tly appeased. She would now be of age
suitable to yours. When I saw her at Aix she gave promise of inheriting
no small share of her mother's beauty. If Louise's assurance of her easy
circumstances were true, her daughter has possibly been educated and
reared with tenderness and care. You have already assured me that you
have no prior attachment. But if, on discovering this child, you find
her already married, or one whom you could not love nor esteem, I leave
it implicitly to your honour and judgment to determine what share of
the L200,000 left in your hands should be consigned to her. She may have
been corrupted by her mother's principles. She may--Heaven forbid!--have
fallen into evil courses, and wealth would be misspent in her hands. In
that case a competence sufficing to save her from further degradation,
from the temptations of poverty, would be all that I desire you to
devote from my wealth. On the contrary, you may find in her one who, in
all respects, ought to be my chief inheritor. All this I leave in full
confidence to you, as being, of all the men I know, the one who unites
the highest sense of honour with the largest share of practical sense
and knowledge of life. The main difficulty, whatever this lost girl may
derive from my substance, will be in devising some means to convey it
to her so that neither she nor those around her may trace the bequest
to me. She can never be acknowledged as my child,--never! Your reverence
for the beloved dead forbids that. This difficulty your clear strong
sense must overcome; mine is blinded by the shades of death. You too
will deliberately consider how to institute the inquiries after mother
and child so as not to betray our secret. This will require great
caution. You will probably commence at Paris, through the agency of the
police, to whom you will be very guarded in your communications. It
is most unfortunate that I have no miniature of Louise, and that any
description of her must be so vague that it may not serve to discover
her; but such as it is, it may prevent your mistaking for her some other
of her name. Louise was above the common height, and looked taller than
she was, with the peculiar combination of very dark hair, very fair
complexion, and light-gray eyes. She would now be somewhat under the
age of forty. She was not without accomplishments, derived from the
companionship with her father. She spoke English fluently; she drew
with taste, and even with talent. Y