“Yes, that is true.”
“And that—that— Oh, tell it me as kindly as you can!”
The marquis caught his breath.
“Your father is a damned villain!” he cried out.
“Don’t speak so harshly as that!” she implored. “Don’t make him out worse than you can help. Remember, I am his daughter, after all.”
“You are too good for him, Belle. He doesn’t deserve that you should call yourself his daughter.”
She looked up quickly.
“You know him, then?”
“Yes, I know him.”
“Then—is he a relation of Lord Severn’s?”