She had thought of Lushington often that day, and now she wished with

all her heart that he were beside her, standing between her and

something she could not define but which she dreaded just because she

could not imagine what it was, though it was certainly connected with

Logotheti and with what he had said. She changed her mind about the

Greek half-a-dozen times in an hour, but after each change the

conviction grew on her that he had meant not only what he had said, but

much more. His eyes were not like other men's eyes at all, when they

looked at her, though they were so very quiet and steady; they were the

eyes of another race which she did not know, and they saw the world as

her own people did not see it, nor as Frenchmen, nor as Italians, nor

Germans, nor as any people she had met. They had seen sights she could

never see, in countries where the law, if there was any, took it for

granted that men would risk their lives for what they wanted. She, who

was not easily frightened, suddenly felt the fear of the unknown, and

the unknown was somehow embodied in Logotheti.

She did not show what she felt when he strolled up to her to say

good-bye, but through her glove she felt that his hand was stone cold,

and as he said the half-dozen conventional words that were necessary

she was sure that he smiled strangely, even mysteriously, as if such

phrases as 'I hope to see you again before long,' and 'such a heavenly

afternoon,' would cloak the deadly purposes of a diabolical design.

Margaret was alone with Mrs. Rushmore for a few minutes before dinner.

'Well?' Mrs. Rushmore uttered the single word in an ejaculatory and

interrogative tone, as only a certain number of old-fashioned Americans

can. Spoken in that peculiar way it can mean a good deal, for it can

convey suspicion, or approval or disapproval and any degree of

acquaintance with the circumstances concerned, from almost total

ignorance to the knowledge of everything except the result of the

latest development.

On the present occasion Mrs. Rushmore meant that she had watched

Margaret and Logotheti and had guessed approximately what had

passed--that she thought the matter decidedly interesting, and wished

to know all about it.

But Margaret was not anxious to understand, if indeed her English ear

detected all the hidden meaning of the monosyllable.

'There were a good many people, weren't there?' she observed with a

sort of query, meant to lead the conversation in that direction.




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