"It's about the man you mentioned yesterday—Count von Erstein."
His look changed directly. All the light and eagerness died away and he put his cigar back in his lips. "Oh, about him, is it? Well?" he asked, as if the subject didn't interest him in the slightest.
But he listened carefully to the account of the interview with von Erstein, squinting at me curiously whenever Nessa's name was mentioned, and seemed sufficiently interested to put some questions about her.
"An ugly story, my boy, very ugly; although I'm not much surprised, knowing the man. But why have you told me?"
"Because I wish you to be prepared if he still tries to carry out his infernal scheme."
He smiled. "And because you're naturally indignant, eh?"
"I am. For my cousin's sake. The two are very old friends."
"I see. Then it's not for the girl's own sake?"
What the deuce was he driving at? His manner kept me guessing all the time. "Partly for her sake, of course. That sort of beastliness always makes me wild."
"I can understand that, my boy, and am glad to hear it. Just what I should expect of you. Is she pretty?"