“No, though I can shed a little light on it; a very little, and I fear even that will only make the rest more obscure. But it is only right that I should give you confidence for confidence, Mr. Wynn; since you have suffered so much through your love for my daughter,—and through the machinations of this unhappy woman who certainly impersonated her,—for her own purposes.”
I winced at that. Although I knew now that “the unhappy woman” was not she whom I loved, it hurt me to hear her spoken of in that stern, condemnatory way; but I let it pass. I wanted to hear his version.
CHAPTER LII
THE WHOLE TRUTH
“
She must have been one of the Vassilitzis, and therefore Anne’s near kinswoman,” Pendennis said slowly. “You say she was often spoken of as Anna Petrovna? That explains nothing, for Petrovna is of course a very common family name in Russia. ‘The daughter of Peter’ it really means, and it is often used as a familiar form of address, just as in Scotland a married woman is often spoken of by her friends by her maiden name. My wife was called Anna Petrovna. But you say this unhappy woman’s name was given as ‘Vassilitzi Pendennis’? That I cannot understand! It is impossible that she could be my daughter; that the mad lady from Siberia could have been my wife,—and yet—my God—if that should be true, after all!
“They did send me word, and I believed it at the moment, though later I thought it was a trick to get me—and Anne—into their power,—part of a long-delayed scheme of revenge.”
His face was white as death, with little beads of sweat on the forehead, and his hands shook slightly; though he showed no other signs of emotion.