Tor was silent, thinking out his plan of action. He was perfectly aware that he was suspected; he already felt in a great measure at this man’s mercy, and he believed him to be, for some unknown reason, his enemy. He dared not make a confidant of a perfect stranger, who might be anything, from a spy of Belassis, upwards; and yet he must endeavour to keep on friendly terms, and if it were possible bind him over to silence. If he were to talk abroad as he was talking here, a catastrophe would be inevitable.
‘Sit down, Signor,’ he said courteously. ‘I see I must have some further talk with you. Let us be frank with one another. Do not be afraid to speak out. Truth is always the best. You believe that I am an impostor—is it not so?’
‘That is your word, not mine, Signor,’ said the Italian. ‘You know best if the cap fits—as your proverb goes.’
‘If it is my word,’ returned Tor quickly, ‘it but expresses your own thoughts, unless I have very much misread your face and your words.’
‘What can I think, in the face of these facts?’ asked the stranger, with the significance of voice and look which Tor greatly disliked. ‘The Signor puts me in a very awkward position by asking such questions.’
Tor laughed, in spite of his inward discomfiture.
‘Pardon me, Signor; I think it is you who put me in an awkward position by your insinuations. I am sure you cannot mean to insult me; but if you will think the matter quietly over, you will see, I think, that what you would imply about me, is about as great an insult as one man can offer to another. You seem to me to suggest that I am playing an impostor’s part, living in my friend’s house, trading upon his fortune, adopting his name. Come, come, Signor Pagliadini, when one comes to put it all into plain words, I think you must see for yourself how utterly absurd and unfounded such an idea must be. Why, the thing would be impossible!’
‘It has been done before now, I believe,’ answered the stranger.
Tor drew himself up haughtily.
‘Do you mean to say that you accuse me of doing so great a wrong as this to my best friend?’