'I have seen Schreiermeyer,' he said. 'Is there to be any secret about

your début?' 'None whatever! But I have said nothing about it, and none of the

people here seem to have found it out yet.' 'So much the better. In everything connected with the theatre I believe

it is a mistake to try and excite interest before the event. What is

said beforehand is rarely said afterwards. You can be sure that

Schreiermeyer will say nothing till the time comes, and if Madame

Bonanni talks about you to her friends in London, nobody will believe

she is in earnest.' 'But she is so outspoken,' Margaret objected.

'Yes, but no one could possibly understand that a prima donna just on

the edge of decline could possibly wish to advertise a rising light. It

is hardly human!' 'I think she is the most good-natured woman I ever knew,' said Margaret

with conviction.

'She has a heart of gold. Her only trouble in life is that she has too

much of it! There is enough for everybody. She has always had far too

much for one.' Logotheti smiled at his own expression.

'Perhaps that is better than having no heart at all,' Margaret

answered, not quite realising how the words might have been

misunderstood.

'The heart is a convenient and elastic organ,' observed Logotheti. 'It

does almost everything. It sinks, it swells, it falls, it leaps, it

stands still, it quivers, it gets into one's throat and it breaks; but

it goes on beating all the time with more or less regularity, just as

the violin clown scrapes his fiddle while he turns somersaults, sticks

out his tongue, sits down with frightful suddenness and tumbles in and

out of his white hat.' He talked to amuse her and occupy her while he looked at her, studying

her lines, as a yacht expert studies those of a new and beautiful

model; yet he knew so well how to glance and look away, and glance

again, that she was not at all aware of what he was really doing. She

laughed a little at what he said.

'Where did you learn to speak English so well?' she asked.

'Languages do not count nowadays,' he answered carelessly. 'Any

Levantine in Smyrna can speak a dozen, like a native. Have you never

been in the East?' 'No.' 'Should you like to go to Greece?' 'Of course I should.' 'Then come! I am going to take a party in my yacht next month. It will

give me the greatest pleasure if you and Mrs. Rushmore will come with

us.' Margaret laughed.




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