Now
you know why I wrote to you to ask for that interview--why I waited
day and night, in the hope of receiving a summons to the house. I was
sincerely sorry to send back such an answer to your note of inquiry as I
was compelled to write. But while there was a chance of the preservation
of Mrs. Vanstone's life, the secret of the marriage was hers, not mine;
and every consideration of delicacy forbade me to disclose it."
"You did right, sir," said Miss Garth; "I understand your motives, and
respect them."
"My last attempt to provide for the daughters," continued Mr. Pendril,
"was, as you know, rendered unavailing by the dangerous nature of Mrs.
Vanstone's illness. Her death left the infant who survived her by a few
hours (the infant born, you will remember, in lawful wedlock) possessed,
in due legal course, of the whole of Mr. Vanstone's fortune. On the
child's death--if it had only outlived the mother by a few seconds,
instead of a few hours, the result would have been the same--the next of
kin to the legitimate offspring took the money; and that next of kin
is the infant's paternal uncle, Michael Vanstone. The whole fortune
of eighty thousand pounds has virtually passed into his possession
already.
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