Volume Iii Part 11 (1/2)

'Well, her explanation is that the other woman got her to conceal it, with the view of making money, but their difficulty was how to tell a story which would not incriminate themselves. Once or twice she sent an anonymous letter to the late Baronet, but he took no notice of it; and then she tried to speak to him, but he would not let her; and she was terribly afraid of him, as she says he was such a hard, arbitrary, imperious sort of man.'

'Well, we all know he was that,' said the other. 'He certainly was not a man to stick at anything where his pa.s.sions, or his prejudices, or his interests were concerned. But where is the woman now?'

'In the workhouse. She says she had quite lost sight of the other one, till she found her in a London hospital, where she went to see her. But the poor thing was too far gone to be of any good, and now she says they have both been made fools of, and they had better have let the child alone, so far as making any money out of the transaction.'

'Was the new Baronet told of it?'

'He was. I wrote to him on the subject.'

'And what did he say?'

'Virtually that it was like my impudence, and that he hoped he should never hear from me again.'

'Well, that was not encouraging.'

'Then I wrote again.'

'And so did I,' said Wentworth, 'and this was the reply.'

Wentworth read as follows:

'”SIR,

'”In reply to yours of the 19th inst., I have only to say that I consider your letter founded on complete misapprehension of the facts of the case. The deceased Baronet had no heir but myself, and any attempt to set up a claim on behalf of another will be firmly resisted. Trusting that this is an end of the matter, and that I shall be troubled with no further communications on the subject,

'”I am, yours truly, '”HUGH ROBERT STRAHAN.”

'Now hear the wife. She adds a P.S. as follows:

'”I have been informed that you are a writer for the newspapers. Let me hope that you are not one of the Sadducees against whom our Lord warned His disciples. Please read carefully the General Epistle of Jude. If I had the means I should like to see it hung up in all our newspaper offices. Possibly you have met with some of my little tracts. I am not proud of my literary talents. All boasting is unbecoming, and the true humble Christian feels that he is an unprofitable servant after all; but I am constrained to add that with the Lord's blessing they have been made useful in bringing many who were in darkness and sitting in the valley of the shadow of death into His own marvellous light. Be a.s.sured that at the throne of grace this morning I particularly remembered the case of your poor _protege_, who is much to be pitied. Oh, it grieves me to the heart to see how much we all make of wealth and rank! What is gold but dust and ashes? What are t.i.tles but less than the small dust of the balance in the eyes of the Lord?”

'Well, did Sir Watkin ever hear the story?'

'I don't know. The woman told me she left a note for him at the lodge, of which, however, he took no notice.'

'I should think not.'

'And once, she says, she tried to stop him; but he was angry and threatened her, and the police took her off. It was at the time of our last show, when Sir Watkin had, as you can remember, a grand party at the Hall. I never saw him in better spirits. It seemed as if he was going to marry a young lady with what he always wanted particularly-a lot of money.'

'That's the case, I fear, with most of us.'

'Yes,' said the other. 'In this respect we are most of us on an equality. But I must say this for Sir Watkin, that he would not make money, as some people make it nowadays, by feathering his nest at the expense of the public. It is to his credit that he lent his name to no doubtful speculation, though he was often asked to do so. He never was a company promoter.'

'Well, but about this woman's story?'

'I tell you as she told it me.'

'I know it all,' said Wentworth, 'and have known it long. The Colonel, who claims the entailed estate, is in London. Let us go and see him;'

and away they went to hunt him up at a swell military club of which he was a member.

The new heir was barely civil. When he heard what they had to say, he replied: