"
_"My_ son!" roared Bassett, in utter amazement.
"Ay. I should know; FOR I AM HIS MOTHER."
This astounding statement was uttered with all the majesty of truth,
and when she said "I am his mother," the voice turned tender all in a
moment.
They were all paralyzed; and, absorbed in this strange revelation, did
not hear a tottering footstep: a woman, pale as a corpse, and with eyes
glaring large, stood among them, all in a moment, as if a ghost had
risen from the earth.
It was Lady Bassett.
At sight of her, Sir Charles awoke from the confusion and amazement
into which Mary had thrown him, and said, "Ah--! Bella, do you hear
what she says, that he is not our son? What, then, have you agreed with
your servant to deceive your husband?"
Lady Bassett gasped, and tried to speak; but before the words would
come, the sight of her corpse-like face and miserable agony moved Mary
Wells, and she snatched the words out of her mouth.
"What is the use of questioning _her?_ She knows no more than you do. I
done it all; and done it for the best. My lady's child died; I hid that
from her; for I knew it would kill her, and keep you in a mad-house. I
done for the best: I put my live child by her side, and she knew no
better. As time went on, and the boy so dark, she suspected; but know
it she couldn't till now.
Pages:
532
533
534
535
536
537
538
539
540
541
542
543
544
545
546
547
548
549
550
551
552
553
554
555
556