“The professor did receive it?”
“He accepted the child and refused the money. ‘If I want a child to bring up,’ he said, ‘it is my duty to provide for him; not his for me!’”
“And had he not curiosity enough to inform himself—?”
“He could obtain no information except on one point—whether or no the child was likely to be reclaimed. He wanted to feel that it was wholly his; for he did not wish to become attached to the little creature, and then some day or other have it taken away. The unknown swore to him that no one would ever reclaim me; ‘and,’ he added, ‘the proof is that I have brought him more than five hundred leagues, for the express purpose of causing every trace of him to be lost. The child,’ he continued, ‘would be in the utmost danger, even here, if his whereabouts should be discovered. Ask me no questions, therefore, I shall not answer them!’ And he insisted upon leaving with them the small sum in question, which amounted to two or three hundred sequins.”
“Italian money?”
“Foreign gold coins of various countries, as if the unknown had crossed the whole of Europe, and had taken pains to convert his money into all sorts of pieces, so as to disappoint search or supposition.”
“The Goffredis reminded him that he was poor; he had said so, and his whole appearance showed it. It was only just, they thought, that he should be rewarded for taking such a long journey, and fulfilling so faithfully his orders about my removal. These offers he refused with obstinacy, and austerely. He departed very abruptly, saying, to prevent further questions, that he would return next day. He did not return, however; nothing further was ever heard of him; and so I remained intrusted, or, more properly, abandoned, thank God, to the care of M. and Madame Goffredi.”
“But the history of the lake, the window and the boat—where the deuce did you get that?”
“Wait a moment. When I was five or six years old—I was apparently three or four when I made my entry into Perugia under the cloak of the man in the mask—I had a fall, and was for a time thought to be dead. It was not very serious, after all. But among the friends of my adopted family who came to inquire after me, there slipped in a little Jew, whether baptized or not I do not know, who lived in Perugia, and traded with visitors, in objects of art and antiquity. My parents disliked him because he was a Jew; for in Italy, as here, a strong prejudice prevails against that people. This Jew inquired about me anxiously, and even insisted on seeing me, so as to be satisfied as to my condition.
“A year afterwards, we spent the summer in the country, and on our return to the city, he came again to obtain further information about me, and to see with his own eyes whether I had grown, and was well. My parents were extremely surprised at this, and insisted on knowing why he took so much interest in me. They threatened to exclude him from the house unless he gave a satisfactory account of the matter; for they were already fond of me, and were afraid that this Jew might mean to carry me off. Upon this he confessed, or pretended, that he had chanced to receive at his house the man in the mask, on the day of his arrival in the city, and had extracted certain confidential disclosures from him about me. These disclosures, vague, improbable, and utterly useless, were the statements with which I began my story. Probably they are not entitled to any credit whatever. My adoptive mother paid very little attention to them, but thinking the adventure somewhat romantic, she gave me the surname of del Lago, which I have for a long time used as my real name.”