Again, as she sat on the arm of the big chair, she tapped the dark blue

tiles with the toe of her shoe. The slight movement transmitted itself

through her whole figure, and for an instant each beautiful line and

curve quivered and was very slightly modified. Logotheti saw and drew

his breath sharply between his teeth.

'Yes,' Margaret was saying impatiently. 'When Mrs. Rushmore had told me

the truth, I walked to the station and took the first train. I only

stopped to get Madame De Rosa.' 'She is not a very powerful ally,' observed Logotheti. 'She is probably

asleep in her arm-chair in the drawing-room by this time. Are you still

angry with me? Yes, I believe you are. Please forgive me. I had not the

least idea of offending you, because I trusted that old---- I mean,

because I was so sure that Mrs. Rushmore would never tell.' 'Never mind Mrs. Rushmore,' Margaret said. 'What I will not forgive you

is that you made me take your money without my knowing it. I've been

flirting with you--yes, I confess it! I'm not perfection, and you're

rather amusing sometimes----' 'You are adorable!' Logotheti put in, as a sort of murmuring

parenthesis.

'Don't talk nonsense,' Margaret answered. 'I mean that whatever I may

have said to you I've never given you the right to make me a present of

a hundred thousand pounds. It's the most unparalleled piece of

impertinence I ever heard of.' 'But I've not made you a present of anything. I bought what was yours

without letting you know, that's all.' 'Then give me back what is mine and take your money again.' 'Hm!' Logotheti smiled. 'That would be very like going into a business

partnership with me. Do you wish to do that?' 'What do you mean?' 'You see, I'm the whole company at present. But if you come in with a

third of the stock to your credit, we shall be partners, to all intents

and purposes. We shall have meetings of the board of directors, just

you and I, and we shall decide what to do. It will be rather a queer

sort of board, for of course I shall always do exactly what you wish,

but it's not impossible that we may make money together. Well--on the

whole I have no particular objection to selling you exactly the amount

of stock I bought from you the other day. That's the shape the

transaction takes. I'll do any thing to please you, but I'm quite

willing you should know that I am doing you a favour, as business men

would look at it.' 'A favour!' Margaret slipped from the arm of the chair as she spoke and

stood upright and made a step towards him. 'Do you think I'm a child to

believe such nonsense?' 'In matters of business all women are children. With the possible

exception of Mrs. Rushmore,' he added in a tone of reflection.

'Besides, this is not nonsense.' 'It is!' cried Margaret. 'It is absurd to try and make me believe that

a mere claim set up on the chance of getting something should have

turned out to be worth so much. It has cost Mrs. Rushmore I don't know

how much in lawsuits, and no one ever really believed in it. She fought

for it out of pure kindness of heart, and even the lawyers said she was

very foolish to go on----' 'Will you listen to me?' asked Logotheti, interrupting her. 'I've not

much to say, but it's rather convincing. You probably admit that the

invention is valuable, and that Alvah Moon has made money by it.' 'I should think he had, the old thief!' 'Very well. I happened to want that invention. I've bought several at

different times and have founded companies and sold them. That's a part

of finance, which is a form of game. You deal yourself a hand and then

play it. I made up my mind to play with this particular invention. I

know much more about it than you do; in fact, I understand it

thoroughly. I cabled to my agent in America to buy it, if he could, and

he succeeded. Now please tell me whether you think Mrs. Rushmore,

acting for you, would have withdrawn the suit after the property had

changed hands, merely because I've dined in her house.' 'No,' Margaret was forced to admit. 'No, she would have gone on.' 'Precisely. Now I don't want property of that kind, about which there

is constant litigation. The credit of such property is injured by the

talk there always is about lawsuits. So I went to Mrs. Rushmore and

asked her what she thought your claim was worth, and she told me, and I

gave her a cheque for the money, and she has given me a full release,

as your attorney. If it had been her claim, or Madame De Rosa's or any

one else's, I should have done exactly the same thing. Will you tell me

how I could have acted otherwise in order to get the property into my

hands free of all chance of dispute? Was there any other way?' Margaret was silent, for she could find no answer.




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