“You have asked me a question, and I will answer it truly, Lily.” He spoke very seriously. “Cristina is not what she seems.”
Lily turned and looked at him. She felt surprised, even startled. For a moment she forgot the terrible thoughts which had been filling her mind. What took their place was an overwhelming curiosity.
“Cristina,” said Beppo deliberately, “is not a servant. She is my father’s sister—not, as mamma probably told you, his foster-sister.”
As an exclamation of astonishment escaped Lily he went on: “That woman is an angel! She adores my father, she adores me! When many years ago, papa lost his fortune, and my parents were in very truth terribly poor, my Aunt Cristina offered to come and live with them literally as their servant. Time went on, and we became gradually less pinched. To do mamma justice, she then desired that Cristina should take her proper place in the family. But Cristina refused! She preferred what she calls her independence. It is no secret to you, I feel sure, that she does not like my mother—would that she did! But there it is. They are too utterly different to like one another.”
Lily was amazed by what she had heard—amazed, and then, quickly, there was added a feeling of trouble and dismay to her amazement.
“I suppose,” said Beppo slowly, “that you are very much surprised, Lily?”
She drew a long breath. “Yes,” she said dully. “I am very much surprised—and yet in a sense, Beppo, I am not surprised at all.”
The truth escaped her in spite of herself. Whatever there was to know, Cristina surely knew.
“I have told you this, Lily,” said Beppo impressively, “because to you I will not lie. The only person now living who knows the truth is the Marchesa Pescobaldi. Her family and mine were friends through generations, so she has always known the strange story of Aunt Cristina.”
As he spoke there came back to Lily the curious, ambiguous words the Marchesa had used as to Cristina being a noble woman and doing what she did for the sake of Beppo. Had she done a great deal else, which neither Beppo nor anybody else in the world but she, Lily, suspected—also for the sake of Beppo?