‘Your daughter!’
“I pray you to listen before you judge, and at present spare your reproaches, for believe me, Joan, I am not fit to bear them. Remember that I need have told you nothing of this; the secret might have been buried in my grave—”
“As it would have been, sir, had you not feared to die with such falsehood on your soul.”
He made an imploring gesture with his hand, and she ceased.
“Joan,” he went on, “I will tell you the whole truth. You are not only my child, you are also legitimate.”
“And Miss Levinger—Lady Graves, I mean—is she legitimate too?”
“No, Joan.”
She heard, and bit her lip till the blood ran, but even so she could not keep silence.