The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1903-07-29
THE WOMAN IN WHITE
BY WILLIAM w. COLLINS.


And had not a gold watch and chain
which was another. still better. And
he had promised me one from London
only the day before-which was third.
best OF all. II ] had known what the
law considered the crime TO be, and how
the law punished II. l should have taken
proper care OF myself. and have exposed
him then and there. But knew nothing.
and longed for the gold watch All the
conditions / insisted on were that ne
should take me into his confidence ana
tell me everything. was as curious
about his affairs then. as you are about
mine now. He granted my conditions
why. you will see presently.
This. put in short. is what heard from
him. He did not willingly tell me all
that l tell you here. / drew some OF II
from him by persuasion and some Of II
by questions / was determined to have
all the truth. and believe ! got II.
He knew no more than any one else
of what the state OF things was between
his father and mother. till after his moth
ers death. Then. his father confessed II,
and promised 10 do what he could for
his SON He died having done nothing
not having even made a will. The son
(who can blame him)? wisely provided
for himself. He came to England at once,
and took possession Of the property
There was no one 10 suspect him, and no
one TO say him nay. His father and
mother had always lived as man and wife
none OF the few people who were ac
auainted with them ever supposed them
10 be anything else. The right person
to claim the property or the truth had
| been known was a distant relation. who
had no idea of ever getting IL, and who
was away at sea when his father died
He had no difficulty. so far-he took pos
| session, as a matter Of course. But he
could not borrow money on his property
| as a matter OF course There were two
things wanted OF him before he could do
this. One was a certificate OF his birth,
and the other was a certificate OF his
parents marriage. The certificate OF his
birth was easily got-he was born abroad
and the certificate was there in due
form The other matter was a difficulty
and that diffculty brought him to Old
Welminsham.
But for one consideration. he might
have gone TO Knowlesbury instead.
His mother had been living there just
before she met with his father-living
under ma iden name; the truth being that
she was really a married woman; mar
ried in Ireland. where her husband had
III used her. and had afterward gone of
with some other person. l give you this
fact on good authority; Sir Felix men
toned II 10 his son. as the reason why
he had not married. You may wonder
why the SON. knowing that his parents
had met each other at -Knowlesbury,- did
not play his first tricks with the register
Of that church. where IL might have been
fairly presumed his father and mother
were married The reason was. that the
clergyman who did duty at Knowlcsbury
church. I'm the year eighteen hundred
and three (when. according to the birth
certificate. his father and mother ought
to have been married) was alive still.
when he took possession Of the property
in the new year OF eighteen hundred and
twenty y-seven. This awkward circum-
stance forced him to extend his inquiries
TO our neighborhood. There no such dan
ger existed. the former clergyman at our
church having been dead for some years
Old welmingham suited his purpose as
we'll as Knowlesbury. His father had
removed his mother from Knowlesbury
and had lived with her al cottage on
the river a little distance from our VII
lage People who had known his soli-
tary ways when he was single. did not
wonder at his solitary ways when he was
supposed TO be married. II he had not
been a hideous creature TO look at his
retired life with the lady might have
raised suspicious: but. as things were, his
hiding his ugliness and his deformity in
, the strictest privacy surprised nobody.
He lived in our neighborhood till he came
An possession OF the park. After three
or four and twenty years had passed,
who was TO say (the clergyman being
dead) that his marriage had not been as
private as the rest OF his life. and that
IL had not taken place a. Old Welming-
ham church?
(To BE Continued)