"Then why did he not tell me? Oh, it was cruel!" she said, indignantly.
"He told me, Natalie," George Brand said.
"You knew?" the girl said, turning to him with wide eyes.
"Yes; and Calabressa, when he told me, implored me never to tell you. Well, perhaps he thought it would give you needless pain. But I was thinking, within the last few days, that I ought to tell you before I left for America."
"Do you hear, mother?" the girl said, in a low voice. "He is going away to America—and alone. I wished to go; he refuses."
"Now I am going away much more contented, Natalie, since you will have a constant companion with you. I presume, madame, you will remain in England?"
The elder woman looked up with rather a frightened air.
"Alas, monsieur, I do not know! When at last I found myself free—when I knew I could come and speak to my child—that was all I thought of."
"But you wish to remain in England: is it not so?"
"What have I in the world now but this beautiful child—whose heart is not cold, though her mother comes so late to claim her?"