“I still thought the money came from my brother, and accepted it as my rightful due. I resolved at once to improve my condition and appearance, and, when I had become something like the Rose Moulton of former years, to seek my son, in spite of all opposition, tell him my story, and rely on the natural love-instincts of the heart to own and greet me as his mother.
“But while I waited and prepared, he and his uncle disappeared. After a few years I heard of them in New York. In the meantime I had lived comfortably, with plenty of means at my command, and really looked like my own self once more.
“I immediately went to New York, but when I arrived there I found that they whom I sought had gone abroad. I learned their destination from the lawyer whom I engaged to receive my remittances and forward them to me, and immediately followed them.
“I only arrived this morning, and hearing the story of the unfortunate lady who was to be forced to wed my son, also of the expedition formed to prevent it, I wrapped myself in this heavy cloak and followed, little dreaming of the happiness and joy that awaited me.”
“Oh, what is there of evil that you have not done, wretch that you are?” said Alfred Ellerton, sternly, turning to the squire, who had sat in a state of torture, as he listened to the stories just related.
Now he ground his teeth with rage at the sight of their joy, but replied, with a fiendish leer:
“I have the satisfaction of knowing that my plots worked well for twenty years, even if they do fail in the end.”
“Silence, fiend; the day of reckoning is for you at hand!”
He subsided again into a dogged and sullen silence.
“But, Alfred, how came you to get the certificate again? you have not told me,” said Rose, turning again to her husband.