"Yes, yer Highness—but the birth certificate I was afther kapin' since no father came near us, nor any relation. Mary Callonby was a lonely kind and when she came back to Galway took to living solitary-like on the small farm with only the one servant, Mrs. Boyle, to look afther her."
"And Mrs. Boyle is also dead?" put in de Vautrin keenly.
"She is."
"It's very unfortunate that all the witnesses have seen fit to die."
"All but me, yer Highness," said Nora assertively.
De Vautrin shrugged. "Well. What happened then?"
"Well, Mrs. Boyle and meself, we didn't know what to be afther doing, so we just followed the advice of Father Reilly."
"And what did he tell you to do?"
Nora glanced at Quinlevin, who nodded.
"In a whoile he brought Mr. Barry Quinlevin—this gentleman here—who lived on the only place nearby, and tould us to be going to his home. Mr. Quinlevin was afther bein' very lonely, he said, his own wife and colleen havin' died a few months before."