"I have never heard otherwise," I told him. "But when I asked my mother once at which church I was christened, she could not tell me and forbade me to ask again." Lord Langerdale looked puzzled for a moment, and then asked me my age, which I told him. "Do you remember the time when news came of Mr. Ravenor, after he had been supposed to have been dead for so long?" "Yes. It is about my earliest distinct recollection," I answered. "Do you remember how your mother received the news?" Yes, I remembered. Even at that moment a vision rose up before me. I saw her standing beneath the ivy-covered porch of our farmhouse, her beautiful face ghastly with sudden pallor, and her wild eyes riveted upon my father's burly figure, as he shouted out the tidings. I described the scene to Lord Langerdale. "And afterwards did she ever mention Mr. Ravenor's name to you? Did she see anything of him?" he asked, when I had finished. Briefly I told him of her warnings, of my meeting with Mr. Ravenor, of his proposal to adopt me, and of my mother's death, and how at the end she suddenly turned round and left me to his guardianship. When I had finished he laid his hand upon my arm. "Let us go upstairs to my rooms," he said kindly. "If my wife were to come in now and learn the truth--and I'm a bad hand at keeping anything back from her--I'm afraid the shock would be too much for her. Come with me and I will tell you your mother's history." So I rose and followed him with beating heart. CHAPTER XLVIII. A PAGE OF HISTORY. Lord Langerdale's suite of apartments was on the second floor, and when we reached them it was no small relief to me to find the room into which we turned empty. I sank mechanically into the chair to which he pointed, whilst he himself remained standing a few feet away from me. "From what you have told me," he said gravely, "I have not the least doubt but that my wife and your mother were sisters." I gave a little gasp and began to wonder whether this was not all a wild dream. Lord Langerdale remained silent, whilst I recovered myself in some measure. "Will you tell me about it?" I asked slowly. "I don't understand." "I will tell you everything," Lord Langerdale said kindly. "This is a great surprise to you, of course, and quite as great a one to me. Here is the story--or, rather, as much as I know of it." He cleared his throat and took a chair by my side. Everything else in the room except his face was blurred and indistinct, and his voice seemed to come to me from a long distance. But every word he uttered sank into my heart.