"Nay, nay, sir, here you have made a great mistake. You will note, sir, that the words 'uncle'—'villain'—and 'malediction' are widely separated, and that a deal that has been written between them has been frayed out and obliterated. The word 'villain' doesn't refer to my dear, kind-hearted friend Sarpinto, nor the word 'malediction' either."
"You relieve my mind considerably, Captain Cawdor, but pray proceed."
"Well, sir, on our passage back from the southern seas, Sarpinto and I got very chummy indeed. Although he is a Spaniard, he is a man nobody could help loving. He told me all his life story. But I need tell you no more at present than what refers to the dear wee lady there.
"They were twins, sir, the brothers Sarpinto, and loved each other as dearly as brothers should. The only misfortune in their lives was their both falling deeply in love with the same young lady. No fault of hers, mind you. By all accounts that child's mother was an angel. She loved the sailor brother best, however, and she married him, and sailed with him wherever he went. And never, mind you, did this sailor know his brother's secret. But, between you and me, it broke this brother's heart, though he still lives. And while he lives he'll roam and rove around the wide world in quest of adventures, for, alas! he cannot rest.
"Now, sir," continued Captain Cawdor, "do you begin to see how the land lies?"
"I do," said Eean.
"Señor Sarpinto's sailor brother, on his last voyage, carried with him much specie, and it was not till long after he had sailed that the Señor found out there had sailed with him in disguise one of the blackest-hearted villains that ever drew a knife. The ship was the Santa Maria sure enough, and the very commonness of the name threw the Señor off the scent, and he does not know now, of course, that his niece here is alive and well, and in such fatherly arms."
The captain ceased to speak, and after a moment's pause Eean rose slowly from his seat and held out his hand, which the sailor grasped right heartily.
"You are a good man," he said, "and God has sent you."
"And now," he added, as he reseated himself, "my duty lies before me more clearly than before."