'I hear that you have used my name falsely, to the husband of Wanda; that you have dared to give me as your authority for accusations against him. What is your excuse?'
She was for the moment so bewildered and disturbed by his presence and his charge that she lost all her ability and power of interminable falsehood. She was silent, and he saw her bosom heave and her hands tremble a little.
'What is your excuse?' he said again. 'Why did you come into this house to injure Wanda von Szalras? How did you dare to use my name to do her that injury?'
She tried to laugh a little, but she was nervous and thrown off her guard.
'I wished to do her a service! Since she has married an adventurer—an impostor—she ought to know it and be free.'
'What is your authority for calling the Marquis de Sabran an adventurer? To him you employed my name as your authority. What truth was beneath that lie?'
She was silent. For the only time in her life she knew not what to say. She had no facts in her hands. Her ground was too uncertain to sustain her in a steady attitude.
'You know that he is Vassia Kazán!' she said, with another little laugh.
The face of Vàsàrhely revealed nothing.
'Who is Vassia Kazán?' he repeated.