woman
too, are naturally animals of chase; the greatest still finds something
to follow, and there is no one too humble not to be an object of prey to
another. Thus, confining our view to the village of Hazeldean, we behold
in this whirligig Dr. Riccabocca spurring his hobby after Lenny
Fairfield; and Miss Jemima, on her decorous side-saddle, whipping after
Dr. Riccabocca. Why, with so long and intimate a conviction of the
villainy of our sex, Miss Jemima should resolve upon giving the male
animal one more chance of redeeming itself in her eyes, I leave to the
explanation of those gentlemen who profess to find "their only books in
woman's looks." Perhaps it might be from the over-tenderness and
clemency of Miss Jemima's nature; perhaps it might be that, as yet, she
had only experienced the villainy of man born and reared in these cold
northern climates; and in the land of Petrarch and Romeo, of the citron
and myrtle, there was reason to expect that the native monster would be
more amenable to gentle influences, less obstinately hardened in his
iniquities. Without entering farther into these hypotheses, it is
sufficient to say, that on Signor Riccabocca's appearance in the
drawing-room, at Hazeldean, Miss Jemima felt more than ever rejoiced
that she had relaxed in his favor her general hostility to man. In
truth, though Frank saw something quizzical in the old-fashioned and
outlandish cut of the Italian's sober dress; in his long hair, and the
_chapeau bras_, over which he bowed so gracefully, and then pressed it,
as if to his heart, before tucking it under his arm, after the fashion
in which the gizzard reposes under the wing of a roasted pullet; yet it
was impossible that even Frank could deny to Riccabocca that praise
which is due to the air and manner of an unmistakable gentleman. And
certainly as, after dinner, conversation grew more familiar, and the
Parson and Mrs. Dale, who had been invited to meet their friend, did
their best to draw him out, his talk, though sometimes a little too wise
for his listeners, became eminently animated and agreeable. It was the
conversation of a man who, besides the knowledge which is acquired from
books and life, had studied the art which becomes a gentleman--that of
pleasing in polite society. Riccabocca, however, had more than this
art--he had one which is often less innocent--the art of penetrating
into the weak side of his associates, and of saying the exact thing
which hits it