o my
profession. From city to city I wandered in quest of fame and money,
both so essential to the accomplishment of my scheme; a scheme that
goaded me sleeping and waking, leaving no moment of repose.

"One night in Chicago, having overtaxed my strength, I fainted on the
street, _en route_ from the theatre, and while my servant fled for
assistance, I was found by Mr. and Mrs. Waul, and taken to their
home. Their kind hearts warmed toward me, and no parents could have
been more tenderly watchful than they have proved ever since. They
supplied a need of protection, of which I was growing painfully
conscious, and I engaged them to travel with me.

"Once I took three days out of my busy life, and visited the old
family homestead of General Laurance. The owner was in Europe, the
house closed; but, standing unnoticed under the venerable oaks that
formed the avenue of approach to the ancestral halls of my husband, I
looked at the stately pile and the broad fields that surrounded it,
and called upon Heaven to spare me long enough to see my child the
regnant heiress of all that proud domain. There I vowed that cost
what it might, I would accomplish my revenge, would place you there
as owner of that noble inheritance.

"Through Mr. Palma's inquiries concerning the records, I ascertained
that this property had been settled upon Cuthbert on the week of his
second marriage. You were ten years old when I determined to go to
Europe and consummate my plan. Peleg had disappeared, and I knew that
the other agent of the Laurances had lost all trace of me. You were
so grieved because I left for Europe without bidding you good-bye!
Ah, my sweet child! You never knew that it was the hardest trial of
my life to put the ocean between us, and that I was too cowardly to
witness your distress at the separation that was so uncertain in
duration.

"Could I have gone without the sight of my precious baby? I reached
the convent about dusk, and informed the sisters that I deemed it
best to transfer you to the guardianship of two gentlemen, one of
whom would come and take you away the ensuing week. Through a crevice
of the dormitory door I watched you undress, envied the gentle nun
who gathered up your long hair and tied over it the little white
ruffled muslin cap; and when you knelt by your small curtained bed,
and repeated your evening prayers, adding a special petition that
'_Heavenly Father would bless dear mother, and keep her safe_,' I
sti