Mr. Van Torp was walking slowly down the Elm Walk in the park at Oxley
Paddox. The ancient trees were not in full leaf yet, but there were
myriads of tiny green feather points all over the rough brown branches
and the smoother twigs, and their soft colour tinted the luminous
spring air. High overhead all sorts and conditions of little birds
were chirping and trilling and chattering together and by turns, and
on the ground the sparrows were excessively busy and talkative, while
the squirrels made wild dashes across the open, and stopped suddenly
to sit bolt upright and look about them, and then dashed on again.
Little Ida walked beside the millionaire in silence, trustfully
holding one of his hands, and as she watched the sparrows she tried
to make out what sort of sound they could be making when they hopped
forward and opened their bills so wide that she could distinctly see
their little tongues. Mr. Van Torp's other hand held a newspaper, and
he was reading the article about himself which Margaret had shown to
Lady Maud. He did not take that particular paper, but a marked copy
had been sent to him, and in due course had been ironed and laid on
the breakfast-table with those that came regularly. The article was
marked in red pencil.
He read it slowly with a perfectly blank expression, as if it
concerned some one he did not know. Once only, when he came upon
the allusion to the little girl, his eyes left the page and glanced
quietly down at the large red felt hat with its knot of ribbands
that moved along beside him, and hid all the child's face except the
delicate chin and the corner of the pathetic little mouth. She did not
know that he looked down at her, for she was intent on the sparrows,
and he went back to the article and read to the end.
Then, in order to fold the paper, he gently let go of Ida's hand, and
she looked up into his face. He did not speak, but his lips moved
a little as he doubled the sheet to put it into his pocket; and
instantly the child's expression changed, and she looked hurt and
frightened, and stretched up her hand quickly to cover his mouth, as
if to hide the words his lips were silently forming.
'Please, please!' she said, in her slightly monotonous voice. 'You
promised me you wouldn't any more!'
'Quite right, my dear,' answered Mr. Van Torp, smiling, 'and I
apologise. You must make me pay a forfeit every time I do it. What
shall the forfeit be? Chocolates?'
She watched his lips, and understood as well as if she had heard.
'No,' she answered demurely. 'You mustn't laugh. When I've done
anything wicked and am sorry, I say the little prayer Miss More taught
me. Perhaps you'd better learn it too.'
'If you said it for me,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely, 'it would be
more likely to work.'
'Oh no! That wouldn't do at all! You must say it for yourself. I'll
teach it to you if you like. Shall I?'
'What must I say?' asked the financier.
'Well, it's made up for me, you see, and besides, I've shortened it a
wee bit. What I say is: "Dear God, please forgive me this time, and
make me never want to do it again. Amen." Can you remember that, do
you think?'
'I think I could,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'Please forgive me and make me
never do it again.'
'Never want to do it again,' corrected little Ida with emphasis. 'You
must try not even to want to say dreadful things. And then you must
say "Amen." That's important.'
'Amen,' repeated the millionaire.
At this juncture the discordant toot of an approaching motor-car was
heard above the singing of the birds. Mr. Van Torp turned his
head quickly in the direction of the sound, and at the same time
instinctively led the little girl towards one side of the road. She
apparently understood, for she asked no questions. There was a turn in
the drive a couple of hundred yards away, where the Elm Walk ended,
and an instant later an enormous white motor-car whizzed into sight,
rushed furiously towards the two, and was brought to a standstill in
an uncommonly short time, close beside them. An active man, in the
usual driver's disguise of the modern motorist, jumped down, and at
the same instant pushed his goggles up over the visor of his cap
and loosened the collar of his wide coat, displaying the face of
Constantino Logotheti.
'Oh, it's you, is it?' Mr. Van Torp asked the wholly superfluous
question in a displeased tone. 'How did you get in? I've given
particular orders to let in no automobiles.'
'I always get in everywhere,' answered Logotheti coolly. 'May I see
you alone for a few minutes?'
'If it's business, you'd better see Mr. Bamberger,' said Van Torp.
'I came here for a rest. Mr. Bamberger has come over for a few days.
You'll find him at his chambers in Hare Court.'
'No,' returned Logotheti, 'it's a private matter. I shall not keep you
long.'
'Then run us up to the house in your new go-cart.'
Mr. Van Torp lifted little Ida into the motor as if she had been a
rather fragile china doll instead of a girl nine years old and quite
able to get up alone, and before she could sit down he was beside her.
Logotheti jumped up beside the chauffeur and the machine ran up the
drive at breakneck speed. Two minutes later they all got out more than
a mile farther on, at the door of the big old house. Ida ran away to
find Miss More; the two men entered together, and went into the study.
The room had been built in the time of Edward Sixth, had been
decorated afresh under Charles the Second, the furniture was of the
time of Queen Anne, and the carpet was a modern Turkish one, woven
in colours as fresh as paint to fit the room, and as thick as a down
quilt: it was the sort of carpet which has come into existence with
the modern hotel.
'Well?' Mr. Van Torp uttered the monosyllable as he sat down in his
own chair and pointed to a much less comfortable one, which Logotheti
took.
'There's an article about you,' said the latter, producing a paper.
'I've read it,' answered Mr. Van Torp in a tone of stony indifference.
'I thought that was likely. Do you take the paper?'
'No. Do you?'
'No, it was sent to me,' Logotheti answered. 'Did you happen to glance
at the address on the wrapper of the one that came to you?'
'My valet opens all the papers and irons them.'
Mr. Van Torp looked very bored as he said this, and he stared stonily
at the pink and green waistcoat which his visitor's unfastened coat
exposed to view. Hundreds of little gold beads were sewn upon it at
the intersections of the pattern. It was a marvellous creation.
'I had seen the handwriting on the one addressed to me before,'
Logotheti said.
'Oh, you had, had you?'
Mr. Van Torp asked the question in a dull tone without the slightest
apparent interest in the answer.
'Yes,' Logotheti replied, not paying any attention to his host's
indifference. 'I received an anonymous letter last winter, and the
writing of the address was the same.'
'It was, was it?'
The millionaire's tone did not change in the least, and he continued
to admire the waistcoat. His manner might have disconcerted a person
of less assurance than the Greek, but in the matter of nerves the two
financiers were well matched.
'Yes,' Logotheti answered, 'and the anonymous letter was about you,
and contained some of the stories that are printed in this article.'
'Oh, it did, did it?'
'Yes. There was an account of your interview with the Primadonna at a
hotel in New York. I remember that particularly well.'
'Oh, you do, do you?'
'Yes. The identity of the handwriting and the similarity of the
wording make it look as if the article and the letter had been written
by the same person.'
'Well, suppose they were--I don't see anything funny about that.'
Thereupon Mr. Van Torp turned at last from the contemplation of the
waistcoat and looked out of the bay-window at the distant trees, as if
he were excessively weary of Logotheti's talk.
'It occurred to me,' said the latter, 'that you might like to stop any
further allusions to Miss Donne, and that if you happened to recognize
the handwriting you might be able to do so effectually.'
'There's nothing against Madame Cordova in the article,' answered Mr.
Van Torp, and his aggressive blue eyes turned sharply to his visitor's
almond-shaped brown ones. 'You can't say there's a word against her.'
'There may be in the next one,' suggested Logotheti, meeting the look
without emotion. 'When people send anonymous letters about broadcast
to injure men like you and me, they are not likely to stick at such a
matter as a woman's reputation.'
'Well--maybe not.' Mr. Van Torp turned his sharp eyes elsewhere. 'You
seem to take quite an interest in Madame Cordova, Mr. Logotheti,' he
observed, in an indifferent tone.
'I knew her before she went on the stage, and I think I may call
myself a friend of hers. At all events, I wish to spare her any
annoyance from the papers if I can, and if you have any regard for her
you will help me, I'm sure.'
'I have the highest regard for Madame Cordova,' said Mr. Van Torp, and
there was a perceptible change in his tone; 'but after this, I guess
the best way I can show it is to keep out of her track. That's about
all there is to do. You don't suppose I'm going to bring an action
against that paper, do you?'
'Hardly!' Logotheti smiled.
'Well, then, what do you expect me to do, Mr. Logotheti?'
Again the eyes of the two men met.
'I'll tell you,' answered the Greek. 'The story about your visit to
Miss Donne in New York is perfectly true.'
'You're pretty frank,' observed the American.
'Yes, I am. Very good. The man who wrote the letter and the article
knows you, and that probably means that you have known him, though you
may never have taken any notice of him. He hates you, for some reason,
and means to injure you if he can. Just take the trouble to find out
who he is and suppress him, will you? If you don't, he will throw more
mud at honest women. He is probably some underling whose feelings you
have hurt, or who has lost money by you, or both.'
'There's something in that,' answered Mr. Van Torp, showing a little
more interest. 'Do you happen to have any of his writing about you?
I'll look at it.'
Logotheti took a letter and a torn piece of brown paper from his
pocket and handed both to his companion.
'Read the letter, if you like,' he said. 'The handwriting seems to be
the same as that on the wrapper.'
Mr. Van Torp first compared the address, and then proceeded to read
the anonymous letter. Logotheti watched his face quietly, but it did
not change in the least. When he had finished, he folded the sheet,
replaced it in the envelope, and returned it with the bit of paper.
'Much obliged,' he said, and he looked out of the window again and was
silent.
Logotheti leaned back in his chair as he put the papers into his
pocket again, and presently, as Mr. Van Torp did not seem inclined to
say anything more, he rose to go. The American did not move, and still
looked out of the window.
'You originally belonged to the East, Mr. Logotheti, didn't you?' he
asked suddenly.
'Yes. I'm a Greek and a Turkish subject.'
'Do you happen to know the Patriarch of Constantinople?'
Logotheti stared in surprise, taken off his guard for once.
'Very well indeed,' he answered after an instant. 'He is my uncle.'
'Why, now, that's quite interesting!' observed Mr. Van Torp, rising
deliberately and thrusting his hands into his pockets.
Logotheti, who knew nothing about the details of Lady Maud's pending
divorce, could not imagine what the American was driving at, and
waited for more. Mr. Van Torp began to walk up and down, with his
rather clumsy gait, digging his heels into vivid depths of the new
Smyrna carpet at every step.
'I wasn't going to tell you,' he said at last, 'but I may just as
well. Most of the accusations in that letter are lies. I didn't blow
up the subway. I know it was done on purpose, of course, but I had
nothing to do with it, and any man who says I had, takes me for a
fool, which you'll probably allow I'm not. You're a man of business,
Mr. Logotheti. There had been a fall in Nickel, and for weeks before
the explosion I'd been making a considerable personal sacrifice to
steady things. Now you know as well as I do that all big accidents
are bad for the market when it's shaky. Do you suppose I'd have
deliberately produced one just then? Besides, I'm not a criminal. I
didn't blow up the subway any more than I blew up the Maine to bring
on the Cuban war! The man's a fool.'
'I quite agree with you,' said the Greek, listening with interest.
'Then there's another thing. That about poor Mrs. Moon, who's gone
out of her mind. It's nonsense to say I was the reason of Bamberger's
divorcing his wife. In the first place, there are the records of the
divorce, and my name was never mentioned. I was her friend, that's
all, and Bamberger resented it--he's a resentful sort of man anyway.
He thought she'd marry me as soon as he got the divorce. Well, she
didn't. She married old Alvah Moon, who was the only man she ever
cared for. The Lord knows how it was, but that wicked old scarecrow
made all the women love him, to his dying day. I had a high regard for
Mrs. Bamberger, and I suppose she was right to marry him if she liked
him. Well, she married him in too much of a hurry, and the child that
was born abroad was Bamberger's and not his, and when he found it out
he sent the girl East and would never see her again, and didn't leave
her a cent when he died. That's the truth about that, Mr. Logotheti. I
tell you because you've got that letter in your pocket, and I'd rather
have your good word than your bad word in business any day.'
'Thank you,' answered Logotheti. 'I'm glad to know the facts in the
case, though I never could see what a man's private life can have to
do with his reputation in the money market!'
'Well, it has, in some countries. Different kinds of cats have
different kinds of ways. There's one thing more, but it's not in the
letter, it's in the article. That's about Countess Leven, and it's the
worst lie of the lot, for there's not a better woman than she is from
here to China. I'm not at liberty to tell you anything of the matter
she's interested in and on which she consults me. But her father is
my next neighbour here, and I seem to be welcome at his house; he's a
pretty sensible man, and that makes for her, it seems to me. As for
that husband of hers, we've a good name in America for men like him.
We'd call him a skunk over there. I suppose the English word is
polecat, but it doesn't say as much. I don't think there's anything
else I want to tell you.'
'You spoke of my uncle, the Patriarch,' observed Logotheti.
'Did I? Yes. Well, what sort of a gentleman is he, anyway?'
The question seemed rather vague to the Greek.
'How do you mean?' he inquired, buttoning his coat over the wonderful
waistcoat.
'Is he a friendly kind of a person, I mean? Obliging, if you take him
the right way? That's what I mean. Or does he get on his ear right
away?'
'I should say,' answered Logotheti, without a smile, 'that he gets on
his ear right away--if that means the opposite of being friendly and
obliging. But I may be prejudiced, for he does not approve of me.'
'Why not, Mr. Logotheti?'
'My uncle says I'm a pagan, and worship idols.'
'Maybe he means the Golden Calf,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely.
Logotheti laughed.
'The other deity in business is the Brazen Serpent, I believe,' he
retorted.
'The two would look pretty well out there on my lawn,' answered Mr.
Van Torp, his hard face relaxing a little.
'To return to the point. Can I be of any use to you with the
Patriarch? We are not on bad terms, though he does think me a heathen.
Is there anything I can do?'
'Thank you, not at present. Much obliged. I only wanted to know.'
Logotheti's curiosity was destined to remain unsatisfied. He refused
Mr. Van Torp's not very pressing invitation to stay to luncheon, given
at the very moment when he was getting into his motor, and a few
seconds later he was tearing down the avenue.
Mr. Van Torp stood on the steps till he was out of sight and then came
down himself and strolled slowly away towards the trees again, his
hands behind him and his eyes constantly bent upon the road, three
paces ahead.
He was not always quite truthful. Scruples were not continually
uppermost in his mind. For instance, what he had told Lady Maud about
his engagement to poor Miss Bamberger did not quite agree with what he
had said to Margaret on the steamer.
In certain markets in New York, three kinds of eggs are offered for
sale, namely, Eggs, Fresh Eggs, and Strictly Fresh Eggs. I have seen
the advertisement. Similarly in Mr. Van Torp's opinion there were
three sorts of stories, to wit, Stories, True Stories, and Strictly
True Stories. Clearly, each account of his engagement must have
belonged to one of these classes, as well as the general statement he
had made to Logotheti about the charges brought against him in the
anonymous letter. The reason why he had made that statement was plain
enough; he meant it to be repeated to Margaret because he really
wished her to think well of him. Moreover, he had recognised the
handwriting at once as that of Mr. Feist, Isidore Bamberger's former
secretary, who knew a good many things and might turn out a dangerous
enemy.
But Logotheti, who knew something of men, and had dealt with some
very accomplished experts in fraud from New York and London to
Constantinople, had his doubts about the truth of what he had heard,
and understood at once why the usually reticent American had talked
so much about himself. Van Torp, he was sure, was in love with the
singer; that was his weak side, and in whatever affected her he might
behave like a brute or a baby, but would certainly act with something
like rudimentary simplicity in either case. In Logotheti's opinion
Northern and English-speaking men might be as profound as Persians in
matters of money, and sometimes were, but where women were concerned
they were generally little better than sentimental children, unless
they were mere animals. Not one in a thousand cared for the society
of women, or even of one particular woman, for its own sake, for the
companionship, and the exchange of ideas about things of which women
know how to think. To the better sort, that is, to the sentimental
ones, a woman always seemed what she was not, a goddess, a saint, or
a sort of glorified sister; to the rest, she was an instrument of
amusement and pleasure, more or less necessary and more or less
purchasable. Perhaps an Englishman or an American, judging Greeks from
what he could learn about them in ordinary intercourse, would get
about as near the truth as Logotheti did. In his main conclusion the
latter was probably right; Mr. Van Torp's affections might be of such
exuberant nature as would admit of being divided between two or three
objects at the same time, or they might not. But when he spoke of
having the 'highest regard' for Madame Cordova, without denying the
facts about the interview in which he had asked her to marry him and
had lost his head because she refused, he was at least admitting that
he was in love with her, or had been at that time.
Mr. Van Torp also confessed that he had entertained a 'high regard'
for the beautiful Mrs. Bamberger, now unhappily insane. It was
noticeable that he had not used the same expression in speaking of
Lady Maud. Nevertheless, as in the Bamberger affair, he appeared as
the chief cause of trouble between husband and wife. Logotheti was
considered 'dangerous' even in Paris, and his experiences had not
been dull; but, so far, he had found his way through life without
inadvertently stepping upon any of those concealed traps through which
the gay and unwary of both sexes are so often dropped into the divorce
court, to the surprise of everybody. It seemed the more strange to
him that Rufus Van Torp, only a few years his senior, should now find
himself in that position for the second time. Yet Van Torp was not
a ladies' man; he was hard-featured, rough of speech, and clumsy of
figure, and it was impossible to believe that any woman could think
him good-looking or be carried away by his talk. The case of Mrs.
Bamberger could be explained; she might have had beauty, but she
could have had little else that would have appealed to such a man as
Logotheti. But there was Lady Maud, an acknowledged beauty in London,
thoroughbred, aristocratic, not easily shocked perhaps, but easily
disgusted, like most women of her class; and there was no doubt but
that her husband had found her under extremely strange circumstances,
in the act of receiving from Van Torp a large sum of money for which
she altogether declined to account. Van Torp had not denied that story
either, so it was probably true. Yet Logotheti, whom so many women
thought irresistible, had felt instinctively that she was one of those
who would smile serenely upon the most skilful and persistent besieger
from the security of an impregnable fortress of virtue. Logotheti did
not naturally feel unqualified respect for many women, but since he
had known Lady Maud it had never occurred to him that any one could
take the smallest liberty with her. On the other hand, though he was
genuinely in love with Margaret and desired nothing so much as to
marry her, he had never been in the least afraid of her, and he had
deliberately attempted to carry her off against her will; and if she
had looked upon his conduct then as anything more serious than a mad
prank, she had certainly forgiven it very soon.
The only reason for his flying visit to Derbyshire had been his desire
to keep Margaret's name out of an impending scandal in which he
foresaw that Mr. Van Torp and Lady Maud were to be the central
figures, and he believed that he had done something to bring about
that result, if he had started the millionaire on the right scent. He
judged Van Torp to be a good hater and a man of many resources, who
would not now be satisfied till he had the anonymous writer of the
letter and the article in his power. Logotheti had no means of
guessing who the culprit was, and did not care to know.
He reached town late in the afternoon, having covered something like
three hundred miles since early morning. About seven o'clock he
stopped at Margaret's door, in the hope of finding her at home and of
being asked to dine alone with her, but as he got out of his hansom
and sent it away he heard the door shut and he found himself face to
face with Paul Griggs.
'Miss Donne is out,' said the author, as they shook hands. 'She's been
spending the day with the Creedmores, and when I rang she had just
telephoned that she would not be back for dinner!'
'What a bore!' exclaimed Logotheti.
The two men walked slowly along the pavement together, and for some
time neither spoke. Logotheti had nothing to do, or believed so
because he was disappointed in not finding Margaret in. The elder man
looked preoccupied, and the Greek was the first to speak.
'I suppose you've seen that shameful article about Van Torp,' he said.
'Yes. Somebody sent me a marked copy of the paper. Do you know whether
Miss Donne has seen it?'
'Yes. She got a marked copy too. So did I. What do you think of it?'
'Just what you do, I fancy. Have you any idea who wrote it?'
'Probably some underling in the Nickel Trust whom Van Torp has
offended without knowing it, or who has lost money by him.'
Griggs glanced at his companion's face, for the hypothesis struck him
as being tenable.
'Unless it is some enemy of Countess Leven's,' he suggested. 'Her
husband is really going to divorce her, as the article says.'
'I suppose she will defend herself,' said Logotheti.
'If she has a chance.'
'What do you mean?'
'Do you happen to know what sort of man the present Patriarch of
Constantinople is?'
Logotheti's jaw dropped, and he slackened his pace.
'What in the world--' he began, but did not finish the sentence.
'That's the second time to-day I've been asked about him.'
'That's very natural,' said Griggs calmly. 'You're one of the very few
men in town who are likely to know him.'
'Of course I know him,' answered Logotheti, still mystified. 'He's my
uncle.'
'Really? That's very lucky!'
'Look here, Griggs, is this some silly joke?'
'A joke? Certainly not. Lady Maud's husband can only get a divorce
through the Patriarch because he married her out of Russia. You know
about that law, don't you?'
Logotheti understood at last.
'No,' he said, 'I never heard of it. But if that is the case I may
be able to do something--not that I'm considered orthodox at the
Patriarchate! The old gentleman has been told that I'm trying to
revive the worship of the Greek gods and have built a temple to
Aphrodite Xenia in the Place de la Concorde!'
'You're quite capable of it,' observed Griggs.
'Oh, quite! Only, I've not done it yet. I'll see what I can do. Are
you much interested in the matter?'
'Only on general principles, because I believe Lady Maud is perfectly
straight, and it is a shame that such a creature as Leven should be
allowed to divorce an honest Englishwoman. By the bye--speaking of her
reminds me of that dinner at the Turkish Embassy--do you remember a
disagreeable-looking man who sat next to me, one Feist, a countryman
of mine?'
'Rather! I wondered how he came there.'
'He had a letter of introduction from the Turkish Minister in
Washington. He is full of good letters of introduction.'
'I should think they would need to be good,' observed Logotheti.
'With that face of his he would need an introduction to a Port Said
gambling-hell before they would let him in.'
'I agree with you. But he is well provided, as I say, and he goes
everywhere. Some one has put him down at the Mutton Chop. You never go
there, do you?'
'I'm not asked,' laughed Logotheti. 'And as for becoming a member,
they say it's impossible.'
'It takes ten or fifteen years,' Griggs answered, 'and then you won't
be elected unless every one likes you. But you may be put down as
a visitor there just as at any other club. This fellow Feist, for
instance--we had trouble with him last night--or rather this morning,
for it was two o'clock. He has been dropping in often of late, towards
midnight. At first he was more or less amusing with his stories, for
he has a wonderful memory. You know the sort of funny man who rattles
on as if he were wound up for the evening, and afterwards you cannot
remember a word he has said. It's all very well for a while, but you
soon get sick of it. Besides, this particular specimen drinks like a
whale.'
'He looks as if he did.'
'Last night he had been talking a good deal, and most of the men who
had been there had gone off. You know there's only one room at the
Mutton Chop, with a long table, and if a man takes the floor there's
no escape. I had come in about one o'clock to get something to eat,
and Feist poured out a steady stream of stories as usual, though only
one or two listened to him. Suddenly his eyes looked queer, and he
stammered, and rolled off his chair, and lay in a heap, either dead
drunk or in a fit, I don't know which.'
'And I suppose you carried him downstairs,' said Logotheti, for Griggs
was known to be stronger than other men, though no longer young.
'I did,' Griggs answered. 'That's usually my share of the proceedings.
The last person I carried--let me see--I think it must have been that
poor girl who died at the Opera in New York. We had found Feist's
address in the visitors' book, and we sent him home in a hansom. I
wonder whether he got there!'
'I should think the member who put him down would be rather annoyed,'
observed Logotheti.
'Yes. It's the first time anything of that sort ever happened at the
Mutton Chop, and I fancy it will be the last. I don't think we shall
see Mr. Feist again.'
'I took a particular dislike to his face,' Logotheti said. 'I remember
thinking of him when I went home that night, and wondering who he was
and what he was about.'
'At first I took him for a detective,' said Griggs. 'But detectives
don't drink.'
'What made you think he might be one?'
'He has a very clever way of leading the conversation to a point and
then asking an unexpected question.'
'Perhaps he is an amateur,' suggested Logotheti. 'He may be a spy. Is
Feist an American name?'
'You will find all sorts of names in America. They prove nothing in
the way of nationality, unless they are English, Dutch, or French, and
even then they don't prove much. I'm an American myself, and I feel
sure that Feist either is one or has spent many years in the country,
in which case he is probably naturalised. As for his being a spy, I
don't think I ever came across one in England.'
'They come here to rest in time of peace, or to escape hanging in
other countries in time of war,' said the Greek. 'His being at the
Turkish Embassy, of all places in the world, is rather in favour of
the idea. Do you happen to remember the name of his hotel?'
'Are you going to call on him?' Griggs asked with a smile.
'Perhaps. He begins to interest me. Is it indiscreet to ask what sort
of questions he put to you?'
'He's stopping at the Carlton--if the cabby took him there! We gave
the man half-a-crown for the job, and took his number, so I suppose
it was all right. As for the questions he asked me, that's another
matter.'
Logotheti glanced quickly at his companion's rather grim face, and was
silent for a few moments. He judged that Mr. Feist's inquiries must
have concerned a woman, since Griggs was so reticent, and it required
no great ingenuity to connect that probability with one or both of the
ladies who had been at the dinner where Griggs and Feist had first
met.
'I think I shall go and ask for Mr. Feist,' he said presently. 'I
shall say that I heard he was ill and wanted to know if I could do
anything for him.'
'I've no doubt he'll be much touched by your kindness!' said Griggs.
'But please don't mention the Mutton Chop Club, if you really see
him.'
'Oh no! Besides, I shall let him do the talking.'
'Then take care that you don't let him talk you to death!'
Logotheti smiled as he hailed a passing hansom; he nodded to his
companion, told the man to go to the Carlton, and drove away, leaving
Griggs to continue his walk alone.
The elderly man of letters had not talked about Mr. Feist with any
special intention, and was very far from thinking that what he had
said would lead to any important result. He liked the Greek, because
he liked most Orientals, under certain important reservations and at a
certain distance, and he had lived amongst them long enough not to be
surprised at anything they did. Logotheti had been disappointed in not
finding the Primadonna at home, and he was not inclined to put up with
the usual round of an evening in London during the early part of the
season as a substitute for what he had lost. He was the more put out,
because, when he had last seen Margaret, three or four days earlier,
she had told him that if he came on that evening at about seven
o'clock he would probably find her alone. Having nothing that looked
at all amusing to occupy him, he was just in the mood to do anything
unusual that presented itself.
Griggs guessed at most of these things, and as he walked along he
vaguely pictured to himself the interview that was likely to take
place.