"
"No, Mr, Constantine; your heart is too good even to guess what may
be the guilt of another. Gracious Heaven! am I obliged to speak so of
my son!--he who was my darling!--he who once loved me so dearly! But
hear me, my dear sir; you shall judge for yourself, and you will
wonder that I am now alive to endure more. I have suffered by him, by
his father, and by a dreadful woman, who not only tore my husband and
children from me, but stood by till I was beaten to the ground. Yes,
Mr. Constantine, any humane man would shudder as you do at such an
assertion; but it is too true. Soon after Lady Olivia Lovel became
the mistress of my lord, and persuaded him to take my son from me, I
heard that the poor boy had fallen ill through grief, and lay sick at
his lordship's house in Hampshire. I heard he was dying. Imagine my
agonies. Wild with distress, I flew to the park lodge, and, forgetful
of anything but my child, was hastening across the park, when I saw
this woman, this Lady Olivia, approaching me, followed by two female
servants. One of them carried my daughter, then an infant, in her
arms; and the other, a child of which this unnatural wretch had
recently become the mother. I was flying towards my little Albina, to
clasp her to my heart, when Lady Olivia caught hold of my arm. Her
voice now rings in my ears. 'Woman!' cried she, 'leave this place;
there are none here to whom you are not an object of abhorrence.
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