proposed some amicable compromise,--if, for instance, he was a candidate for the hand of your daughter?"
The poor Italian, so wise and so subtle in his talk, was as rash and blind when it came to action as if he had been born in Ireland and nourished on potatoes and Repeal. He bared his whole soul to the merciless eye of Randal.
"My daughter!" he exclaimed. "Sir, your very question is an insult."
Randal's way became clear at once. "Forgive me," he said mildly; "I will tell you frankly all that I know. I am acquainted with the count's sister. I have some little influence over her. It was she who informed me that the count had come here, bent upon discovering your refuge, and resolved to wed your daughter. This is the danger of which I spoke. And when I asked your permission to aid in forestalling it, I only intended to suggest that it might be wise to find some securer home, and that I, if permitted to know that home, and to visit you, could apprise you from time to time of the count's plans and movements."
"Sir, I thank you sincerely," said Riccabocca, with emotion; "but am I not safe here?"
"I doubt it. Many people have visited the squire in the shooting season, who will have heard of you,--perhaps seen you, and who are likely to meet the count in London. And Frank Hazeldean, too, who knows the count's sister--"
"True, true" interrupted Riccabocca. "I see, I see. I will consider, I will reflect. Meanwhile you are going to Hazel dean. Do not say a word to the squire. He knows not the secret you have discovered."
With those words Riccabocca turned slightly away, and Randal took the hint to depart.
"At all times command and rely on me," said the young traitor, and he regained the pale to which he had fastened his horse.
As he remounted, he cast his eyes towards the place where he had left Riccabocca. The Italian was still standing there. Presently the form of Jackeymo was seen emerging from the shrubs. Riccabocca turned hastily round, recognized his servant, uttered an exclamation loud enough to reach Randal's ear, and then, catching Jackeymo by the arm, disappeared with him amidst the deep recesses of the garden.
"It will be indeed in my favour," thought Randal, as he rode on, "if I can get them into the neighbourhood of London,--all occasion there to woo, and if expedient, to win, the heiress." _