Part 39 (1/2)

It was afterwards recalled that, as the witness resumed his seat, a curious sound, something between a gasp and a sob was heard, but amid the tremendous sensation produced by his last statement it pa.s.sed unnoticed.

With very little delay, Mr. Sutherland announced the name of the last witness,--

”Frederick Mainwaring Scott!”

Again the silence deepened as the white-haired gentleman, with great dignity, took his place upon the stand. His heavy, sonorous tones rang out over the court-room, while from time to time the piercing eyes beneath the beetling, snow-white brows sought the face of Ralph Mainwaring with their silent but unmistakable challenge. At the first sound of his voice, Mrs. LaGrange's agitation increased perceptibly; her expression changed to abject terror, yet she seemed unable to move or to withdraw her gaze from his face.

To the question, ”Where were you born?” the witness replied, ”I was born in London, but for the past forty-five years have been a resident of Melbourne, Australia.”

”Are you not connected with the Mainwaring family?”

”Distantly. The Scott and Mainwaring families have intermarried for many years, but I have waived all claims of relations.h.i.+p for nearly half a century.”

”Were you acquainted with the Harold Scott Mainwaring mentioned in this will?”

”Intimately acquainted with him, as we were a.s.sociated together in business during his entire stay in Australia.”

”In what business were you engaged?”

”In the sheep business, princ.i.p.ally; we were also interested in the mines.”

”For how long a time were you a.s.sociated together?”

”Six years, or thereabouts.”

”Mr. Scott, you are the foster-father of Harold Scott Mainwaring who has just preceded you upon the witness stand, are you not?”

”I am, and have been from the day of his birth.”

”Will you state the circ.u.mstances under which you became his foster-parent?”

”Harold Scott Mainwaring, the elder son of Ralph Maxwell Mainwaring, came to Australia within a year after the marriage for which he was disinherited. His reason for leaving England was not, as many have supposed, on account of his father's severity, but because of the discovery of his wife's infidelity after all that he had sacrificed for her. He brought her to Australia in the vain hope that, removed from other influences--the influence of his own brother, in particular,--she would yet prove true to him. Within the following year, his son was born; but before that event he had fully learned the character of the woman he had married, and he determined that no child of his should be disgraced by any knowledge of its mother, or contaminated by a.s.sociation with her. To my wife and myself he confided his plans, and, as we had no children of our own, he pledged us to the adoption of his child while yet unborn. An old and trusted nurse in our family was also taken into the secret, but not the physician employed on that occasion, as he was a man of no principle and already in league with the false wife against her husband. When the child was born, Mrs. Mainwaring was very ill and the babe received comparatively little notice from the attendant physician. A dead child, born but a few hours earlier, was therefore easily subst.i.tuted for the living child of Harold Mainwaring, while the latter was secretly conveyed to my own home.

”A few weeks later, the child was privately christened in a small church on the outskirts of Melbourne and the event duly recorded upon the church records. He was given his father's name in full, Harold Scott Mainwaring, but until his twenty-first birthday was known among our acquaintances as Harry Scott, the same name by which he has been known in your city while acting as private secretary to Hugh Mainwaring.”

”Are you familiar with the letter written by Harold Mainwaring to his son?”

”Perfectly so; he gave it into my keeping on the day of the christening, to be given to his son when he should have reached his majority, if he himself had not, before that time, claimed him as his child.”

”You can then vouch for its genuineness?”

”I can.”

”How long a time elapsed between the birth of this child and the death of Harold Mainwaring, the father?”

”About five years. He left his wife soon after the birth of this child and spent the greater part of his time at the mines. He finally decided to go to the gold fields of Africa, and a few months after his departure, we received tidings of the wreck of the vessel in which he sailed, with the particulars of his death at sea.”

”Mr. Scott, did you ever hear of the existence of this will?”