"I remember when the good Madame Lambert brought you here, that there was some curiosity felt as to your nationality, but Madame Lambert silenced it by saying that you would prefer not to refer to the past. That was woman's talk, and it soon ceased. Your daughter bears Madame Lambert's name, Constance."
"Madame Lambert wished it."
"Were you and she related--excuse my interminable questions, but now that we are about to become closely connected we should know more of each other's antecedents."
"We were not related."
"Ah, well. While I am away I may run over to England. I should not be sorry for the opportunity of calling upon your friends there."
"I have no friends there."
"Some relatives surely."
"None."
"Well, your late husband's relatives."
"M. Bordier," said Emilia, summoning all her courage to her aid, "there are in the world persons whose past is so fraught with unhappy memories that it is painful to revive them. Such has been my past, and the simple references you have made have opened wounds I hoped were healed. Pray question me no more."