The Evil Genius by Wilkie Collins
page 283 of 475 (59%)
page 283 of 475 (59%)
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"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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