"Why should his being alive trouble you?" asked Lorelie, looking in wonder at her husband.
For some moments Ivar hesitated, and when at last his answer came, Lorelie intuitively felt that he was not stating the true cause of his disquietude.
"You would marry that fellow to Beatrice?" he said, moistening his dry white lips. "Why he is the son of a—a—felon: his father was tried for murder at Nantes, and found guilty."
"Have you made a point of studying the bygone criminal trials of France? If not, how have you learned this?"
"I heard the story from—from my father," replied Ivar slowly, as if reluctant to make the admission.
At this Lorelie gave a very palpable start. A curious light came into her eyes. She seemed as if struck by some new and surprising idea.
"And how came he to learn it?"
"He was in Brittany at the time of the trial, and could not avoid hearing all about it. The crime created, as newspapers say, a great sensation. For weeks the people of Nantes talked of little else."
"Your father's ten years' absence from Ravenhall was spent in Brittany, then?"