recommendation, in
the house of a respectable, God-fearing widow, Mrs. Bligh, whose son
had recently gone up country to our factory at Cossimbuzar. Every day
I attended at the counting-house, where I was placed under the orders
of the Honourable Robert Byng, brother of the ill-fated admiral of the
same name, and who managed the business of the Company's investment in
rice, one of the principal branches of their trade. The Gentoo
merchants came to us there to make contracts for the provision of such
quantities as we required, after which they travelled about Bengal,
purchasing the crops, and sending the grain down the river in barges,
to be shipped at Calcutta for England.

Another staple of the Company's commerce, and the most valuable of
all, is silk. The Bengalee Indians are renowned for this manufacture,
yet they have no regular places set apart for it, but in their
villages scattered up and down the country, every man works for
himself in his own hut, doing no more--such is the natural laziness of
this people--than just sufficient to support him. The merchants are
consequently obliged to travel about from place to place, collecting
the stuff, which they do chiefly at the country fairs, where the
peasantry assemble once a year, bringing their work to be disposed of.
It is these customs of the people which have made it necessary for us
to set up an establishment in their country, like the Dutch at
Chinsurah and the French at Chander Nugger; for unless there were some
English on the spot to collect this merchandise and have it ready
against the arrival of the Company's fleet, the ships would often
return empty, or be obliged to pay extravagant prices to the native
monopolists of the trade.

While I was thus employed in the daytime, I seldom allowed an evening
to pass without visiting Marian at her father's house. Here I was most
kindly received, and for a time my hopes ran high. But, I cannot tell
how it was, I began presently to discover a change in Marian for which
I could not account. While her friendship towards me was in no way
lessened, but if possible increased, I gradually became aware that I
did not possess her entire confidence. She would sometimes look up
disturbed, I had nearly said frightened, at my entrance. At other
times when we were in the midst of conversation her attention seemed
to wander, and her expression became troubled, as if she had some
secret anxiety preying on her mind. I cannot say how u