Pagina 788 di 896

"These scraps of paper fail me. One was taken from me, with a

warning, yesterday. I must finish my record to-day.

"She was a good, compassionate lady, and not happy in her

marriage. How could she be! The brother distrusted and disliked

her, and his influence was all opposed to her; she stood in dread

of him, and in dread of her husband too. When I handed her down

to the door, there was a child, a pretty boy from two to three

years old, in her carriage.

"'For his sake, Doctor,' she said, pointing to him in tears, 'I

would do all I can to make what poor amends I can. He will never

prosper in his inheritance otherwise. I have a presentiment that

if no other innocent atonement is made for this, it will one day

be required of him. What I have left to call my own--it is little

beyond the worth of a few jewels--I will make it the first charge

of his life to bestow, with the compassion and lamenting of his

dead mother, on this injured family, if the sister can be

discovered.'