When Horton returned to the room the Duc closed the door and came delightedly toward him.
"Ah, mon ami. It was as good as a play. How did you know that my child was not a girl—but a boy?"
"I didn't know it," sighed Horton, with a laugh. "I guessed it."
"But you must have——"
"I got to thinking—last night. The whole story was a lie—why shouldn't this be a part of it?"
"But a suspicion wasn't enough——"
"Enough for a starter, Monsieur. You'll admit, it might have been a boy. Just because you always thought the child was a girl, that didn't make it one. I lay awake. Phrases in Quinlevin's talk in the studio came back to me and I began to think about the name 'Patrice'—he said, 'a little hard to read. Patricia it is.' Just phrases, but this meant something. 'Female, me boy. A little illegible——'" Horton turned with a quick gesture.
"Why should the name Patricia be illegible when all the rest was clear?"
"But you said nothing of this to me," muttered the Duc.
"I wasn't sure. I sent out for the dictionary. It had the Christian names in the back. Patrice was Patrick. There wasn't any Patricia. You French have a way of giving males and females the same names anyway. Madeleine—I knew a Frenchman in America with Madeleine for a middle name. Aulnoy might be anything——"