"You know I couldn't read this stuff at first. It was in French and Spanish, but there was an old fellow that taught at school and he was terribly excited too when I told him that Maria Algarez was sending me these clippings. He'd heard her sing, you know. He used to translate the clippings for me and he told me a lot about Maria Algarez."
"And now," said Peter, "I suppose you can read them yourself."
"Well, I can do the French all right but I'm not much on the Spanish. You see the old Frenchman, the fellow that taught at school, he was awful decent to me. He used to give me extra classes outside of school. You see we had a secret between us. It was like belonging to that kid fraternity we used to have in high school—Alpha Kappa Phi. That means something that nobody else knew. I can't remember what."
"Brothers and friends," prompted Peter.
"How did you know that?"
"You told me about it in one of the letters you wrote to me. But what was the secret you had with the old Frenchman?"
"Why, about Maria. He told me not to let any of the fellows know that Maria Algarez was my mother. He said that it was a beautiful romance but that here in America people wouldn't understand on account of American morality being so strict and that they might look down on me."
Peter was indignant. "Beautiful romance! Where did he get that idea? Maria Algarez and I were married just like anybody. Didn't she tell you that?"
"No," said Pat in obvious disappointment, "she didn't."
"I guess she forgot about it," suggested Peter.