"The dead? What dead?"
"By your dead lover, on whose son you avenged your betrayal, Mrs. Bryant."
She shivered, and looked up angrily. "Not that name, I am not Mrs. Bryant."
"I can give you another name if you like," said Fanks, pointedly. "Shall I say Mrs. Fielding or--Madaline Garry?"
The woman rose to her knees with an effort; and parting the tangled mass of her grey hair she looked at Fanks in a terrified manner. "Madaline Garry is dead," she said, in a low voice. "She died when she married Luke Fielding. Neglect and dishonour killed her."
"Madaline Garry did not die then," said Fanks, determinedly. "She lived to avenge herself on her lover by exchanging his child for that of her own."
"They were both his children," cried Mrs. Boazoph, with sudden fury, "I see you know all; so I can speak as I choose. I loved Francis Fellenger, and he betrayed me. I should have been his wife, but, like the coward he was, he married another woman. I became the wife of Luke Fielding, of the man I hated, in order to conceal the truth from my father. The child I bore was not his. It should have borne the title of the Fellengers."
"And it did bear the title of the Fellengers," said Fanks, in an impressive voice. "It took the place of the real heir, thanks to your schemes. And you, Madaline Garry, deserted the infant of your rival, after you had robbed him of his birthright. Wretched woman; make reparation while you can; give back his name to Edward Hersham, before it is too late, or" added Fanks, drawing nearer, "keep silence to the end; and let him suffer on the gallows for the murder of your son."
"No! No!" shrieked Mrs. Boazoph, clutching at her chair to raise herself, "not that, anything but that. He is innocent. I tell you that he is innocent!"
"If he is innocent, who then is guilty?" asked Fanks.