Page:The Eyes of Innocence.djvu/183

Rh "None at all."

"Then read this letter, which has just come: it will tell you the secret ... I too have a family. ... Ah, madame, you will have no need to blush for me!"

Mme. de la Vaudraye did not at first understand; then, when Gilberte had told her of the search conducted by the solicitor, she could not conceal her satisfaction:

"So you have succeeded? Oh, I am glad! ... Why should I deny it? I was bothered in advance about what other people would say: pardon my weakness, I can confess it now that I have accepted you as a daughter before knowing that your parents were worthy of you. The fear that they might not be was the only obstacle; and that was irrevocable. But I overcame that fear. Something to boast of, was it not? As though it were difficult to know them, when one knows you!"

She took the letter, felt it and said:

"We shall soon learn the name of two