"
In the privacy of Mrs. Bonner's sitting-room, Elsie Banks, dry-eyed and
bitter, told the story of her life. I cannot tell it as she did, for she
was able to bring tears to the eyes of her listeners. It is only for me
to relate the bare facts, putting them into her words as closely as
possible. Rosalie Gray, faint with astonishment and incredulity, a lump
in her throat that would not go down, and tears in her eyes, leaned back
in an easy-chair and watched her unhappy friend.
"I shall provide Mr. Barnes with proof of everything I say," said Miss
Banks. "There can be no difficulty, Rosalie dear, in confirming all that
I have to tell. If you will permit me to relate the story without
interruption and afterward let me go my way without either pity or
contempt, I shall be, oh, so grateful to you all--especially to you,
dear Rosalie. Believe me I love you with my whole soul.
"I have come to you voluntarily, and my mother, who is in Tinkletown, in
resigning herself to the calls of conscience, is now happier than she
has ever been before. A more powerful influence than her own will or her
own honour, an influence that was evil to the core, inspired her to
countenance this awful wrong. It also checkmated every good impulse she
may have had to undo it in after years. That influence came from Oswald
Banks, a base monster to whom my mother was married when I was a year
old.
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