"'I have informed him of his error.'
"'And he has sent you to bring me to him?' I cried joyfully.
"'Alas! there's a difficulty at present in the way of your meeting each other. Accustomed for eighteen years to regard you as dead, he listens with scepticism to the story that you are living. Nay, more, he avers the statement to be a conspiracy on my part."
"'A conspiracy!' I repeated wonderingly.
"'He has another daughter by a second wife, your half-sister, of whom he has grown passionately fond. You, as the elder, stand in the light of her interests; whatever she thought herself entitled to now devolves upon you. For this reason he seeks to deny your relationship to him.'
"'They wrong me by such thoughts,' I cried. 'I ask not for wealth, but for affection.'
"'Tut, tut,' returned the cardinal. 'We have clear proofs of your filiation and legitimacy. We shall compel him to acknowledge you. You shall not be deprived of your rights.'
"'How came my father to think me dead?'
"'I believe I am responsible for that error,' he said, with a smile that told me some interested motive lay at the root of his deception.
"I was unable to control my indignation.