CHAPTER XXXI
A STRANGE CONFESSION
"I, Jabez Clyne, write this confession in my prison cell, of my own freewill, and without coercion from any one; partly because I know that theevidence concerning my share in the Vrain conspiracy is strong againstme, and partly because I wish to exonerate my daughter Lydia.
"She is absolutely innocent of all knowledge concerning the feigneddeath of her husband and his actual existence in a private lunaticasylum; and on the strength of this confession of mine--which will fixthe guilt of the matter on the right persons--I demand that she shall beset free. It is not fair that she should suffer, for I and Ferruciplanned and carried out the whole conspiracy. Well, Ferruci has punishedhimself, and soon the law will punish me, so it is only justice thatLydia should be discharged from all blame. On this understanding I setout the whole story of the affair--how it was thought of, how it wascontrived, and how it was carried out. Now that Count Ferruci is dead,this confession can harm no one but myself, and may be the means ofsetting Lydia free. So here I begin my recital.
"I was always an unlucky man, and the end of my life proves to be asunfortunate as the beginning. I was born in London some fifty and moreyears ago, in a Whitechapel slum, of drunken and profligate parents, soit is little to be wondered at that my career has been anything butvirtuous or respectable. In my early childhood--if it may be calledso--I was beaten and starved, set to beg, forced to thieve, and neverhad a kind word said to me or a kind deed done to me. No wonder I grewup a callous, hardened ruffian. As the twig is bent, so will the treegrow.
"Out of this depth of degradation I was rescued by a philanthropist, whohad me fed and clothed and educated. I had at his hands every chance ofleading a respectable life, but I did not want to become smug andhonest. My early training was too strong for that, so after a year ortwo of enforced goodness I ran away to sea. The vessel I embarked on asa stowaway was bound for America. When I was discovered hiding among thecargo we were in mid-ocean, and there was nothing for it but to carry meto the States. Still, to earn my passage, I was made cabin-boy to aruffianly captain, and once more tasted the early delights of childhood,viz., kicks, curses, and starvation. When the ship arrived in New York Iwas turned adrift in the city without a penny or a friend.
"It is not my purpose to describe my sufferings, as such descriptionwill do no good and interest nobody; particularly as the purpose of thisconfession is to declare the Vrain conspiracy and its failure; so Iwill pass over my early years as speedily as possible. To be brief: Ibecame a newsboy, then a reporter; afterwards I went West and tried myluck in San Francisco, later on in Texas; but in every case I failed,and became poorer and more desperate than ever. In New Orleans I set upa newspaper and had a brief time of prosperity, when I married thedaughter of a hotelkeeper, and for the time was happy.
"Then the Civil War broke out, and I was ruined. My wife died, leavingme with one child, whom I called Lydia, after her, but that child diedalso, and I was left alone. After the war I prospered again for a time,and married a woman with money. She also died, and left a daughter, andthis child I again called Lydia, in memory of my first wife, who was theonly woman I ever truly loved. I placed little Lydia in a convent foreducation, and devoted my second wife's money to that purpose; then Istarted out for the fifth or sixth time to make my fortune. Needless tosay, I did not make it.
"I pass over a long period of distress and prosperity, hopes and fears.One day I was rich, the next poor; and Fate--or whatever malignant deitylooked after my poor affairs--knocked me about most cruelly, tossed meup, threw me down, and at the end of a score of years left mecomparatively prosperous, with an income, in English money, of L500 ayear. With this I returned to Washington to seek Lydia, and found hergrown up into a beautiful and clever girl. Her beauty gave me the ideathat I might marry her well in Europe as an American heiress. So forEurope we started, and after many years of travel about the Continent wesettled down in the Pension Donizetti in Florence. There Lydia wasadmired for her beauty and wit, and courted for her money! But save formy ten pounds a week, which we eked out in the most frugal manner, wehad not a penny between us.
"It was in Florence that we met with Vrain and his daughter, who came tostay at the Pension. He was a quiet, harmless old gentleman, a trifleweak in the head, which his daughter said came from over-study, butwhich I discovered afterwards was due to habitual indulgence in morphiaand other drugs. His daughter watched him closely, and--not having awill of his own by reason of his weak brain--he submitted passively toher guidance. I heard by a side wind that Vrain was rich, and had asplendid mansion in the country; so I hinted to Lydia that as it seemeddifficult to get her a young husband, it would be better for her tomarry a rich old one. At that time Lydia was in love with, and almostengaged to, Count Ercole Ferruci, a penniless Italian nobleman, whocourted my pretty girl less for her beauty than for her supposed wealth.When I suggested that Lydia should marry Vrain, she refused at first toentertain the idea; but afterwards, seeing that the man was old andweak, she thought it would be a good thing as his wife to inherit hismoney, and then, as his widow, to marry Ferruci. I think, also, that thepointed dislike which Diana Vrain manifested for us both--although I ambound to say she hated Lydia more than she did me--had a great deal todo with my daughter marrying Vrain. However, the end of it was thatLydia broke off her engagement with Ferruci--and very mad he was atlosing her--and married Mark Vrain in Florence.
"After the marriage the old man, who at that time was quite infatuatedwith Lydia, made a will leaving her his assurance money of L20,000, butthe house near Bath, and the land, he left to Diana. I am bound to saythat Lydia behaved very well in this matter, as she could have had allthe money and land, but she was content with the assurance money, anddid not rob Diana Vrain of her birthright. Yet Diana hated her, andstill hates her; but I ask any one who reads this confession if my dearLyddy is not the better woman of the two? Who dares to say that such asweet girl is guilty of the crimes she is charged with?
"Well, the marriage took place, and we all journeyed home to BerwinManor; but here things went from bad to worse. Old Vrain took again tohis morphia, and nothing would restrain him; then Lydia and Diana foughtconstantly, and each wished the other out of the house. I tried to keepthe peace, and blamed Lyddy--who is no saint, I admit--for the way inwhich she was treating Diana. With Miss Vrain I got on very well, andtried to make things easy for her; but in the end the ill-will betweenher and my Lydia became so strong that Diana left the house, and wentout to Australia to live with some relatives.
"So Lydia and I and old Vrain were left alone, and I thought thateverything would be right. So it would have been if Lydia had not putmatters wrong again by inviting Ferruci over to stay. But she wouldinsist upon doing so, and although I begged and prayed and commanded hernot to have so dangerous a man in the house, she held her own; and inthe face of my remonstrances, and those of her husband, Count Ferrucicame to stay with us.
"From the moment he entered the house there was nothing but trouble.Vrain became jealous, and, mad with drugs he took, often treated Lydiawith cruelty and violence, and she came to me for protection. I spoke toVrain, and he insulted me, wishing to turn me out of the house; but forLydia's sake I remained. Then a Miss Tyler came to stay, and falling inlove with Count Ferruci, grew jealous of Lydia, and made trouble withVrain. The end of it was that after a succession of scenes, in which theold man behaved like the lunatic he was, he left the house, and not oneof us knew where he went to. That was the last Lydia saw of her husband.
"After that trouble I insisted that Count Ferruci should leave thehouse; also Miss Tyler. They both did, but came back at times to payLydia a visit. We tried to find Vrain, but could not, as he hadvanished altogether. Ferruci, I saw, was in love with Lydia, and shewith him, but neither the one nor the other hinted at a future marriageshould Vrain die. I do not say that Lydia was a fond wife to Vrain, buthe treated her so badly that he could not expect her to be; and I daresay I am the one to blame all throug
h, as I made Lydia marry Vrain whenshe loved Ferruci. But I did it all for the best, so as to get money formy dear girl; and if it has turned out for the worst, my inordinateaffection for my child is to blame. All I have done has been for Lydia'ssake; all Ferruci did was for Lydia's sake, as he truly loved her; but Iswear by all that I hold most holy that Lydia knew not how either of uswas working to secure her happiness. Well, Ferruci is dead, and I am injail, so we have paid in full for our wickedness.
"I had no idea of getting rid of Vrain until one day Ferruci took measide and told me that he had found Vrain at Salisbury. He stated thatthe man was still taking morphia, but in spite of his excesses had sostrong a constitution that it appeared he would live for many years. TheCount then said that he loved Lydia dearer than life, and wished tomarry her if Vrain could be got out of the way. I cried out againstmurder being done, as I never entertained such an idea for a moment; butFerruci denied that he wished to harm the man. He wanted him put away ina lunatic asylum, and when I asked him how even then he could marryLydia, he suggested his scheme of substituting a sickly and dying manfor Vrain. The scheme--which was entirely invented by the Count--was asfollows:
"Ferruci said that in a minor London theatre he had seen an actor calledClear, who was wonderfully like Vrain, save that he had no scar on thecheek, and had a moustache, whereas Vrain was always clean-shaved. Hehad made the acquaintance of the actor--Michael Clear was his fullname--and of his wife. They proved to be hard up and mercenary, soFerruci had no difficulty in gaining over both for his purpose. For acertain sum of money (which was to be paid to Mrs. Clear when herhusband was dead and the Count, married to Lydia, was possessed of theassurance money) Clear agreed to shave off his moustache and personateVrain. Ferruci, who was something of a chemist, created by means of someacid a scar on Clear's cheek like that on Vrain's, so that he resembledmy son-in-law in every way save that he had lost one little finger.
"Ferruci wanted me to join him in the conspiracy so that I could watchClear impersonating Vrain, while he himself kept his eye on the realVrain, who was to be received into Mrs. Clear's house at Bayswater andpassed off as her husband. All Mrs. Clear wanted was the money, as--longsince wearied of her drunken husband--she did not care if he lived ordied. Clear, on his part, knowing that he could not live long, was quitewilling to play the part of Vrain on condition that he had plenty to eatand drink, and could live in idleness and luxury. His wishes in thisdirection cost us a pretty penny, as he bought everything of the best.
"To this plot I refused consent until I saw how Vrain was: so whenFerruci brought him from Salisbury--where he was hiding--to London, Ihad an interview with him. He proved to be so stupefied with drugs thathe hardly knew me, so, seeing that my Lydia would get no good out of herlife by being tied to such a husband, I determined that I would assistFerruci, on the understanding, of course, that Vrain was to be welllooked after in every way. We agreed that when Clear died, and his bodywas identified as Vrain's, that the real man should be put in an asylum,which was--and I am sure every one will agree with me--the best placefor him.
"All this being arranged, I went out to look for a house in a secludedpart of the town, in which Clear--under the name of Berwin--should liveuntil he died as Vrain. I did not wish to see about the house in my newcharacter, lest I should be recognised, if there was any trouble overthe assurance money; to complicate matters, I determined to disguisemyself as the real Vrain. Of course, Clear personated Vrain as Lydia hadlast seen him, that is, clean-shaven, and neat in his dress. But thereal Vrain, neglecting his personal appearance, had cultivated a long,white beard, and wore a black velvet skull-cap to conceal a baldnesswhich had come upon him. I disguised myself in this fashion, therefore,and went to Pimlico under the name of Wrent."