"And the reason?"
"Simply this: I am two-and-twenty years of age, so it's time I had some aim in life. Before I do this I want to know all about my parentage. Are my parents alive or dead?--who are they?--why was I placed in your charge?--can they, or their relations, assist me to get on in the world? I cannot move until I know who and what I am."
He spoke vehemently, and as he did so the woman seemed to shrink back into her chair with a nameless dread in her eyes. There was no sound for a moment. At last she broke the silence.
"Your parents were my master and mistress," she said at length, in a low, harsh voice, "married against their parents' wish."
"They were married, then?"
"Who said they were not?" she demanded, fiercely.
"No one. But the mystery of my birth led me to think there might be----"
"Shame!" she interrupted, vehemently. "You are wrong. There was no shame--they kept the marriage secret, for if known they would have lost their property. When you were born, they went over to France for the sake of your father's health, leaving you in my charge. I was to keep you till they could acknowledge you as their son; but before they could do so they died."
"Died!"
"Yes. Your father died of phthisis at Cannes six months after he left England, and your mother very soon followed him to the grave."