I can only add to this phase of the hateful conspiracy,
that for nineteen years my stepfather received this income, and that he
used it to establish his own fortune. By investing what was supposed to
be my money, he has won his own way to wealth.
"Mr. Banks decided that the operations were safest from this side of the
Atlantic. He and my mother took up their residence in New York, and it
has been their home ever since. He spent the first half year after your
suspected death in London, solely for the purpose of establishing
himself in Lord Brace's favour. Within a year after the death of Lord
Brace your father was killed by a poacher on the estate. He had but
lately returned from Egypt, and was in full control of the lands and
property attached to Brace Hall. If my stepfather had designs upon Brace
Hall, they failed, for the lands and the title went at once to your
father's cousin, Sir Harry Brace, the present lord.
"So much for the conditions in England then and now. I now return to
that part of the story which most interests and concerns you. My poor
mother was compelled, within a fortnight after we landed in New York, to
give up the dangerous infant who was always to hang like a cloud between
fortune and honour. The maid-servant was paid well for her silence. By
the way, she died mysteriously soon after coming to America, but not
before giving to my mother a signed paper setting forth clearly every
detail in so far as it bore upon her connection with the hateful
transaction.
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