“Yes, my dear child, I have to speak to you of your father—to tell you at last why your poor mother never saw him again.”
“Mon Dieu! can it be possible? You know that? Who can have told you?”
“Monsieur Paul Duronceray.”
“He knew my father?”
“Yes.”
“He has seen him, and spoken to him?”
“Yes.”
“My poor father! he is dead, of course; otherwise he would not have abandoned us.”
“He is dead!”
“Oh! my dear love, tell me quickly everything that happened to him!—Speak! speak! I long to hear!”