e has served as a footman. My
solicitor knows not who my nephew is, but is referred to you to produce
him. In a small tin box in the closet of my bedroom, you will find all
the papers necessary for his identification, and also the names and
residence of the parties who have been my accomplices in this deed; also
all the intercepted letters of my poor sister's. You must be aware that
Lionel is not only entitled to the property I have left him, but also to
his father's property, which, in default of heirs, passed away to
others. Consult with my solicitor to take such steps as are requisite,
without inculpating me more than is necessary; but if required, let all
be known to my shame, rather than the lad should not be put in
possession of his rights.

"You will, I am afraid, hate my memory after this sad disclosure; but in
my extenuation recall to mind how madly I loved, how cruelly I was
deceived. Remember, also, that if not insane, I was little better at
the time I was so criminal; and may it prove to you a lesson how
difficult it is, when once you have stepped aside into the path of error
ever to recover the right track.

"You now know all my sufferings, all my crimes. You now know why I have
been, not without truth, considered as a person eccentric to folly, and
occasionally on the verge of madness. Forgive me and pity me, for I
have indeed been sufficiently punished by an ever torturing conscience!

"Barbara R--."

CHAPTER NINE.

I put the papers down on the table as soon as I had finished them, and
for a long while was absorbed in meditation.

"Is it possible," thought I, "that love disappointed can turn to such
fury--can so harden the heart to all better feelings--induce a woman to
shorten the days of her parent--to allow a sister to remain in painful
error on her death-bed, and wreak vengeance upon an innocent being,
regardless of all justice? Grant, then, that I may never yield to such
a passion! Who would have ever imagined, that the careless, eccentric
Lady R--had such a load of crime weighing her down, and daily and hourly
reminded of it by the presence of the injured party? How callous she
must have become by habit, to still delay doing an act of justice--how
strange that the fear of the world and its opinion should be greater
than the fear of God!"

This last remark proved how little I yet knew of the world, and then my
thoughts went in a different direction. As I have already said, I ha