I offered the lady marriage, but she refused
it on the grounds that such a match might mar my career.
Had she lived I would certainly never have married anyone else.
She died, and left this one child, whom for her sake I have
cherished and cared for. I could not acknowledge the paternity
to the world; but I gave him the best of educations, and since
he came to manhood I have kept him near my person. He surprised
my secret, and has presumed ever since upon the claim which he
has upon me and upon his power of provoking a scandal, which
would be abhorrent to me. His presence had something to do with
the unhappy issue of my marriage. Above all, he hated my young
legitimate heir from the first with a persistent hatred.
You may well ask me why, under these circumstances, I still kept
James under my roof. I answer that it was because I could see
his mother's face in his, and that for her dear sake there was
no end to my long-suffering. All her pretty ways, too -- there
was not one of them which he could not suggest and bring back
to my memory. I COULD not send him away. But I feared so much
lest he should do Arthur -- that is, Lord Saltire -- a mischief
that I dispatched him for safety to Dr.
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