This General Tresham, or Witherington,
treated my unhappy mother as his wife
before Gray and others, quartered her as such in
the family of a respectable man, gave her the same
name by which he himself chose to pass for the
time. He presented me to the priest as his lawful
offspring; and the law of Scotland, benevolent to
the helpless child, will not allow him now to disown
what he so formally admitted. I know my
rights, and am determined to claim them.''
``You do not then intend to go on board the
Middlesex? Think a little---You will lose your
voyage and your commission.''
``I will save my birth-right,'' answered Middlemas.
``When I thought of going to India, I
knew not my parents, or how to make good the
rights which I had through them. That riddle is
solved. I am entitled to at least a third of Mon
ada's
estate, which, by Winter's account, is considerable.
But for you, and your mode of treating
the smallpox, I should have had the whole. Little
did I think, when old Gray was likely to have his
wig pulled off, for putting out fires, throwing open
windows, and exploding whisky and water, that
the new system of treating the smallpox was to
cost me so many thousand pounds.
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