After a moment’s silence Mr. Middleton commenced:  “I shall not attempt to justify myself for running away as I did, and yet I cannot say that I have ever seriously regretted visiting those countries, which I probably shall never look upon again.  I think I wrote to you, Joshua, that I took passage on the ship Santiago, which was bound for the East Indies.  Never shall I forget the feeling of loneliness which crept over me, on the night when I first entered the city of Calcutta, and felt that I was indeed alone in a foreign land, and that more than an ocean’s breadth rolled between me and my childhood’s home.  But it was worse than useless to dwell upon the past.  I had my fortune to make, and I began to look about for some employment.  At last I chanced to fall in with an intelligent Spaniard, Signor de Castello.  He was a wealthy merchant, and for several years had resided in Calcutta.  As he spoke the English language fluently, I found no trouble in making his acquaintance.

“He seemed pleased with me and offered me the situation of clerk in his counting room.  I accepted his offer, and also became an inmate of his dwelling, which was adorned with every conceivable luxury.  His family consisted of himself and his daughter, Inez.”

At the mention of Inez, Ashton half started from his chair, but immediately reseating himself, listened while Mr. Middleton proceeded:  “I will not attempt to describe Inez, for I am too old now to even feel young again, by picturing to your imagination the beauty of that fair Spaniard.  I will only say that I never saw one, whose style of beauty would begin to compare with hers, until I beheld my niece, Julia.”

“Lord knows, I hope she wan’t like Tempest,” said Uncle Joshua, at the same time relieving his mouth of its overflowing contents.

“I do not know whether she were or not,” answered Mr. Middleton, “I only know that Inez seemed too beautiful, too gentle, for one to suspect that treachery lurked beneath the soft glance of her dark eyes.  I know not why it was, but Castello, from the first seemed to entertain for me a strong friendship, and at last I fully believe the affection he felt for me was second only to what he felt for his daughter.  But he could not remain with us, and in eighteen months after I first knew him, he took one of the fevers common to that sultry climate, and in the course of a few days he was dead.  I wrote to you of his death, but I did not tell you that he had left a will, in which all his immense wealth was equally divided between myself and Inez.  He did not express his desire that we should marry, but I understood it so, and thenceforth looked upon Inez as belonging exclusively to myself.”

“You didn’t marry her, though, I take it,” said Joshua, making a thrust at an enormous mosquito, which had unceremoniously alighted upon his brawny foot.