CHAPTER XXV.
“Avaunt! and quit my sight! let the earth
Hide thee!
Thy bones are marrowless, thy blood is cold!
Thou hast no speculation in those eyes
Which thou dost glare with.”
Macbeth.
It was with the greatest difficulty that James Willmington succeeded in restraining the curiosity of his wife until the period which he himself had appointed to tell her the particulars of the capture of the ship, and also the singular circumstance of his trial, punishment and rescue.
The period had now arrived.
In a beautiful and fantastic pavilion, into which the soft evening breeze wafted the sweet perfume of a thousand delicate flowers which bloomed around, sat James Willmington. He was seated at the head of a vast, spreading table that was loaded with the choicest and most delicious fruits that the tropics produce. Opposite to him sat Mrs. Willmington, on whose side two very beautiful infant daughters were respectively placed. On the right hand of Willmington was his son, a youth of about eighteen, who was dressed in the uniform of an officer.