leasure even in the child,
for it was his own blood that he loved in her, and her connection with
his family of whose prestige he has an exaggerated idea. Made desperate
by the thought, I faced this cruel doctor--(it was in his own office; he
had presumed upon that old secret linking us together to summon me
there)--and told him solemnly that rather than do this I would kill
myself. And he almost bade me, 'Kill!' but refrained when the word had
half left his lips and changed it to a demand for the child's immediate
removal from the benefits it enjoyed under false pretenses."

And from this Mrs. Ocumpaugh went on to relate how he had told her that
Gwendolen had inherited fortunes because she was believed to be an
Ocumpaugh; that not being an Ocumpaugh she must never handle those
fortunes, winding up with some such language as this: "Manage it how you
will, only relieve me from the oppression of feeling myself a party to
the grossest of deceptions. Can not the child run away and be lost? I am
willing to aid you in that, even to paying for her bringing up in some
decent, respectable way, such as would probably have been her lot if you
had not interfered to place her in the way of millions." It was a mad
thought, half meant and apparently wholly impossible to carry out
without raising suspicions as damaging as confession itself. But it took
an immediate hold upon the miserable woman he addressed, though she gave
little evidence of it, for he proceeded to add in a hard tone: "That or
immediate confession to your husband, with me by to substantiate your
story. No slippery woman's tricks will go down with me. Fix the date
here and now and I promise to stand back and await the result in total
silence. Dally with it by so much as an hour, and I am at your gates
with a story that all must hear." Is it a matter of wonder that the
stricken woman, without counsel and prohibited, from the very nature of
her secret, from seeking counsel uttered the first one that came to mind
and went home to brood over her position and plan how she could satisfy
his demands with the least cost to herself, her husband and the child?

Mr. Ocumpaugh was in Europe. This was her one point of comfort. What was
done could be done in his absence, and this fact greatly minimized any
risk she was likely to incur. When he returned he would find the house
in mourning, for she had already decided within herself that only by
apparent death could this child be safe