A STORY OF THE PAST
This communication was so extraordinary and unexpected that Giles thought the Princess must be out of her mind. But although overcome with emotion, she was sane enough, and seeing his astonishment repeated her statement that Anne Denham was her daughter. The young man sat down to collect his thoughts.
"Do you mean to say that she is Mademoiselle Olga's sister?"
"Her half-sister," corrected the Princess, sobbing. "I never thought I should find her again, and like this. It's too dreadful!" And in strange contrast to her usual indolent demeanor, she wrung her hands.
Giles was still bewildered. "And you—were you the wife of Walter Franklin?" he stammered helplessly.
"There is no Walter Franklin," replied the woman, drying her eyes and sitting up. "George Franklin is Anne's father. He was my husband."
"But you are the wife of Prince Karacsay."
"Certainly. I eloped with him from Kingstown in Jamaica, and George divorced me. I afterwards married the Prince."
"Then the man at the Priory is your first husband?"
"No!" cried she vigorously. "He is not George Franklin."