The curiosity of the youthful Inez, however, was not so inactive. She
had not heard the martial music of the garrison, melting on the
evening air, nor seen the strange banner, which fluttered over the
heights that rose at no great distance from her father's extensive
grounds, without experiencing some of those secret impulses which are
thought to distinguish the sex. Natural timidity, and that retiring
and perhaps peculiar lassitude, which forms the very groundwork of
female fascination, in the tropical provinces of Spain, held her in
their seemingly indissoluble bonds; and it is more than probable, that
had not an accident occurred, in which Middleton was of some personal
service to her father, so long a time would have elapsed before they
met, that another direction might have been given to the wishes of
one, who was just of an age to be alive to all the power of youth and
beauty.
Providence--or if that imposing word is too just to be classical, fate
--had otherwise decreed. The haughty and reserved Don Augustin was by
far too observant of the forms of that station, on which he so much
valued himself, to forget the duties of a gentleman.
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