For a moment he seemed to be puzzled.

Then he understood that it was the presence of Fred, a stranger, that was bothering Ivan.
"Oh!" he cried, with a laugh.

"Ivan, you may speak before this stranger as freely as before me.

Let him be a stranger to you no longer.

He is my cousin from America--the son of Marie Feodorovna, who went away to be married before I was born!" Fred was not prepared for what followed.