The two brothers had been partners for years in great harmony, when
a wandering circus came to the island and my Jacobus became
suddenly infatuated with one of the lady-riders. What made it
worse was that he was married. He had not even the grace to
conceal his passion. It must have been strong indeed to carry away
such a large placid creature. His behaviour was perfectly
scandalous. He followed that woman to the Cape, and apparently
travelled at the tail of that beastly circus to other parts of the
world, in a most degrading position. The woman soon ceased to care
for him, and treated him worse than a dog. Most extraordinary
stories of moral degradation were reaching the island at that time.
He had not the strength of mind to shake himself free. . . .

The grotesque image of a fat, pushing ship-chandler, enslaved by an
unholy love-spell, fascinated me; and I listened rather open-
mouthed to the tale as old as the world, a tale which had been the
subject of legend, of moral fables, of poems, but which so
ludicrously failed to fit the personality. What a strange victim
for the gods!

Meantime his deserted wife had died. His daughter was taken care
of by his brother, who married her as advantageously as was
possible in the circumstances.

"Oh! The Mrs. Doctor!" I exclaimed.

"You know that? Yes. A very able man. He wanted a lift in the
world, and there was a good bit of money from her mother, besides
the expectations. . . Of course, they don't know him," he added.
"The doctor nods in the street, I believe, but he avoids speaking