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The Evil Genius by Wilkie Collins
page 283 of 475 (59%)
"You and I were both very young when my poor mother died; but I
think you must remember that she, like the rest of her family,
was a Roman Catholic.

"Having reminded you of this, I may next tell you that Sandyseal
Place was my mother's property. It formed part of her marriage
portion, and it was settled on my father if she died before him,
and if she left no female child to survive her. I am her only
child. My father was therefore dealing with his own property when
he ordered the house to be sold. His will leaves the purchase
money to me. I would rather have kept the house.

"But why did my mother make him promise to sell the place at his
death?

"A letter, attached to my father's will, answers this question,
and tells a very sad story. In deference to my mother's wishes it
was kept strictly a secret from me while my father lived.

"There was a younger sister of my mother's who was the beauty of
the family; loved and admired by everybody who was acquainted
with her. It is needless to make this long letter longer by
dwelling on the girl's miserable story. You have heard it of
other girls, over and over again. She loved and trusted; she was
deceived and deserted. Alone and friendless in a foreign country;
her fair fame blemished; her hope in the future utterly
destroyed, she attempted to drown herself. This took place in
France. The best of good women--a Sister of Charity--happened to
be near enough to the river to rescue her. She was sheltered; she
was pitied; she was encouraged to return to her family. The poor
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