"Surely this latter sentence cannot allude to the duke?" exclaimed the countess.
"It can allude to none other," answered the count: "'the highest person in the land.' Of course it means the duke. But, after all, it is probably only one of those idle reports which so frequently obtain vogue in the fashionable circles of all great cities—"
"Or one engendered in the fertile brain of a newspaper editor," said the countess. "Still it would be strange if, through your letters of introduction—"
"Oh! it is too absurd to speculate upon," interrupted the count, impatiently.
"And yet your lordship is not unaccustomed to judge now and then by the mere superficial appearances of things," said the countess severely.
"I!" ejaculated the Italian noble.
"Decidedly," answered the countess. "You believed Mr. Greenwood to be an honest man without examining into his real position—"
"Ah! that one foolish step of mine!"
"And you pronounced Mr. Markham a villain without according him an opportunity of giving an explanation," added the countess.