I presume you
explained everything to the Colonial Office after you got
back to London and that you are now free to take up a civil
career? The people out there never sent me any further
information; but the other day one of my letters to you
(written after I had received the sad news) returned to me,
with the information that the hospital you were in had been
captured by the Boers and that you could not be traced. I
enclose it. You can now finish up the story yourself and let
the authorities know how you got away and returned home.
The other day that impudent baggage Jenny Gorlais came and
asked to see me ... she said her husband was out of work and
refused to give her enough money to provide for all her
children, that he had advised her to apply to _you_ for the
maintenance of _your_ son! Relying on what you had told me I
sent for Bridget and we both told her we had made every
enquiry and now refused absolutely to believe in her stories
of five years ago--that we were sure you were _not_ the
father of her eldest child. Bridget, for example, believed
the postman was its father. Jenny burst into tears, and as
she did not persist in her claim my heart was moved, and I
gave her ten shillings, but told her _pretty plainly_ that
if she ever made such a claim again I should go to the
police.
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