"My father! Is this true?"
Patience tried to speak, but her tongue could not form the words, so Beaumont, with a devilish light in his eyes, answered for her.
"Quite true. Your mother has told you."
"My mother! You?"
The young man looked from one to the other in a dazed manner, then, with a gasping cry, staggered forward and seized Patience by the arm.
"Do you hear what this man says?" he said in a strained, unnatural voice. "That he is my father--that you are my mother! Is it true--tell me--is it true?"
"It is true."
A look of horror overspread his face, and flinging her away from him, with a cry of anguish he fell against the wall with white face and outstretched arms.
"My God! it is true."
His mother looked apprehensively at him for a moment, then fell on her knees weeping bitterly.