'There was one other way,' Logotheti continued. 'I could have proposed

that you should go into partnership with me, which is what you yourself

are proposing now. But in the eyes of the world I confess that might

look intimate, to say the least of it. Don't you think so too?' 'You're the most plausible person I ever listened to!' Margaret almost

laughed, though her anger had not subsided.

'Will you leave things as they are and forget all about this business?

What has been done cannot possibly be undone now. Won't you separate me

from it in your thoughts? You can, if you try. You know, I'm two people

in one. So are you. I'm Logotheti the financier, and I'm Logotheti the

man. You are Margaret Donne, and you are Señorita da Cordova, on the

very eve of being famous--and then, I think you are some thing else

which I don't quite understand, but which is like my fate, for I cannot

escape from you, whether I see you, or only dream of you.' Margaret was silent, and looked at the Aphrodite while she sat on the

arm of the big chair. She might have breathed a little faster if she

had known that the two doors through which she had entered, and which

had closed so silently and surely after her, were as sound-proof as six

feet of earth. She would not have been afraid, for she was fearless and

confident, but her heart would have beaten a little more quickly at the

thought that she was out of hearing of the world, and in the presence

of a man whose eyes looked at her strangely and whose cheeks were

darkly flushed, who was a good deal nearer to the primitive human

animal than most men are, and in whom the main force of nature was

awake and hungry.

'I don't want you to make love to me just now,' she said, swinging her

foot a little as she sat. 'You've done something that has hurt me very

much, and has made me almost wish that I might never see you again

after this time. I wish you could find a way of undoing it--I'm sure

there is a way.' Unconsciously wise, she had checked his pulse for a moment, and she

looked at him calmly and shook her head. With a sudden and impatient

movement he rose, turned away from her and began to walk up and down at

a little distance, his head bent and his hands behind him.

Though the air in the high room was pure, it was still and hot, for the

late spring afternoon had turned sultry all at once; the fluid of a

near storm was fast condensing to the point of explosion.




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