Frontier and pioneer life -- Indiana -- Fiction; Historical fiction
"There is something more," she said, without moving from the spot
where she had stood throughout the recital. The same calm, cold
voice,--the same compelling manner. "It was my pleading, back
in those other days, that finally persuaded Robert Gwyn to let me
bring Minda up as his daughter. He was bitterly opposed to it at
first. He never quite reconciled himself to the deception. He did
not consider it being honest with her. He was as firm as a rock
on one point, however. He would bring her up as his daughter, but
he would not give her his name. It was after he agreed to my plan
that he changed the spelling of his own name. She was not to have
his name,--the name he had given his own child. That was his real
reason for changing his name, and not, as you may suspect, to avoid
being traced to this strange land."
"A belated attempt to be fair to me, I suppose," he said, ironically.
"As you like," she said, without resentment. "In the beginning,
as I have told you, he believed it to be his duty to tell her the
truth about herself. He was sincere in that. But he did not have
the heart to tell her after years had passed. Now let me tell you
what he did a few weeks before he passed away,--and you will know
what a strange man he was. He came home one day and said to me: 'I
have put Viola's case in the hands of Providence. You may call it
luck or chance if you like, but I call it Providence. I cannot go
to her face to face and tell her the truth by word of mouth, but
I have told her the whole story in writing.' I was shocked, and
cried out to know if he had written to her in St. Louis. He smiled
and shook his head. 'No, I have not done that. I have written it all
out and I have hidden the paper in a place where she is not likely
to ever find it,--where I am sure she will never look. I will not
even tell you where it is hidden,--for I do not trust you,--no, not
even you. You would seek it out and destroy it.' How well he knew
me! Then he went on to say, and I shall never forget the solemn way
in which he spoke: 'I leave it all with Providence. It is out of my
hands. If she ever comes across the paper it will be a miracle,--and
miracles are not the work of man. So it will be God Himself
who reveals the truth to her.' Now you can see, Kenneth, that the
secret is not entirely in our keeping. There is always the chance
that she may stumble upon that paper. I live in great dread. My
hope now is that you will find it some day and destroy it. I have
searched in every place that I can think of. I confess to that. It
is hidden on land that some day will belong to Viola,--that much
he confided to me. It is not on the land belonging to you,--nor in
your house over there."
"You are right," he said, deeply impressed. "There is always the
chance that it will come to light. There is no telling how many
times a day she may be within arm's length of that paper,--perhaps
within inches of it. It is uncanny."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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