"I was distracted when I learned all this. I went to my sister and I told her that the false Sir Gregory was my son. I returned to town to find that young Vaud was seriously ill. Afterwards he was sent on a sea voyage, and he went over to Paris when he got back to rescue Emma from my miserable son. She was dead, and he returned to see if he could take vengeance on her murderer. He told me that he would kill Sir Gregory, but I thought that it was an idle threat. Afterwards I saw nothing more of him for some time. My sister asked for the address of Sir Gregory, as she wanted a photograph of Emma which had been taken at Taxton-on-Thames.
"When I went to Gregory's rooms in Half-Moon Street to tell him the truth, I saw the photograph. I wrote on it the date of the birth and death of his victim. I told him about the tattooed cross, and how I could prove that he was not the real Sir Gregory, because he had not that mark on his arm. He did not believe me, and turned me out of his rooms, me--his mother. At that moment I hated him for his likeness to his father who had wronged me. But I could not harm him. I went to Taxton-on-Thames; I said nothing. I wrote on an envelope the address of Sir Gregory, and gave it to my sister, so that she could write to him for the photograph, on the back of which I had written. All this took place before the murder.
"Then Gregory came to my hotel on the evening of the twenty-first of June. I did not see him, but I saw Vaud, who entered afterwards, disguised as a black man. I recognised him at once, and asked him why he was dressed up like the servant of Binjoy. He said it was to play a trick on the doctor, who was in the inner room waiting to see him. I believed him, although I thought his behaviour strange. But I know that he had not been quite right in his head since his illness, so that I thought his dressing-up was a freak, and let him pass into the inner room, where I presumed he was about to see Binjoy. I went back to my own room, and never dreamt that the supposed doctor was my son in disguise. Had I known I would not have left the half-crazed Vaud go into him, knowing how he hated my son as the destroyer of Emma.
"I know nothing more. I saw Binjoy later on. I asked him if he had seen Vaud; he said no, that he had just come to the hotel. I went into the inner room and found my son dead. I did not know how he died till Binjoy told me about the blood-poisoning. Then I sent for the police, and Mr. Fanks arrived. I saw the grains of gunpowder. I thought they were the evidence of some drug which had destroyed my son. I got rid of them by pulling off the tablecloth. I did not tell the truth or speak out, because I was afraid of being inculpated in the crime. My character was so bad that I knew the police would have no mercy if they thought I was mixed up in the murder. I did not want to disgrace my sister, or let her know my real life, my feigned name. I afterwards went down to Mere Hall and saw Binjoy. I said I would put the rightful heir in his own place, and oust Louis. Binjoy said if I did he would tell my story, and that with his evidence I would be accused of the murder. I therefore held my tongue; I could not bring back my son to life. He had treated me badly, and I did not want to get Vaud into trouble, as I knew that he was mad with grief and rage, and was not responsible for his actions. On the whole I thought it best to hold my tongue, and for the above reasons I did so.
"I have now spoken because Edward Hersham, the rightful heir, is accused of the crime. He has suffered enough injustice, and I do not wish to see him hanged. Binjoy can tell his own story of how he came to the hotel on that night and met with Mr. Fanks. Vaud can confess if he will as to how he plotted and carried out the crime. For myself, I have said all I have to say. What is set down here is the truth. I am deeply sorry for my evil ways, but I am paying for my follies with my life; all I ask for is forgiveness and forgetfulness. I have sinned, I am punished. All good Christians pray for the soul of a wicked but deeply wronged woman.
(Signed), Madaline Bryant (better known as Louisa Boazoph)."
[CHAPTER XXXIV].
THE SAME.
The evidence of Theophilus Binjoy:--
"I am a medical man; and in my early manhood, I practised in the village of Damington. I was present at the birth of Edward Fielding, and of Gregory Fellenger. I know about the mark on the arm of the real heir. Madaline changed the two children, and I said nothing as she promised to marry me. I was madly in love with her. She left the village, and deceived me. Afterwards I held my tongue lest I should get into trouble; also I hoped when the false Sir Gregory grew up, to have a hold on him. I was prevented from doing this by Madaline (whom I had discovered in Tooley's Alley, under the name of Mrs. Boazoph). She threatened to reveal the name of the true heir if I meddled with her son. I therefore did nothing. I saw the poisoned needle which Louis had made ready for an experiment. It was in a cabinet in the laboratory. Young Vaud came to Taxton-on-Thames nearly crazed with the death of Emma Colmer, whom he had courted as Emma Calvert. She had been driven to her death by her husband, the false Sir Gregory, and had killed herself in Paris. Vaud asked me about poisons. He said nothing to me about killing Sir Gregory, or I should have dissuaded him from doing so wicked and rash an action.