Adrien Leroy

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.