"But why did you let Hilliston bring me up to think I was an orphan?"
"I did not wish to shadow your life. I did not wish you to change your name. I had to change mine, and retire from the world, but that was part of my punishment."
"Still if——"
"It was impossible, I tell you, Claude," interrupted his mother impatiently. "When you grew up you would have asked questions, and then I would have been forced to tell you all."
"Yet, in spite of your precautions, I do know all. If you took all this trouble to hide the truth, why reveal it to me now?"
Mrs. Bezel pointed to three books lying on an adjacent table. Claude quite understood what she meant.
"I see," he remarked, before she could speak, "you think that the author of that book knows about my father's murder."
"I am certain he does. But what he knows, or how he knows, I cannot say. Still, I am certain of one thing, that he tells the story from hearsay."
"What makes you think that?"
"It would take too long to tell you my reasons. It is sufficient to state that the fictitious case differs from the real case in several important particulars. For instance," she added, with a derisive smile, "the guilty person is said to be Michael Dene, and he is——"