"It was his friends who kept him from her?" she asked, not daring to look up.
The lawyer knew better; but he dared not tell the cruel truth to the girl.
"Doubtless," he said. "Your father's friends were very proud, and very much against his marrying an actress."
"And my mother feared my going among them?"
"Doubtless. But you need not do so now."
"Do they know who I am?"
"Yes, my lady."
He uttered the words, not out of compliment, but of set purpose. It was part of the information he had to give her. She looked up to him with a curious look, as if he were some magician who had suddenly given her sacksful of gold, and was about to change the gold again into flints.
"If all this is true, why did I never hear it from any one else?"
"We alone knew, and your father's friends. They concealed the marriage as well as they could, and certainly never would speak to any one about you."