Braddon, Mary Elizabeth: Phantom Fortune. V1. 13 Nov 2009
 

Mary Elizabeth Braddon (4 October 1837 – 4 February 1915) was a British Victorian era popular novelist. She is best known for her 1862 sensation novel Lady Audley's Secret.

Excerpt
It was known that I was of East Indian birth, but little more was known about me. It was only when years had gone by and I was a merchant on my own account and could afford to go to India on a voyage of discovery--yes, as much a voyage of discovery as that of Vasco de Gama or of Drake--that I got from the Madras agent the clue which enabled me, at the cost of infinite patience and infinite labour, to unravel the mystery of my birth. There is no need to enter now upon the details of that story. I have overwhelming documentary evidence--a cloud of witnesses--to convince the most sceptical as to who and what I am.