"Do you know anything about him?"

"I know that he is a wicked man. I am afraid that I have helped him
carry out his wicked plan, but I did not know it at the time, or I never
would have given my consent."

"I don't understand you," said our hero, puzzled.

"Will you tell me what you mean?"

"Fourteen years ago I was very poor--poor and sick besides. My husband
had died, leaving me nothing but the care of a young infant, whom it was
necessary for me to support besides myself. Enfeebled by sickness, I was
able to earn but little, but we lived in a wretched room in a crowded
tenement house. My infant boy was taken sick and died. As I sat
sorrowfully beside the bed on which he lay dead, I heard a knock at the
door. I opened it, and admitted a man whom I afterward learned to be
John Wade. He very soon explained his errand. He agreed to take my
poor boy, and pay all the expenses of his burial in Greenwood Cemetery,
provided I would not object to any of his arrangements. He was willing
besides to pay me two hundred dollars for the relief of my necessities.
Though I was almost beside myself with grief for my child's loss, and
though this was a very favorable proposal, I hesitated. I could not
understand why a stranger should make me such an offer. I asked him the
reason."

"'You ask too much,' he answered, appearing annoyed. 'I have made you
a fair offer. Will you accept it, or will you leave your child to have a
pauper's funeral?'