“Your past is your own,” Madge said kindly.
“Don’t tell us anything that you dislike to bring up.”
“I feel I must speak of my—my son. It was his picture you saw in the study. I turned it to the wall on the day I closed up the mansion.”
Madge and Cara nodded, not wishing to interrupt. They already had guessed this much.
“I found John in an orphan’s home. He was nine when I adopted him, and the sweetest boy in the world! Oh, I adored him! But even as a boy he was inclined to get into trouble. He’d take things that didn’t belong to him. I couldn’t seem to teach him the difference between right and wrong. Oh, I dislike to admit it, but he was willful and he repaid my kindness with indifference.
“I sent him away to school, thinking he might benefit by a change in environment. Once away from my watchful eye, he went from bad to worse. He fell in with the wrong sort of companions. He spent far more money than I could afford to give him. Several times he forged my name to checks.
“Finally, I told him that if he did not straighten up I should disown him. For a time he seemed to do better. I was encouraged. Then he forged another check—this time using the name of a prominent Claymore man. I’ll not bore you with the details. It was the end. I sent him away and I’ve never seen him to this day.”
“But you’ve forgiven him?” Madge asked softly.
Miss Swenster did not reply at once. Then she said:
“I loved John more than any other person in the world, but it was a wasted love. I realize that should I take him back he would only make me unhappy. If he were to step into this house this very night, I’d tell him to go!”