"Miss Berlin, you are certainly the most willful child I ever saw," he exclaimed. "What good can it do you to refuse to tell me what relationship you bear to Ronald Brooke and his daughter?"
[CHAPTER XXV.]
Irene raised her large blue eyes to Mr. Revington's face. They were full of anguish and despair.
"I have told you already that the secret is not mine to reveal," she said.
"Then I must answer my own question," he replied, with a swift glance around him to make sure that he was not overheard; "you are Elaine Brooke's illegitimate daughter!"
A low cry of bitterness and despair shrilled from her lips. It confirmed his hazardous guess.
"You cannot deny it!" he uttered, triumphantly.
"My God, are you man or devil, Julius Revington?" she exclaimed. "How came you by this knowledge?"
"In a perfectly natural manner," he answered, coolly. "The story of your mother's past is better known to me than to yourself, Irene."