ade her
conditions. You were to be acknowledged as his son.

"Soon after their marriage they returned to England, and Major Bertram
retired from foreign service. His friends received them. The old story
was never raked up. No suspicion attached to your mother. All the world
believed you to be Major Bertram's son. No plot could have turned out
better, and your mother rejoiced in her success.

"Her daughters were born, and she began to consider herself the happiest
of living beings. The serpent, however, which she fondly thought killed,
was once more to awake and torment her. She got a letter from Hart, who
was then in Egypt. Nina was not dead, she was alive, and strong, and
handsome. He would bring her back to her father and all the past would
be known, if Mrs. Bertram did not buy his silence at a price.

"For some years after this letter she had to keep the old man quiet with
money. Then suddenly, with no apparent reason, he ceased to trouble her.
She believed that his silence was caused by Nina's death. She assured
herself that the child must be dead, and once more her outward
prosperity brought her happiness.

"Your father died, and his will was read. There was a codicil to his
will which only his wife and the solicitors knew about. It was briefly
to the effect that if by any chance the child of his first marriage was
recovered, and her identity proved, she was to inherit one-half of his
personal estate. He left her this large share of his property as
compensation for the unavoidable neglect he had shown her all her life,
and also in sorrow for having ever confided her to the care of another.

"That codicil tortured your mother's proud spirit. She felt that her
husband had never really forgiven her for allowing his child to be
stolen while under her care. Still she believed that the child now was
dead.

"Her hour of terrible awakening came. Hart had returned to England. A
couple of months ago he wrote to her here. Knowing that Nina's father
was dead he had gone to Somerset House, paid a shilling and read a copy
of the will. From that moment your mother knew no peace. Hart had all
the necessary letters to prove Nina's identity. He had a copy of her
baptismal certificate, and of the registration of her birth. Mrs.
Bertram had now to bribe the old man heavily. She did so. She gave him
and Nina a third of her income. Wretched, miserable, defiant, she yet
hoped against hope. To-night, for the first time, she tasted d