human
Is the original of this picture alive?
gpt
He is.
human
His name?
gpt
Alphonse Donetti.
human
His parentage--do you know his parentage?
gpt
Why do you ask?
human
Answer my question.
gpt
When you are calmer we will talk.
human
What do you mean, sir?
gpt
I mean that possibly there is something to be explained.
human
Is it possible you gave me this picture with a purpose?
gpt
Yes, I handed you that picture with a purpose.
human
And what was your purpose?
gpt
I desired to learn if you had ever seen him before.
human
No, I never saw this picture before.
gpt
Did you ever behold the original?
human
Never.
gpt
Then why your excitement when you beheld the photograph?
human
Was I excited?
gpt
Sir, you must be perfectly frank with me.
human
Will you explain just what you are getting at?
gpt
Not until you have explained your excitement.
human
I have nothing to explain.
gpt
Neither have I.
human
There is design in all this.
gpt
Yes, there is design.
human
You will certainly intimate your design.
gpt
I will intimate nothing.
human
What is it you demand?
gpt
I demand to know the cause of your excitement.
human
This picture bears a striking resemblance to one whom I once knew.
gpt
Who is the party?
human
The son of the Prince of ----.
gpt
But you said you had never seen the original.
human
I never did behold the original of that picture. The prince's son is dead. He has been dead several years. He was much older than the original of this picture.
gpt
Is it not possible that the original of that picture is the grandson of the present Prince of ----?
human
I cannot tell; the resemblance is certainly very remarkable.
gpt
Tell me about the prince and his son.
human
I will.
gpt
Do so.
human
The son of the Prince of ---- married a French lady. The marriage was a secret one. He deserted his wife and later married an Italian lady of noble birth. The second wife died without leaving any children.
gpt
How could he desert his French wife and marry an Italian woman?
human
He secured a divorce.
gpt
Was he justified?
human
No.
gpt
I am glad you are so frank.
human
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.
gpt
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.
human
I believe that indeed this young man is the legitimate heir of the great prince, and his grandfather will be the happiest man in Italy when I again cable him and tell him his heir is found alive, well, and a credit to his race.
gpt
You can cable him, for there is no doubt as to the real identity of the young man.