ASC. Too much so, since I even entrust it to you with reluctance; even
you should not know it, if I could keep it concealed any longer.

FROS. Fie! you insult me when you hesitate to trust in me, whom you have
ever found so reserved in everything that concerns you--me, who was
brought up with you, and have kept secret things of so great an
importance to you; me, who know...

ASC. Yes, you are already acquainted with the secret reason which
conceals from the eyes of the world my sex and family. You know that I
was brought into this house, where I have passed my infancy, in order to
preserve an inheritance which, on the death of young Ascanio (whom I
personate), should have fallen to others; that is why I dare to unbosom
myself to you with perfect confidence. But before we begin this
conversation, Frosine, clear up a doubt which continually besets me. Can
it be possible that Albert should know nothing of the secret, which thus
disguises my sex, and makes him my father?

FROS. To tell you the truth, what you now wish to know has also greatly
puzzled me. I have never been able to get at the bottom of this
intrigue, nor could my mother give me any further insight. When Albert's
son died, who was so much beloved, and to whom a very rich uncle
bequeathed a great deal of property, even before his birth; his mother
kept his death secret, fearing that her husband, who was absent at the
time, would have gone distracted, had he seen that great inheritance,
from which his family would have reaped such advantage, pass into the
hands of another. She, I say, in order to conceal this misfortune formed
the plan of putting you into the place of her lost son; you were taken
from our family, where you were brought up. Your mother gave her consent