He was not particularly bitter about that. He knew now that he had given
her real love, something very different from that early madness of his,
but he knew it too late...
He looked up at Bassett and then sat up.
"What sort of news?" he asked, his voice still thick with sleep.
"Get up and put some cold water on your head. I want you to get this."
He obeyed, but without enthusiasm. Some new clue, some hope revived only
to die again, what did it matter? But he stopped by Bassett and put a
hand on his shoulder.
"Why do you do it?" he asked. "Why don't you let me go to the devil in
my own way?"
"I started this, and by Heaven I've finished it," was Bassett's exultant
reply.
He sat down and produced a bundle of papers. "I'm going to read you
something," he said. "And when I'm through you're going to put your
clothes on and we'll go to the Biltmore. The Biltmore. Do you get it?"
Then he began to read.
"I, the undersigned, being of sound mind, do hereby make the following
statement. I make the statement of my own free will, and swear before
Almighty God that it is the truth. I am an illegitimate son of Elihu
Clark. My mother, Harriet Burgess, has since married and is now known as
Hattie Thorwald. She will confirm the statements herein contained.
"I was adopted by a woman named Hines, of the city of Omaha, whose name
I took. Some years later this woman married and had a daughter, of whom
I shall speak later.
"I attended preparatory school in the East, and was sent during
vacations to a tutoring school, owned by Mr. Henry Livingstone. When I
went to college Mr. Livingstone bought a ranch at Dry River, Wyoming,
and I spent some time there now and then.
"I learned that I was being supported and sent to college from funds
furnished by a firm of New York lawyers, and that aroused my suspicion.
I knew that Mrs. Hines was not my mother. I finally learned that I was
the son of Elihu Clark and Harriet Burgess.
"I felt that I should have some part of the estate, and I developed a
hatred of Judson Clark, whom I knew. I made one attempt to get money
from him by mail, threatening to expose his father's story, but I did
not succeed.
"I visited my mother, Hattie Thorwald, and threatened to kill Clark. I
also threatened Henry Livingstone, and his death came during a dispute
over the matter, but I did not kill him. He fell down and hit his head.
He had a weak heart.