The car stopped close beside him. He held his handkerchief to his nose,

covering half his face as he looked up.

'Are you hurt, Monsieur?' Margaret asked anxiously in French.

'On the contrary, Mademoiselle,' Lushington answered through the

handkerchief, and it sounded as if he had a bad cold in the head.

'I am afraid----' Margaret began, and then stopped suddenly, staring at

him.

'You were on the wrong side of the road, Monsieur,' said Logotheti in

an assertive tone.

'Perfectly,' assented Lushington, holding his nose and turning half

away.

'Then it was your fault,' observed Logotheti.

'Precisely,' admitted the other. 'Pray don't stop. It's of no

consequence!' But he had betrayed himself unconsciously, in the most natural way. His

spectacles were gone, and by covering the lower part of his face with

his handkerchief he had entirely concealed the very great change made

by shaving his beard and moustache. While he and Logotheti had been

speaking, Margaret had scrutinised his features and had made sure of

the truth. Then she believed that she would have recognised him by his

voice alone. Between the emotion that followed the accident and the

extreme anxiety his position caused him, the perspiration stood in

beads on his forehead. Margaret smiled maliciously, for she remembered

how often they had passed him on the road, and realised in an instant

that he had disguised himself to watch her doings. He should pay for

that.

'You look hot,' she observed in English, fixing her eyes on him

severely.

He blushed to the roots of his hair, though he had been rather pale.

Logotheti, whose only preoccupation hitherto had been to get away as

soon as possible, now stared at him, too. Margaret's tone and her

sudden change to the use of English did the rest. He recognised

Lushington, but remembered that he himself was completely disguised in

his chauffeur's dress and mask; so he said nothing.

Lushington writhed under Margaret's eyes for a moment; but then his

English courage and coolness suddenly returned, the colour subsided

from his face and his expression hardened, as far as the necessary

handkerchief permitted her to see it.

'Yes,' he said, 'I'm Lushington. I can only repeat that the accident

happened by my fault. I'm used to taking the left side in England and I

lost my head. Monsieur Logotheti need not have run away, for it would

never have occurred to me to make a complaint.' He looked straight at Logotheti's goggles as he spoke, and Margaret

began to feel uncomfortable.

'I supposed that you had recognised me,' observed the Greek coldly.

'That is, no doubt, why you have taken the trouble to disguise yourself

and watch me of late.' 'That was the reason,' answered Lushington, facing his adversary, but

conscious that the necessity for holding his nose put him at a

disadvantage as to his dignity.




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