"I am a bachelor" (wrote Mr. Hersham). "I adopted Ted from motives of pity, and a desire to cheer my lonely life. Nearly twenty-eight years ago, a poorly clad woman came to my door. She was starving, and carried an infant in her arms. I gave her succour, and procured her work. After a time, she grew restless, and wished to go away, but in that time I had become fond of the child. In the end, I offered to adopt it. To this she consented, rather to my surprise; though, indeed, she did not seem at any time very much attached to the babe. However, she gave me the child, and went away with a little money I had given her. I afterwards received a letter from her in London, but she then stopped writing, and for years I have never heard anything about her. The child--now my son, Ted--was marked with a cross on the left arm, when I adopted him. The woman never told me why he had been so tattooed. I knew nothing of the woman's history, save that her name was--Madaline Garry." CHAPTER XXXI. THE SECRET IS REVEALED. On receipt of Mr. Hersham's letter, Fanks sought out Sir Louis, and showed him the communication. He had told the baronet all that he had heard from Mrs. Prisom; for, without permission, he could not hope to examine the desk of the late Sir Francis. If he did not do so, he would not be able to discover the secret of the tattooed cross; therefore, for the gaining of his ends, and also with a belief in Fellenger's good sense, he made him his confidant, and finally placed the letter in his hands. Louis read it carefully; and, knowing all that had gone before, he understood it partially. Nevertheless, he was puzzled as to the real meaning of the affair; and looked to Fanks for an explanation. "What do you think of that?" asked Fanks, when the baronet gave back the letter in silence. "Can you understand it?" "I do not think it is very difficult to understand," said Fellenger, with a shrug of his shoulders, "Madeline Garry went from the Isle of Wight; she was starving, and she met with a good Samaritan, who took her in. Afterwards, she sought London, and left her child behind to be adopted. That child is your friend, Edward Hersham. The story is plain enough." "It is so far as you have related it. But Hersham has the cross of St. Catherine tattooed on his arm. Why should the child of Madaline Garry be marked in that way?" "Perhaps my uncle marked the child. He seemed to have had a passion for tattooing." "Why should Sir Francis mark the child of Fielding?" There was something so significant in the tone of the detective that Sir Louis looked at him intently. What he saw in his face prompted his next remark. "You don't think Hersham is illegitimate, do you?" he asked.