A firm of solicitors, said the good lady, had written to her, asking
her to receive a girl child, of the age of six months. It was said
that she was doubly an orphan, and that it was believed that she had
been duly baptized, but, as her mother was suddenly dead, nobody knew
by what name. A sum for her maintenance was guaranteed. When the
baby arrived at the Convent, the good nuns thought it best to be upon
the safe side, and re-baptized her, under the name of Veronica; the
record of this provisional baptism was shown to him in the register
of their private chapel. They were told that the child's parents
both belonged to the Roman Catholic faith. The sum promised them was
duly paid, every quarter, through the same firm, until Rona was
sixteen. The lawyers then wrote to the Convent, saying that their
client, who had paid the money, was dead. He had left no
instructions in his will as to the continuance of the payments, and
they found no member of his family willing to sanction such a course.
Nobody knew who the child was, and, so far as was known, she had no
claim upon the man who had hitherto supported her. As she had
attained the age of sixteen, the legatees thought she should now
support herself. In these circumstances, the firm had communicated
with Mr. Rankin Leigh, who was, they were informed, uncle to the
child, upon her mother's side; and he had replied to the effect that
he would travel down to the school and see his niece, with a view to
making some provision for her future.
This Mr. Leigh had, after some weeks, presented himself. He was a
seedy-looking individual. He declared, in conversation with the
Reverend Mother, that he was wholly unable to support Veronica, who
must earn her own living, but that, if she were a well-grown,
nice-looking girl, he thought he might put her into a very good
situation. Having seen his niece, he was evidently much struck by
her beauty. "She is beautiful, do you not think?" asked the Mother,
eagerly, of Denzil. "We all thought she promised to be lovely;
though at that time, she was in the awkward stage. I have often
wondered whether she has grown up as beautiful as we thought she
would."
Denzil was able to produce a good photo of Veronica, taken within the
last few weeks, and was touched at seeing the joy of the kind woman
at her grace, and her happy look.
Denzil then, as well as he could, confided to her the terrible
experience through which Rona had passed. He told of her rescue, and
of their taking her into the Cottage Hospital. "Of course," he said,
"we could see at once that she was no common girl."
The Mother agreed. She expatiated on the subject of Veronica. She
had been an exquisitely pretty baby, and the joy of the nuns' hearts.
Her clothes had been good and carefully made. She had evidently been
the child of someone who cherished her tenderly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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