'I lived there for ages.'

'Many conquests, sir?' inquired Mr Tupman.

'Conquests! Oh, thousands. There was Don Bolaro Fizzgig - a grandee whose only daughter - Donna Christina (a splendid girl) - loved me madly.

Her father was jealous - his passionate daughter was in love with a handsome Englishman. - Donna Christina was in despair at her father's attitude - took poison - fortunately there was a stomach pump in my suitcase - I performed the operation - old Bolaro in ecstasies - consented to our marriage - we joined hands in floods of tears - romantic story - very.'

'Is the lady in England now, sir?' inquired Mr Tupman. The story of Donna Christina's charms had powerfully affected him.

'She is dead, sir - dead,' said the stranger, wiping his right eye with the remnant of a very old cambric handkerchief. 'She never recovered from the stomach pump - it ruined her health, killed her.'

'And her father?' inquired the poetic Snodgrass.