'Let us call it a half million dollars, then,' he said, with a smile.

'At four-eighty-four, that is'--again he looked at the ceiling for ten

seconds--'that is one hundred and three thousand three hundred and five

pounds fifteen shillings fivepence halfpenny, nearly. Is that it? Shall

we say that, Mrs. Rushmore.' 'How quickly you do it!' exclaimed the lady in admiration. 'I wish I

could do that! Oh yes, I have no doubt it is quite correct. You

couldn't do it on paper, could you? You see it doesn't matter so much

about the halfpenny, but if there were a little slip in the thousands,

you know--it would make quite a difference----' She paused significantly. Logotheti quietly pulled his cuff over his

hand, produced a pencil instead of his fountain pen, and proceeded to

divide five hundred thousand by four hundred and eighty-four to three

places of decimals.

'Fifteen and fivepence halfpenny,' he said, when he had turned the

fraction into shillings and pence, 'and the pounds are just what I

said.' 'Do you mean to say that you did all that in your head in ten seconds?'

asked Mrs. Rushmore, with renewed admiration.

'Oh no,' he answered. 'We have much shorter ways of reckoning money in

the East, but you could not understand that. You are quite satisfied

that this is right?' 'Oh, certainly!' Mrs. Rushmore could no more have divided five hundred thousand by four

hundred and eighty-four to three places of decimals than she could have

composed Parsifal, but her doubts were satisfied by its having been

done 'on paper.' Logotheti put away his jewelled pencil, took out his jewelled fountain

pen again, spread the cheque on the seat of the bench beside him and

filled it in for the amount, including the halfpenny. He handed it to

her, holding it by the corner.

'It's wet,' he observed. 'It's drawn on the Bank of England. It will be

necessary for you to sign a statement to the effect that you withdraw

the suit and that Miss Donne's claim is fully satisfied. She will have

to sign that too. I'll send you the paper. If you have any doubts,' he

smiled, 'you need not return it until the cheque has been cashed.' That was precisely what Mrs. Rushmore intended to do, but she protested

politely that she had no doubt whatever on the score of the cheque,

looking all the time at the big figures written out in Logotheti's

remarkably clear handwriting. Only the signature was perfectly

illegible. He noticed her curiosity about it.




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