He seemed to be considering whether it would be best to conceal or proclaim what he had discovered, and denounce the man, whom he had so long hated, as the illegitimate son of his father.
Suddenly he threw back his head in a reckless way, an evil light in his eyes, a curl of scorn on his lips.
“Yes,” he said, “I do know the story from beginning to end. I know that a girl named Annie Dale disappeared very mysteriously from Richmond more than twenty years ago; that she fled to her lover, who met her at Kansas City, and then took her to that mining village among the mountains of New Mexico, where she lived with him as his mistress, though nominally as his wife, until she died.”
“That man was William Mapleson, your father?” said Geoffrey, in a tone that was terrible from its calmness.
“That man was William Mapleson, my father,” repeated Everet, defiantly, though the blood mounted hotly to his brow as he said it, showing that he was not yet quite hardened enough not to feel something of shame over the confession.
“Did he give you the history of that exceedingly honorable portion of his life?” Geoffrey asked, with curling lips.
“No; I found it out for myself. I have never felt at ease with your resemblance to me: it has haunted me day and night,” Everet replied. “A slight circumstance occurred to arouse my suspicions that there might be some natural cause for it. I began to trace the mystery, and followed it up until I learned the truth—that you were Annie Dale’s child, and she was—what I have already told you. I suppose, in point of fact, that we are, in a certain way, related to each other,” he went on, with a disagreeable shrug. “If, under the circumstances, you can derive any comfort from it, much good may it do you.”
Geoffrey grew crimson, and, for a moment, his eyes blazed wrathfully at this taunt.
“Was Mr. William Mapleson at Saratoga during any portion of last summer?” he asked, struggling for self-control.
“I believe he ran up there for a few days when he came North to join my mother at Newport,” Everet returned, wondering what the question could have to do with the point under discussion.