They were in the studio after coming back from Rosendale Road. Mrs. Webster had retired for the night, and Miss Linkin was waiting up to see “lights out,” an aggravating habit she had (according to Dan).
“And is Miss Le Breton really as beautiful as that, Dan?” asked Isabel, “or have you idealized her?”
“It is a portrait—a bonâ-fide portrait,” answered Dan, his eyes fixed on the lovely picture. “I have often asked myself what gave that look to her eyes. There is sorrow there. There is submission to sorrow. There is, too, peace. How came that look? There is a mystery about Miss Le Breton. I heard that she was for years mentally unsound. This I cannot believe. She is intellectual above the ordinary, and absolutely normal. There must have been some reason for the false report being set afoot. Sometimes I have thought it might be to keep away suitors. Her mother and her uncle are so passionately fond of her. But that idea of mine is absurd, after all, for being so attached to the girl, they would not wish to damage her reputation. There is, as I say, a mystery.”
“Is her father dead?” asked Isabel.
“Ah, that is a sad part of the story that is known,” said Dan. “Her father was Eweretta Alvin’s father. Poor Aimée Le Breton is illegitimate. It is said that the half-sisters were so exactly alike that they might well be mistaken for one another. But Philip Barrimore, who should know, says there is a difference, and that Miss Le Breton, though amazingly like Miss Alvin, could not possibly be mistaken for her.”
“Do you think Mr. Barrimore is getting over Miss Alvin’s death?” asked Isabel, her eyes still on the picture.
“Yes, I certainly do,” affirmed Dan. “It is surprising, after the fearful hullabaloo he made at first. Do you know, Mrs. Barrimore and Mr. Burns absolutely refused to let Philip go to Beachy Head, for fear he should throw himself over the cliff! Now he talks of Eweretta without emotion. He talks to Miss Le Breton, who is so like her, without emotion.”
“Such is love!” sighed Isabel.
“Are you ever coming?” Miss Linkin called from the back door.
“All right, aunt,” Dan called back.