I did these strange things, because I
loved you.
"I won't trouble you with much about myself, or my life, before you came
to my lady's house. Lady Verinder took me out of a reformatory. I
had gone to the reformatory from the prison. I was put in the prison,
because I was a thief. I was a thief, because my mother went on the
streets when I was quite a little girl. My mother went on the streets,
because the gentleman who was my father deserted her. There is no need
to tell such a common story as this, at any length. It is told quite
often enough in the newspapers.
"Lady Verinder was very kind to me, and Mr. Betteredge was very kind
to me. Those two, and the matron at the reformatory, are the only good
people I have ever met with in all my life. I might have got on in
my place--not happily--but I might have got on, if you had not come
visiting. I don't blame you, sir. It's my fault--all my fault.
"Do you remember when you came out on us from among the sand hills,
that morning, looking for Mr. Betteredge? You were like a prince in
a fairy-story. You were like a lover in a dream. You were the most
adorable human creature I had ever seen.
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