"
"A mystery?"
"Yes."
"What is the mystery?"
"I believe his father is a nobleman, although his mother was my
governess."
"Ah, your governess?"
"Yes."
"Not your maid?"
"She acted as governess and maid both. She was a very handsome woman. We
were in Italy when she eloped and ran away."
"Did she run away and get married?"
"She claimed she was married."
"Whom did she marry?"
"She would never reveal the man's identity."
"Do you know that it was a nobleman?"
"No."
"You only suspect?"
"Yes."
"What led you to the suspicion."
"Hints that Madam Donetti dropped from time to time."
"This young man's name is Donetti?"
"He is known as Alphonse Donetti."
"An Italian name."
"Yes."
"Then you conclude his mother married an Italian?"
"Yes."
"Was he a sober, industrious young man?"
"No, he appeared to feel very much embittered at the idea of being poor.
He claimed to be of high birth. Indeed I have suspected that his mother
was a woman descended from a good old French family; at any rate the
young man is very high-blooded, fond of gay life, and unable to gratify
his desires.
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