"
"I am glad you are so frank."
"I have no reason for being otherwise. His French wife was very proud.
The prince never knew of his son's marriage to the French lady--it was a
secret marriage. After the death of his Italian wife without issue the
son revealed to his father, the prince, the fact of his former marriage
and the fact of the birth of an heir. The son was killed in a railroad
disaster, and then the old prince, being without an heir, sought to find
his grandson. He spent large sums of money and succeeded in establishing
the fact that his grandson also was dead. He learned that he was a
spirited young fellow and had been killed in a duel."
Our hero remembered how Mrs. Frewen had aided in nursing the young man
Alphonse Donetti. He guessed the whole mystery and said:
"Young Alphonse Donetti, the original of that picture, was wounded in a
duel. He recovered, however, and is alive to-day, a noble young man, one
whom his grandfather may proudly welcome as his heir--one well
calculated to maintain all the ancient glories of his race.
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