"Lady Verner has now recovered, under the influence of time and medical
skill, and has come to London with the avowed purpose of arranging the
affairs of her large property. She has heard of Lionel Dale's death,
and, therefore, knows that there is a candidate the less in the field.
Sir Reginald Eversleigh has obtained access to this lady, and he has
carefully nipped in the bud certain symptoms of interest which she
betrayed in the fate of Sir Oswald Eversleigh's widow and orphan
daughter. Lady Verner is an exceedingly proud woman, and you may
suppose her maternal instincts are powerful, when the loss of her child
caused her years of melancholy madness. My gifted friend speedily
discovered these characteristics, and practised on them. Lady Verner
was made aware that the widow of Sir Oswald Eversleigh was a person of
low origin, and dubious reputation, and cared so little for her child
that she had gone abroad, for an indefinite time, leaving the little
girl at Raynham, in the care of servants. The result of this
representation was, that Lady Verner felt and expressed extreme
disgust, and considerable satisfaction that she had not committed
herself to a course from which she must have receded, by opening any
communication with Lady Eversleigh. One danger thus disposed of--and I
must say I think Reginald did it well--he was very enthusiastic, he
tells me, on the virtues of his uncle, and his inextinguishable regret
for that benefactor of his youth.
Pages:
516
517
518
519
520
521
522
523
524
525
526
527
528
529
530
531
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540