Richard's first impulse was to request the Count to mind his own business, but he remembered that the interferer was a foreigner, and besides, Litvinoff's manner was so honest, and what he said was true enough. He certainly must be disinterested. So he constrained himself to say, with very little change of manner,—
'If my brother wishes to disprove any charges I may bring, he'd better disprove them to me.'
'But are you quite sure that you were not mistaken? May not your feelings on another matter have predisposed you to believe without evidence enough in this?'
'I quite fail to understand,' said Richard, frowning.
'Is it not possible that you may have thought of him less as your brother than as your rival?'
'If you have anything more to say that needs saying, I shall be glad if you will say it plainly.' Richard spoke angrily.
'Plainly, then—you also are a suitor for the hand of Miss Stanley?'
Ferrier's hand clenched itself, and then made a little movement which seemed quite involuntary. The blood rushed to his face as he spoke.
'May I ask who gave you that piece of false information?'
'Certainly you may ask,' answered Litvinoff, smiling very sweetly. Other people's tempers did not seem to affect him much. 'You may ask, but I—I must not reply.'