Yet he did not altogether lie.

The child Gregory had indeed spared, and it seems from what I have learned within the last half-hour that he had entrusted his rearing to Alan Stewart, of Bailienochy, seeking afterwards--I take it--to wed him to his daughter, so that should the King come to his own again, they should have the protection of a Marleigh who had served his King." "You mean," the lad almost whispered, and his accents were unmistakably of horror, "you mean that I am your--Oh, God, I'll not believe it!" he cried out, with such sudden loathing and passion that Crispin recoiled as though he had been struck.

A dull flush crept into his cheeks to fade upon the instant and give place to a pallor, if possible, intenser than before.
"I'll not believe it! I'll not believe it!" the boy repeated, as if seeking by that reiteration to shut out a conviction by which he was beset.

"I'll not believe it!" he cried again; and now his voice had lost its passionate vehemence, and was sunk almost to a moan.
"I found it hard to believe myself," was Crispin's answer, and his voice was not free from bitterness.

"But I have a proof here that seems incontestable, even had I not the proof of your face to which I have been blind these months.