Chapter 45
The Illustrated London Courier
A DAUGHTER’S BETRAYAL
Startling Disclosure on the Second Day of the Eden Trial
…the already sensational trial of Lord Lombard was thrown into fresh astonishment when counsel for the defense revealed that the unnamed source who first brought this fraud to the public’s attention was none other than the blackguard’s eldest daughter, Miss Nora Eden.
Mrs. Marjorie Eden was in attendance with her younger children, all dressed with that careful propriety by which families in disgrace attempt to remind the world that they are still families of consequence.
Mrs. Eden, however, showed little surprise at the revelation.
Perhaps this explains the visible distance maintained between Miss Eden and the rest of her family throughout the proceedings—and the notable absence of the eldest son, Mr. Lionel Eden, who has vanished from the public eye.
Though the defense attempted to cast this whole ordeal as naught but the machinations of a silly girl, seeking to denigrate her father after some domestic grievance, such an argument may titillate drawing rooms but does little to answer the mountains of evidence provided by Mr. Eden’s own co-conspirators.
Fictitious investments, forged statements, empty accounts, and the testimony of former employees cannot be dismissed as the invention of a spiteful young lady.
Yet the disclosure remains a shocking one. Miss Eden’s honesty may deserve applause, but it is unnatural for a daughter to turn against her father, and yesterday’s revelation has ensured that the Eden trial will be discussed as much in parlors as in the courts…