What does Tempe learn about Elizabeth and her mother's heritage in the novel?

While investigating her case, Tempe is also working on another case. The second case is that of Sister Elisabeth Nicolet. Sister Nicolet was a nun who worked tirelessly during a smallpox epidemic that hit Montreal shortly before the turn of the century. Tempe is helping the nun's convent with an application for sainthood. However, during her examination of the skull, Tempe notices that the woman has features of a person of mixed race. Tempe begins investigating the possibility that Elisabeth's father was someone other than the man history believes fathered her. In the end, Tempe learns that Elisabeth was the product of an affair her mother had with a black activist and became a nun not by choice but to be hidden from society by her cuckolded father.