Wilfer, from inquiries made by Mr. Harker, was supposed to be dead.
None, she thought, knew her secret except her father, for Lucy believed
that Vermont had employed Mr. Harker out of friendship and sympathy, and
did not know until long after her marriage that she, and therefore her
husband, were in his power. So she ventured to grasp the happiness held
out to her, thus strengthening the chain which bound her father and
herself in slavery to Jasper Vermont's will. For if they feared
disclosure before, how much more did they dread it now, when Lucy was
married to a man who prided himself upon his good name and untarnished
respectability!
Johann Wilfer, however, was not dead, nor had he left London. He had
become a member of a gang of ingenious rascals, who lived by imitating
the less known gems of the old masters, and palming them off on the
credulous public and wealthy collectors as genuine. The impostures were
very cleverly manipulated, and quite a little system was instituted to
bring them to perfection. Mr. Wilfer's part of the undertaking was
"toning"; that is, bringing to the imitations the necessary mistiness
and discoloration supposed to be produced by age.
He did very well at this business; so well, indeed, that he took a house
in Cracknell Court, Soho, and if he could have restrained himself from
the drinking of beer and spirits he would have been in comfortable
circumstances.
This perpetual intoxication eventually made its mark upon Mr. Wilfer's
countenance, and contorted his face into a caricature--with its mottled
skin and bleary eyes--of the good looks which had won Lucy Goodwin's
heart in former times. His language had also degenerated as well as his
looks. All trace of German accent had been carefully obliterated, in
order that no suspicion should be aroused when selling a faked picture.
He played the part of a Cockney so frequently and so well that that
particular accent seemed, as it were, to be his mother-tongue.
As the years went by even the gang became tired of his habitual
intoxication, and only occasionally gave him employment, so that he
turned his attention to scenery painting for the stage. In this way,
when engaged at the Rockingham Theatre, he met Martha Feltham, Ada
Lester's dresser, and by means of boasting of his wealth finally
persuaded her to marry him. It was in this manner that Jessica had first
come under his sway.
When Ada found that her sister would never recover from the mental shock
inflicted by Jasper Vermont when he told her that their marriage was
illegal, she had made arrangements to get the child out of the house.
Naturally the little girl was an eyesore and an encumbrance to her;
especially as Julia--blissfully ignorant that she herself was the
mother--was always worrying her sister as to the reason of Jessica's
presence. Accordingly, when Ada, by reason of her improved position and
higher salary, moved away from the Bloomsbury lodgings into a house of
her own, she gave the child over to the care of her dresser, Martha, now
Mrs. Wilfer, and had always paid regularly for her board and keep.