He could not believe in the affection of a daughter who constantly reminded him of the hell in which he had lived for years.

If what Van Torp told Lady Maud of his own pretended engagement to Ida was true, it was explicable only on that ground, so far as her father was concerned.

Bamberger felt no affection for his daughter, and saw no reason why she should not be used as an instrument, with her own consent, for consolidating the position of the Nickel Trust.
As for the former Mrs.Bamberger, afterwards Mrs.Moon, she had gone to Europe in the autumn, not many months after her marriage, leaving the Senator in Washington, and had returned after nearly a year's absence, bringing her husband a fine little girl, whom she had christened Ida, like her first child, without consulting him.

It soon became apparent that the baby was totally deaf; and not very long after this discovery, Mrs.Moon began to show signs of not being quite sane.

Three years later she was altogether out of her mind, and as soon as this was clear the child was sent to the East to be taught.
The rest has already been told.