This time she took care to reply quickly to the name which in the future was to be hers.
As on the previous day, he made her sit down beside him and gave her a paper to translate for him into French. This time it was not the "Dundee News," but the "Dundee Trade Report Association," which is an official bulletin published on the commerce of jute. So without having to search for any particular article, she read it to him from beginning to end. Then, when the reading was over, as before, he asked her to lead him through the grounds, but this time he began to question her about herself.
"You told me that you had lost your mother. How long ago was that?" he asked.
"Five weeks," she replied.
"In Paris?"
"Yes, in Paris."
"And your father?"
"Father died six months before mother," she said in a low voice.
As he held her hand in his he could feel it tremble, and he knew what anguish she felt as he evoked the memory of her dead parents, but he did not change the subject; he gently continued to question her.
"What did your parents do?"