ad been engulfed in hopeless shipwreck. It recovered itself by means of
that stolen money, and flew lightly once again over the waters of
prosperity. Yes, our house was saved, and from that hour my happiness
fled. I had money, money in abundance and to spare; but I never knew
another hour, day or night, of peace. I had done the deed to save my
wife, but I found that, though God would give me that cursed wealth, He
yet would take away my idol for whom I had sacrificed my soul. Constance
only grew well enough to leave England. We wintered abroad, and at
Cannes, surrounded by all that base money could supply, she closed her
eyes. I returned home a widower, and the most wretched man on the face
of the earth. Soon after, the Australian branch of our business growing
and growing, Jasper found it well to visit that country. He did so, and
stayed away many years. Soon after he landed, he wrote to tell me that
he had seen the grave of Alexander Wilson; that he had made many
inquiries about him, and that now there was not the least shadow of
doubt that the other trustee was dead. He said that our last fears of
discovery might now rest.

"Years went by, and we grew richer and richer; all we put our hands to
prospered. Money seemed to grow for us on every tree. I could give my
one child all that wealth could suggest. She grew up unsullied by what
was eating into me as a canker. She was beautiful alike in mind and
body; she was and is the one pure and lovely thing left to me. She
became engaged to a good and honorable man. He had, it is true, neither
money nor position, but I had learned, through all these long years of
pain, to value such things at their true worth. Charlotte should marry
where her heart was. I gave her leave to engage herself to Hinton.
Shortly after that engagement, Jasper, my brother, returned from
Australia. His presence, reminding me, as it did, day and night, of my
crime, but added to my misery of soul. I was surprised, too, to see how
easily what was dragging me to the very gate of hell seemed to rest on
him. I could never discover, narrowly as I watched him, that he was
anything but a happy man. One evening, after spending some hours in his
presence, I fainted away quite suddenly. I was alone when this fainting
fit overtook me. I believe I was unconscious for many hours. The next
day I went to consult a doctor. Then and there, in that great
physician's consulting-room, I learned that I am the victim of an
i