“I wish I didn’t have to speak to you like this. Your father is alive.”
“And they have always told me he was dead! My mother— Captain Mauleverer, are you sure of what you say?”
“I am. I know your father.”
“Then why—” She broke off in the midst of the question and wrung her hands. “Ah! I begin to understand. My father has done something that has made them hide his existence from me. And you are going to tell me what it is.”
“I—well, I promised that I would.”
She gave a half-sob.
“You may go on now. I find that I am only the little chimney-sweeper after all. But stay!” A fresh thought struck her with overwhelming force. “Perhaps this is some mistake after all. You say my father is alive, but did you know that my mother had been married again?”
The captain clenched his fists.
“God forgive me—I can’t tell you!”
“Then—then there is only one explanation, Captain Mauleverer.” She hid her face in her hands for a minute, and then raised it again and looked him bravely in the face. “Is that it? Tell me the truth.”