tried to provide in the will which
you will find enclosed. I would suggest that you consult the lawyer
whom you brought to me at my request. Rightly cared for, the
inheritance will ensure your mother and sister against want and afford
you the chance of which you have been deprived on account of lack of
funds. I'm sure you will understand that I do not allude to 'Chance,'
the fickle goddess of the gaming table, and I have been happy to learn
you profited by the lesson I taught you. Had I learned a similar one
at your age, that one may not obtain something for nothing and be
happy in the possession, I might have been of some service in the
world. Instead, my life has been a failure, and that which I am
leaving to you was the fruit of the service of my forebears. May you
never feel the humiliation of uselessness, of having contributed
nothing to the world that was of value!

"The property is in England, and not until the war shall be ended, I
presume, will it be possible for you to come into the inheritance. I
am leaving no near kindred. My little son died in Canada during my
absence; his name was Louis. Elizabeth Danesford's mother I knew when
she was a girl and lived in London, and, for her sake, her daughter,
had she lived, was to have had the half of what I'm leaving to you.
The estate in England, which Louis would have inherited, reverts to a
distant cousin.

"I do not know whether your father ever told of his acquaintance with
me, nor what his feelings toward me may have been. Surely, there was
ample cause why they should have been unpleasant, but I like to think
they were kindly. He loved me despite the sore distress I so often
caused him, but when I struck him down, thinking him an enemy, and
fled, believing myself a murderer, he must ever after have thought I
deserted him. I hope he knows better now.

"After that horrible experience I joined the army in Canada and a year
later was married. Louis was born and, after six years of such
happiness as one who believes himself a criminal may enjoy, my wife
died and Louis went to live with her parents near Lachine. One day I
met a man who recognized me and, fearing exposure, I fled to New York,
later to Philadelphia and then to Virginia at the outbreak of
Dunmore's war. After that I returned to Canada only to learn that
Louis had died. It seemed as if a fatality pursued all I loved. I went
to England, determined to give myself up to justice, but was astounded
to learn