She recovered consciousness entirely. But, as she did not speak, Lupin put questions to her, to make her feel a gradual need of unbosoming herself. And he said, pointing to the locket:
“The schoolboy is Gilbert, isn’t he?”
“Yes,” she said.
“And Gilbert is your son?”
She gave a shiver and whispered:
“Yes, Gilbert is my son, my eldest son.”
So she was the mother of Gilbert, of Gilbert the prisoner at the Santé, relentlessly pursued by the authorities and now awaiting his trial for murder!
Lupin continued:
“And the other portrait?”
“My husband.”