I never saw you.

Madeline as a child--I left you when you were three or four days old.

I have never seen you since, although I have spent a fortune almost in searching for you." "You have ?" she said, wonderingly.

"Who then are yon ?" "That is what I want to tell you without startling you, Madaline--dear Heaven, how strange it seems to utter that name again! You have always believed that good woman who has just quitted the room to be your mother ?" "Yes, always," she repeated, wonderingly.
"And that wretched man, the convict, you have always believed to be your father ?" "Always," she repeated.
"Will it pain or startle you very much to hear that they are not even distantly related to you--that the woman was simply chosen as your foster mother because she had just lost her own child ?" "I cannot believe it," she cried, trembling violently.

"Who are you who tells me this ?" "I am Hubert, Earl of Mountdean," he replied, "and, if you will allow me, I will tell you what else I am." "Tell me," she said, gently.
"I am your father, Madaline--and the best part of my life has been spent in looking for you." "My father," she said, faintly.