We
were not all brutes and fools in the early days, though we stood
aside to let your people run their vulgar course. It was your
hired bully--your respected guardian--this dog of an espadachin,
who let out a hint of the secret--with a prick of his blade--and a
scandal. One of my peon women was a servant at the convent when
you were a child, and recognized the woman who put you there and
came to see you as a friend. She overheard the Mother Superior say
it was your mother, and saw a necklace that was left for you to
wear. Ah! you begin to believe! When I had put this and that
together I found that Pepita could not identify you with the child
that she had seen. But you, senora, you YOURSELF supplied the
missing proof! Yes! you supplied it with the NECKLACE that you
wore that evening at Rosario, when you wished to do honor to this
young Hathaway--the guardian who had always thrown you off! Ah!--
you now suspect why, perhaps! It was your mother's necklace that
you wore, and you said so! That night I sent the good Pepita to
identify it; to watch through the window from the garden when you
were wearing it; to make it sure as the Creed. I sent her to your
room late that night when you had changed your dress, that she
might examine it among your jewels.
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