A Heart's Bitterness — page 236: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

298 A HEART’S BITTERNESS. _ the earl, and was married to him in the sixth month after _ hearing of her widowhood. _ But the evidence now produced by Bart Kemp, son of the attorney, showed that his father did not die at the time stated. He was supposed to have died, and was prepared for burial, but his apparent death was but a prolonged in- stance of the state of insensibility into which he sometimes fell, and he revived, and lived in a low and nearly imbecile condition for six months and four days after, really dying nine days after the marriage of his supposed widow to Lord Leigh. ‘Therefore the marriage was invalid, being uninten- tional bigamy on the part of the Countess of Leigh, and her son, the present Norman, was illegitimate, and could not inherit the‘estates or title of Leigh, which estates and title _ properly passed to Colonel Hartington, as next of kin. The proofs advanced for this remarkable case were a for- mally drawn up document by the grave-digger of Shields, stating at what date he buried Mr. Kemp. Second, the in- scription on Mr. Kemp’s graye-stone. ‘Third, a statement of the stone-cutter that he had lettered the stone at such a _ date; and, chief of all, a document written and signed by Mr. Kemp’s physician, stating the circumstances of ap- parent death; the revival and date of real death. This _ physician was dead, but many witnesses would testify to his _ handwriting. : This was the terrible case which Norman Leigh heard made out against his claim to the peerage. He was as a man stunned bya heavy blow. He could not rouse himself to contend with fate. He could not even hope for a happy issue out of his distresses. It was the second day before he roused himself to call Violet to the library. He explained the case to her, and then fell into a stupor, ~ from which she was unable to arouse him. Violet summoned old Adam, and told him the story. _** Adam, you were at the marriage. You knew both parties.” | Violet had called the old man to her boudoir. He looked about cautiously. . ‘“* My lady, the late countess was a reckless one, to stop at nothing, and her father, the major, was like her. I knew there had been a marriage in Ireland. It would not have _ been unlike her, my lady, to do this thing knowingly. Gomicbooks (e(0)