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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10521-0.txt b/10521-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..7706c03 --- /dev/null +++ b/10521-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11724 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10521 *** + +THE PRIMADONNA + +A SEQUEL TO "FAIR MARGARET" + +BY + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + +AUTHOR OF "SARACINESCA," "SANT' ILARIO," "FAIR MARGARET," ETC., ETC. + +1908 + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +When the accident happened, Cordova was singing the mad scene in +_Lucia_ for the last time in that season, and she had never sung it +better. _The Bride of Lammermoor_ is the greatest love-story ever +written, and it was nothing short of desecration to make a libretto +of it; but so far as the last act is concerned the opera certainly +conveys the impression that the heroine is a raving lunatic. Only a +crazy woman could express feeling in such an unusual way. + +Cordova's face was nothing but a mask of powder, in which her handsome +brown eyes would have looked like two holes if she had not kept them +half shut under the heavily whitened lids; her hands were chalked too, +and they were like plaster casts of hands, cleverly jointed at the +wrists. She wore a garment which was supposed to be a nightdress, +which resembled a very expensive modern shroud, and which was +evidently put on over a good many other things. There was a deal of +lace on it, which fluttered when she made her hands shake to accompany +each trill, and all this really contributed to the general impression +of insanity. Possibly it was overdone; but if any one in the audience +had seen such a young person enter his or her room unexpectedly, and +uttering such unaccountable sounds, he or she would most assuredly +have rung for a doctor and a cab, and for a strait-jacket if such a +thing were to be had in the neighbourhood. + +An elderly man, with very marked features and iron-grey hair, sat in +the fifth row of the stalls, on the right-hand aisle. He was a bony +man, and the people behind him noticed him and thought he looked +strong. He had heard Bonanni in her best days and many great lyric +sopranos from Patti to Melba, and he was thinking that none of them +had sung the mad scene better than Cordova, who had only been on the +stage two years, and was now in New York for the first time. But he +had already heard her in London and Paris, and he knew her. He had +first met her at a breakfast on board Logotheti's yacht at Cap Martin. +Logotheti was a young Greek financier who lived in Paris and wanted to +marry her. He was rather mad, and had tried to carry her off on the +night of the dress rehearsal before her _début_, but had somehow got +himself locked up for somebody else. Since then he had grown calmer, +but he still worshipped at the shrine of the Cordova. He was not +the only one, however; there were several, including the very +distinguished English man of letters, Edmund Lushington, who had known +her before she had begun to sing on the stage. + +But Lushington was in England and Logotheti was in Paris, and on the +night of the accident Cordova had not many acquaintances in the house +besides the bony man with grey hair; for though society had been +anxious to feed her and get her to sing for nothing, and to play +bridge with her, she had never been inclined to accept those +attentions. Society in New York claimed her, on the ground that she +was a lady and was an American on her mother's side. Yet she insisted +on calling herself a professional, because singing was her profession, +and society thought this so strange that it at once became suspicious +and invented wild and unedifying stories about her; and the reporters +haunted the lobby of her hotel, and gossiped with their friends the +detectives, who also spent much time there in a professional way for +the general good, and were generally what English workmen call wet +smokers. + +Cordova herself was altogether intent on what she was doing and was +not thinking of her friends, of Lushington, or Logotheti, nor of the +bony man in the stalls; certainly not of society, though it was richly +represented by diamonds in the subscriber's tier. Indeed the jewellery +was so plentiful and of such expensive quality that the whole row of +boxes shone like a vast coronet set with thousands of precious stones. +When the music did not amuse society, the diamonds and rubies twinkled +and glittered uneasily, but when Cordova was trilling her wildest +they were quite still and blazed with a steady light. Afterwards the +audience would all say again what they had always said about every +great lyric soprano, that it was just a wonderful instrument without a +particle of feeling, that it was an over-grown canary, a human flute, +and all the rest of it; but while the trills ran on the people +listened in wonder and the diamonds were very quiet. + +'A-a--A-a--A-a--A-a--' sang Cordova at an inconceivable pitch. + +A terrific explosion shook the building to its foundations; the lights +went out, and there was a long grinding crash of broken glass not far +off. + +In the momentary silence that followed before the inevitable panic the +voice of Schreiermeyer, the manager, rang out through the darkness. + +'Ladies and gentlemen! There's no danger! Keep your seats! The lights +will be up directly.' + +And indeed the little red lamps over each door that led out, being on +another circuit, were all burning quietly, but in the first moment of +fright no one noticed them, and the house seemed to be quite dark. + +Then the whole mass of humanity began to writhe and swell, as a +frightened crowd does in the dark, so that every one feels as if all +the other people were growing hugely big, as big as elephants, to +smother and crush him; and each man makes himself as broad as he can, +and tries to swell out his chest, and squares his elbows to keep the +weight off his sides; and with the steady strain and effort every one +breathes hard, and few speak, and the hard-drawn breath of thousands +together makes a sound of rushing wind like bellows as enormous as +houses, blowing steadily in the darkness. + +'Keep your seats!' yelled Schreiermeyer desperately. + +He had been in many accidents, and understood the meaning of the +noises he heard. There was death in them, death for the weak by +squeezing, and smothering, and trampling underfoot. It was a grim +moment, and no one who was there has forgotten it, the manager least +of all. + +'It's only a fuse gone!' he shouted. 'Only a plug burnt out!' + +But the terrified throng did not believe, and the people pressed upon +each other with the weight of hundreds of bodies, thronging from +behind, towards the little red lights. There were groans now, besides +the strained breathing and the soft shuffling of many feet on the +thick carpets. Each time some one went down there was a groan, stifled +as instantly and surely as though the lips from which it came were +quickly thrust under water. + +Schreiermeyer knew well enough that if nothing could be done within +the next two minutes there would be an awful catastrophe; but he was +helpless. No doubt the electricians were at work; in ten minutes the +damage would be repaired and the lights would be up again; but the +house would be empty then, except for the dead and the dying. + +Another groan was heard, and another quickly after it. The wretched +manager yelled, stormed, stamped, entreated, and promised, but with no +effect. In the very faint red light from the doors he saw a moving +sea of black and heard it surging to his very feet. He had an old +professional's exact sense of passing time, and he knew that a full +minute had already gone by since the explosion. No one could be dead +yet, even in that press, but there were few seconds to spare, fewer +and fewer. + +Then another sound was heard, a very pure strong note, high above his +own tones, a beautiful round note, that made one think of gold and +silver bells, and that filled the house instantly, like light, and +reached every ear, even through the terror that was driving the crowd +mad in the dark. + +A moment more, an instant's pause, and Cordova had begun Lucia's song +again at the beginning, and her marvellous trills and staccato notes, +and trills again, trills upon trills without end, filled the vast +darkness and stopped those four thousand men and women, spellbound and +silent, and ashamed too. + +It was not great music, surely; but it was sung by the greatest living +singer, singing alone in the dark, as calmly and as perfectly as if +all the orchestra had been with her, singing as no one can who feels +the least tremor of fear; and the awful tension of the dark throng +relaxed, and the breath that came was a great sigh of relief, for it +was not possible to be frightened when a fearless woman was singing so +marvellously. + +Then, still in the dark, some of the musicians struck in and supported +her, and others followed, till the whole body of harmony was complete; +and just as she was at the wildest trills, at the very passage during +which the crash had come, the lights went up all at once; and there +stood Cordova in white and lace, with her eyes half shut and shaking +her outstretched hands as she always made them shake in the mad scene; +and the stage was just as it had been before the accident, except that +Schreiermeyer was standing near the singer in evening dress with a +perfectly new and shiny high hat on the back of his head, and his +mouth wide open. + +The people were half hysterical from the past danger, and when they +saw, and realised, they did not wait for the end of the air, but sent +up such a shout of applause as had never been heard in the Opera +before and may not be heard there again. + +Instinctively the Primadonna sang the last bars, though no one heard +her in the din, unless it was Schreiermeyer, who stood near her. When +she had finished at last he ran up to her and threw both his arms +round her in a paroxysm of gratitude, regardless of her powder and +chalk, which came off upon his coat and yellow beard in patches of +white as he kissed her on both cheeks, calling her by every endearing +name that occurred to his polyglot memory, from Sweetheart in English +to Little Cabbage in French, till Cordova laughed and pushed him away, +and made a tremendous courtesy to the audience. + +Just then a man in a blue jacket and gilt buttons entered from the +left of the stage and whispered a few words into Schreiermeyer's ear. +The manager looked grave at once, nodded and came forward to the +prompter's box. The man had brought news of the accident, he said; +a quantity of dynamite which was to have been used in subterranean +blasting had exploded and had done great damage, no one yet knew how +great. It was probable that many persons had been killed. + +But for this news, Cordova would have had one of those ovations which +rarely fall to the lot of any but famous singers, for there was not a +man or woman in the theatre who had not felt that she had averted a +catastrophe and saved scores of lives. As it was, several women had +been slightly hurt and at least fifty had fainted. Every one was +anxious to help them now, most of all the very people who had hurt +them. + +But the news of an accident in the city emptied the house in a few +minutes; even now that the lights were up the anxiety to get out +to the street and to know more of the truth was great enough to be +dangerous, and the strong crowd heaved and surged again and pushed +through the many doors with little thought for the weak or for any who +had been injured in the first panic. + +But in the meantime Cordova had reached her dressing-room, supported +by the enthusiastic Schreiermeyer on one side, and by the equally +enthusiastic tenor on the other, while the singular family party +assembled in the last act of _Lucia di Lammermoor_ brought up the rear +with many expressions of admiration and sympathy. + +As a matter of fact the Primadonna needed neither sympathy nor +support, and that sort of admiration was not of the kind that most +delighted her. She did not believe that she had done anything heroic, +and did not feel at all inclined to cry. + +'You saved the whole audience!' cried Signor Pompeo Stromboli, the +great Italian tenor, who presented an amazing appearance in his +Highland dress. 'Four thousand seven hundred and fifty-three people +owe you their lives at this moment! Every one of them would have been +dead but for your superb coolness! Ah, you are indeed a great woman!' + +Schreiermeyer's business ear had caught the figures. As they walked, +each with an arm through one of the Primadonna's, he leaned back and +spoke to Stromboli behind her head. + +'How the devil do you know what the house was?' he asked sharply. + +'I always know,' answered the Italian in a perfectly matter-of-fact +tone. 'My dresser finds out from the box-office. I never take the C +sharp if there are less than three thousand.' + +'I'll stop that!' growled Schreiermeyer. + +'As you please!' Stromboli shrugged his massive shoulders. 'C sharp is +not in the engagement!' + +'It shall be in the next! I won't sign without it!' + +'I won't sign at all!' retorted the tenor with a sneer of superiority. +'You need not talk of conditions, for I shall not come to America +again!' + +'Oh, do stop quarrelling!' laughed Cordova as they reached the door of +her box, for she had heard similar amenities exchanged twenty times +already, and she knew that they meant nothing at all on either side. + +'Have you any beer?' inquired Stromboli of the Primadonna, as if +nothing had happened. + +'Bring some beer, Bob!' Schreiermeyer called out over his shoulder to +some one in the distance. + +'Yes, sir,' answered a rough voice, far off, and with a foreign +accent. + +The three entered the Primadonna's dressing-room together. It was a +hideous place, as all dressing-rooms are which are never used two days +in succession by the same actress or singer; very different from +the pretty cells in the beehive of the Comédie Française where each +pensioner or shareholder is lodged like a queen bee by herself, for +years at a time. + +The walls of Cordova's dressing-room were more or less white-washed +where the plaster had not been damaged. There was a dingy full-length +mirror, a shabby toilet-table; there were a few crazy chairs, the +wretched furniture which is generally to be found in actresses' +dressing-rooms, notwithstanding the marvellous descriptions invented +by romancers. But there was light in abundance and to excess, +dazzling, unshaded, intolerable to any but theatrical eyes. There were +at least twenty strong electric lamps in the miserable place, which +illuminated the coarsely painted faces of the Primadonna and the tenor +with alarming distinctness, and gleamed on Schreiermeyer's smooth fair +hair and beard, and impassive features. + +'You'll have two columns and a portrait in every paper to-morrow,' he +observed thoughtfully. 'It's worth while to engage such people. Oh +yes, damn it, I tell you it's worth while!' + +The last emphatic sentence was intended for Stromboli, as if he had +contradicted the statement, or were himself not 'worth while.' + +'There's beer there already,' said the tenor, seeing a bottle and +glass on a deal table, and making for them at once. + +He undid the patent fastening, stood upright with his sturdy +stockinged legs wide apart, threw his head back, opened his huge +painted mouth to the necessary extent, but not to the full, and +without touching his lips poured the beer into the chasm in a gurgling +stream, which he swallowed without the least apparent difficulty. When +he had taken down half the contents of the small bottle he desisted +and poured the rest into the glass, apparently for Cordova's benefit. + +'I hope I have left you enough,' he said, as he prepared to go. 'My +throat felt like a rusty gun-barrel.' + +'Fright is very bad for the voice,' Schreiermeyer remarked, as the +call-boy handed him another bottle of beer through the open door. + +Stromboli took no notice of the direct imputation. He had taken a very +small and fine handkerchief from his sporran and was carefully tucking +it into his collar with some idea of protecting his throat. When this +was done his admiration for his colleague broke out again without the +slightest warning. + +'You were superb, magnificent, surpassing!' he cried. + +He seized Cordova's chalked hands, pressed them to his own whitened +chin, by sheer force of stage habit, because the red on his lips would +have come off on them, and turned away. + +'Surpassing! Magnificent! What a woman!' he roared in tremendous tones +as he strode away through the dim corridor towards the stage and his +own dressing-room on the other side. + +Meanwhile Schreiermeyer, who was quite as thirsty as the tenor, drank +what the latter had left in the only glass there was, and set the full +bottle beside the latter on the deal table. + +'There is your beer,' he said, calling attention to what he had done. + +Cordova nodded carelessly and sat down on one of the crazy chairs +before the toilet-table. Her maid at once came forward and took off +her wig, and her own beautiful brown hair appeared, pressed and matted +close to her head in a rather disorderly coil. + +'You must be tired,' said the manager, with more consideration than +he often showed to any one whose next engagement was already signed. +'I'll find out how many were killed in the explosion and then I'll +get hold of the reporters. You'll have two columns and a picture +to-morrow.' + +Schreiermeyer rarely took the trouble to say good-morning or +good-night, and Cordova heard the door shut after him as he went out. + +'Lock it,' she said to her maid. 'I'm sure that madman is about the +theatre again.' + +The maid obeyed with alacrity. She was very tall and dark, and +when she had entered Cordova's service two years ago she had been +positively cadaverous. She herself said that her appearance had been +the result of living many years with the celebrated Madame Bonanni, +who was a whirlwind, an earthquake, a phenomenon, a cosmic force. No +one who had lived with her in her stage days had ever grown fat; it +was as much as a very strong constitution could do not to grow thin. + +Madame Bonanni had presented the cadaverous woman to the young +Primadonna as one of the most precious of her possessions, and out of +sheer affection. It was true that since the great singer had closed +her long career and had retired to live in the country, in Provence, +she dressed with such simplicity as made it possible for her to exist +without the long-faithful, all-skilful, and iron-handed Alphonsine; +and the maid, on her side, was so thoroughly a professional theatrical +dresser that she must have died of inanition in what she would have +called private life. Lastly, she had heard that Madame Bonanni had now +given up the semblance, long far from empty, but certainly vain, of a +waist, and dressed herself in a garment resembling a priest's cassock, +buttoned in front from her throat to her toes. + +Alphonsine locked the door, and the Primadonna leaned her elbows on +the sordid toilet-table and stared at her chalked and painted face, +vaguely trying to recognise the features of Margaret Donne, the +daughter of the quiet Oxford scholar, her real self as she had been +two years ago, and by no means very different from her everyday self +now. But it was not easy. Margaret was there, no doubt, behind the +paint and the 'liquid white,' but the reality was what the public +saw beyond the footlights two or three times a week during the opera +season, and applauded with might and main as the most successful lyric +soprano of the day. + +There were moments when she tried to get hold of herself and bring +herself back. They came most often after some great emotion in the +theatre, when the sight of the painted mask in the glass shocked and +disgusted her as it did to-night; when the contrasts of life were +almost more than she could bear, when her sensibilities awoke again, +when the fastidiousness of the delicately nurtured girl revolted under +the rough familiarity of such a comrade as Stromboli, and rebelled +against the sordid cynicism of Schreiermeyer. + +She shuddered at the mere idea that the manager should have thought +she would drink out of the glass he had just used. Even the Italian +peasant, who had been a goatherd in Calabria, and could hardly write +his name, showed more delicacy, according to his lights, which were +certainly not dazzling. A faint ray of Roman civilisation had reached +him through generations of slaves and serfs and shepherds. But no +such traditions of forgotten delicacy disturbed the manners of +Schreiermeyer. The glass from which he had drunk was good enough for +any primadonna in his company, and it was silly for any of them to +give themselves airs. Were they not largely his creatures, fed from +his hand, to work for him while they were young, and to be turned out +as soon as they began to sing false? He was by no means the worst of +his kind, as Margaret knew very well. + +She thought of her childhood, of her mother and of her father, both +dead long before she had gone on the stage; and of that excellent and +kind Mrs. Rushmore, her American mother's American friend, who had +taken her as her own daughter, and had loved her and cared for her, +and had shed tears when Margaret insisted on becoming a singer; who +had fought for her, too, and had recovered for her a small fortune of +which her mother had been cheated. For Margaret would have been more +than well off without her profession, even when she had made her +_début_, and she had given up much to be a singer, believing that she +knew what she was doing. + +But now she was ready to undo it all and to go back; at least she +thought she was, as she stared at herself in the glass while the pale +maid drew her hair back and fastened it far above her forehead with a +big curved comb, as a preliminary to getting rid of paint and powder. +At this stage of the operation the Primadonna was neither Cordova nor +Margaret Donne; there was something terrifying about the exaggeratedly +painted mask when the wig was gone and her natural hair was drawn +tightly back. She thought she was like a monstrous skinned rabbit with +staring brown eyes. + +At first, with the inexperience of youth, she used to plunge her +painted face into soapsuds and scrub vigorously till her own +complexion appeared, a good deal overheated and temporarily shiny; +but before long she had yielded to Alphonsine's entreaties and +representations and had adopted the butter method, long familiar to +chimney-sweeps. + +The butter lay ready; not in a lordly dish, but in a clean tin can +with a cover, of the kind workmen use for fetching beer, and commonly +called a 'growler' in New York, for some reason which escapes +etymologists. + +Having got rid of the upper strata of white lace and fine linen, +artfully done up so as to tremble like aspen leaves with Lucia's mad +trills, Margaret proceeded to butter her face thoroughly. It occurred +to her just then that all the other artists who had appeared with her +were presumably buttering their faces at the same moment, and that if +the public could look in upon them it would be very much surprised +indeed. At the thought she forgot what she had been thinking of and +smiled. + +The maid, who was holding her hair back where it escaped the comb, +smiled too, and evidently considered that the relaxation of Margaret's +buttered features was equivalent to a permission to speak. + +'It was a great triumph for Madame,' she observed. 'All the papers +will praise Madame to-morrow. Madame saved many lives.' + +'Was Mr. Griggs in the house?' Margaret asked. 'I did not see him.' + +Alphonsine did not answer at once, and when she spoke her tone had +changed. + +'Yes, Madame. Mr. Griggs was in the house.' + +Margaret wondered whether she had saved his life too, in his own +estimation or in that of her maid, and while she pondered the question +she buttered her nose industriously. + +Alphonsine took a commercial view of the case. + +'If Madame would appear three times more in New York, before sailing, +the manager would give ten thousand francs a night,' she observed. + +Margaret said nothing to this, but she thought it would be amusing to +show herself to an admiring public in her present condition. + +'Madame is now a heroine,' continued Alphonsine, behind her. 'Madame +can ask anything she pleases. Several milliardaires will now offer to +marry Madame.' + +'Alphonsine,' answered Margaret, 'you have no sense.' + +The maid smiled, knowing that her mistress could not see even the +reflection of the smile in the glass; but she said nothing. + +'No sense,' Margaret repeated, with conviction. 'None at all' + +The maid allowed a few seconds to pass before she spoke again. + +'Or if Madame would accept to sing in one or two private houses in New +York, we could ask a very great price, more than the manager would +give.' + +'I daresay.' + +'It is certain,' said Alphonsine. 'At the French ball to which Madame +kindly allowed me to go, the valet of Mr. Van Torp approached me.' + +'Indeed!' exclaimed Cordova absently. 'How very disagreeable!' + +'I see that Madame is not listening,' said Alphonsine, taking offence. + +What she said was so true that Margaret did not answer at all. +Besides, the buttering process was finished, and it was time for the +hot water. She went to the ugly stationary washstand and bent over it, +while the maid kept her hair from her face. Alphonsine spoke again +when she was sure that her mistress could not possibly answer her. + +'Mr. Van Torp's valet asked me whether I thought Madame would be +willing to sing in church, at the wedding, the day after to-morrow,' +she said, holding the Primadonna's back hair firmly. + +The head moved energetically under her hands. Margaret would certainly +not sing at Mr. Van Torp's wedding, and she even tried to say so, but +her voice only bubbled and sputtered ineffectually through the soap +and water. + +'I was sure Madame would not,' continued the maid, 'though Mr. Van +Torp's valet said that money was no object. He had heard Mr. Van Torp +say that he would give five thousand dollars to have Madame sing at +his wedding.' + +Margaret did not shake her head this time, nor try to speak, but +Alphonsine heard the little impatient tap of her slipper on the wooden +floor. It was not often that the Primadonna showed so much annoyance +at anything; and of late, when she did, the cause had been connected +with this same Mr. Van Torp. The mere mention of his name irritated +her, and Alphonsine seemed to know it, and to take an inexplicable +pleasure in talking about him--about Mr. Rufus Van Torp, formerly of +Chicago, but now of New York. He was looked upon as the controlling +intellect of the great Nickel Trust; in fact, he was the Nickel Trust +himself, and the other men in it were mere dummies compared with him. +He had sailed the uncertain waters of finance for twenty years or +more, and had been nearly shipwrecked more than once, but at the time +of this story he was on the top of the wave; and as his past was even +more entirely a matter of conjecture than his future, it would be +useless to inquire into the former or to speculate about the latter. +Moreover, in these break-neck days no time counts but the present, so +far as reputation goes; good fame itself now resembles righteousness +chiefly because it clothes men as with a garment; and as we have the +highest authority for assuming that charity covers a multitude of +sins, we can hardly be surprised that it should be so generally +used for that purpose. Rufus Van Torp's charities were notorious, +aggressive, and profitable. The same sums of money could not have +bought as much mingled advertisement and immunity in any other way. + +'Of course,' observed Alphonsine, seeing that Margaret would soon be +able to speak again, 'money is no object to Madame either!' + +This subtle flattery was evidently meant to forestall reproof. But +Margaret was now splashing vigorously, and as both taps were running +the noise was as loud as that of a small waterfall; possibly she had +not even heard the maid's last speech. + +Some one knocked at the door, and knocked a second time almost +directly. The Primadonna pushed Alphonsine with her elbow, speaking +being still impossible, and the woman understood that she was to +answer the summons. + +She asked who was knocking, and some one answered. + +'It is Mr. Griggs,' said Alphonsine. + +'Ask him to wait,' Margaret succeeded in saying. + +Alphonsine transmitted the message through the closed door, and +listened for the answer. + +'He says that there is a lady dying in the manager's room, who wants +Madame,' said the maid, repeating what she heard. + +Margaret stood upright, turned quickly, and crossed the room to the +door, mopping her face with a towel. + +'Who is it?' she asked in an anxious tone. + +'I'm Griggs,' said a deep voice. 'Come at once, if you can, for the +poor girl cannot last long.' + +'One minute! Don't go away--I'm coming out.' + +Alphonsine never lost her head. A theatrical dresser who does is of no +use. She had already brought the wide fur coat Margaret always wore +after singing. In ten seconds the singer was completely clothed in +it, and as she laid her hand on the lock to let herself out, the maid +placed a dark Russian hood on her head from behind her and took the +long ends twice round her throat. + +Mr. Griggs was a large bony man with iron-grey hair, who looked very +strong. He had a sad face and deep-set grey eyes. He led the way +without speaking, and Cordova walked quickly after him. Alphonsine did +not follow, for she was responsible for the belongings that lay about +in the dressing-room. The other doors on the women's side, which is on +the stage left and the audience's right at the Opera, were all tightly +closed. The stage itself was not dark yet, and the carpenters were +putting away the scenery of the last act as methodically as if nothing +had happened. + +'Do you know her?' Margaret asked of her companion as they hurried +along the passage that leads into the house. + +'Barely. She is a Miss Bamberger, and she was to have been married the +day after to-morrow, poor thing--to a millionaire. I always forget his +name, though I've met him several times.' + +'Van Torp?' asked Margaret as they hastened on. + +'Yes. That's it--the Nickel Trust man, you know.' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered in a low tone. 'I was asked to sing at the +wedding.' + +They reached the door of the manager's room. The clerks from the +box-office and several other persons employed about the house were +whispering together in the little lobby. They made way for Cordova and +looked with curiosity at Griggs, who was a well-known man of letters. + +Schreiermeyer stood at the half-closed inner door, evidently waiting. + +'Come in,' he said to Margaret. 'The doctor is there.' + +The room was flooded with electric light, and smelt of very strong +Havana cigars and brandy. Margaret saw a slight figure in a red silk +evening gown, lying at full length on an immense red leathern sofa. A +young doctor was kneeling on the floor, bending down to press his ear +against the girl's side; he moved his head continually, listening for +the beating of her heart. Her face was of a type every one knows, and +had a certain half-pathetic prettiness; the features were small, and +the chin was degenerate but delicately modelled. The rather colourless +fair hair was elaborately done; her thin cheeks were dreadfully white, +and her thin neck shrank painfully each time she breathed out, though +it grew smooth and full as she drew in her breath. A short string of +very large pearls was round her throat, and gleamed in the light as +her breathing moved them. + +Schreiermeyer did not let Griggs come in, but went out to him, shut +the door and stood with his back to it. + +Margaret did not look behind her, but crossed directly to the sofa and +leaned over the dying girl, who was conscious and looked at her with +inquiring eyes, not recognising her. + +'You sent for me,' said the singer gently. + +'Are you really Madame Cordova?' asked the girl in a faint tone. + +It was as much as she could do to speak at all, and the doctor looked +up to Margaret and raised his hand in a warning gesture, meaning that +his patient should not be allowed to talk. She saw his movement and +smiled faintly, and shook her head. + +'No one can save me,' she said to him, quite quietly and distinctly. +'Please leave us together, doctor.' + +'I am altogether at a loss,' the doctor answered, speaking to Margaret +as he rose. 'There are no signs of asphyxia, yet the heart does not +respond to stimulants. I've tried nitro-glycerine--' + +'Please, please go away!' begged the girl. + +The doctor was a young surgeon from the nearest hospital, and hated to +leave his case. He was going to argue the point, but Margaret stopped +him. + +'Go into the next room for a moment, please,' she said +authoritatively. + +He obeyed with a bad grace, and went into the empty office which +adjoined the manager's room, but he left the door open. Margaret knelt +down in his place and took the girl's cold white hand. + +'Can he hear?' asked the faint voice. + +'Speak low,' Margaret answered. 'What can I do?' + +'It is a secret,' said the girl. 'The last I shall ever have, but I +must tell some one before I die. I know about you. I know you are a +lady, and very good and kind, and I have always admired you so much!' + +'You can trust me,' said the singer. 'What is the secret I am to keep +for you?' + +'Do you believe in God? I do, but so many people don't nowadays, you +know. Tell me.' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, wondering. 'Yes, I do.' + +'Will you promise, by the God you believe in?' + +'I promise to keep your secret, so help me God in Heaven,' said +Margaret gravely. + +The girl seemed relieved, and closed her eyes for a moment. She was so +pale and still that Margaret thought the end had come, but presently +she drew breath again and spoke, though it was clear that she had not +much strength left. + +'You must not keep the secret always,' she said. 'You may tell him you +know it. Yes--let him know that you know--if you think it best--' + +'Who is he?' + +'Mr. Van Torp.' + +'Yes?' Margaret bent her ear to the girl's lips and waited. + +Again there was a pause of many seconds, and then the voice came +once more, with a great effort that only produced very faint sounds, +scarcely above a whisper. + +'He did it.' + +That was all. At long intervals the dying girl drew deep breaths, +longer and longer, and then no more. Margaret looked anxiously at the +still face for some time, and then straightened herself suddenly. + +'Doctor! Doctor!' she cried. + +The young man was beside her in an instant. For a full minute there +was no sound in the room, and he bent over the motionless figure. + +'I'm afraid I can't do anything,' he said gently, and he rose to his +feet. + +'Is she really dead?' Margaret asked, in an undertone. + +'Yes. Failure of the heart, from shock.' + +'Is that what you will call it?' + +'That is what it is,' said the doctor with a little emphasis of +offence, as if his science had been doubted. 'You knew her, I +suppose?' + +'No. I never saw her before. I will call Schreiermeyer.' + +She stood still a moment longer, looking down at the dead face, and +she wondered what it all meant, and why the poor girl had sent for +her, and what it was that Mr. Van Torp had done. Then she turned very +slowly and went out. + +'Dead, I suppose,' said Schreiermeyer as soon as he saw the +Primadonna's face. 'Her relations won't get here in time.' + +Margaret nodded in silence and went on through the lobby. + +'The rehearsal is at eleven,' the manager called out after her, in his +wooden voice. + +She nodded again, but did not look back. Griggs had waited in order +to take her back to her dressing-room, and the two crossed the stage +together. It was almost quite dark now, and the carpenters were gone +away. + +'Thank you,' Margaret said. 'If you don't care to go all the way back +you can get out by the stage door.' + +'Yes. I know the way in this theatre. Before I say good-night, do you +mind telling me what the doctor said?' + +'He said she died of failure of the heart, from shock. Those were his +words. Why do you ask?' + +'Mere curiosity. I helped to carry her--that is, I carried her myself +to the manager's room, and she begged me to call you, so I came to +your door.' + +'It was kind of you. Perhaps it made a difference to her, poor girl. +Good-night.' + +'Good-night. When do you sail?' + +'On Saturday. I sing "Juliet" on Friday night and sail the next +morning.' + +'On the _Leofric_?' + +'Yes.' + +'So do I. We shall cross together.' + +'How delightful! I'm so glad! Good-night again.' + +Alphonsine was standing at the open door of the dressing-room in the +bright light, and Margaret nodded and went in. The maid looked after +the elderly man till he finally disappeared, and then she went in too +and locked the door after her. + +Griggs walked home in the bitter March weather. When he was in New +York, he lived in rooms on the second floor of an old business +building not far from Fifth Avenue. He was quite alone in the house at +night, and had to walk up the stairs by the help of a little electric +pocket-lantern he carried. He let himself into his own door, turned +up the light, slipped off his overcoat and gloves, and went to the +writing-table to get his pipe. That is very often the first thing a +man does when he gets home at night. + +The old briar pipe he preferred to any other lay on the blotting-paper +in the circle where the light was brightest. As he took it a stain on +his right hand caught his eye, and he dropped the pipe to look at +it. The blood was dark and was quite dry, and he could not find any +scratch to account for it. It was on the inner side of his right hand, +between the thumb and forefinger, and was no larger than an ordinary +watch. + +'How very odd!' exclaimed Mr. Griggs aloud; and he turned his hand +this way and that under the electric lamp, looking for some small +wound which he supposed must have bled. There was a little more inside +his fingers, and between them, as if it had oozed through and then had +spread over his knuckles. + +But he could find nothing to account for it. He was an elderly man who +had lived all over the world and had seen most things, and he was not +easily surprised, but he was puzzled now. Not the least strange thing +was that the stain should be as small as it was and yet so dark. He +crossed the room again and examined the front of his overcoat with the +most minute attention. It was made of a dark frieze, almost black, +on which a red stain would have shown very little; but after a very +careful search Griggs was convinced that the blood which had stained +his hand had not touched the cloth. + +He went into his dressing-room and looked at his face in his +shaving-glass, but there was certainly no stain on the weather-beaten +cheeks or the furrowed forehead. + +'How very odd!' he exclaimed a second time. + +He washed his hands slowly and carefully, examining them again and +again, for he thought it barely possible that the skin might have been +cracked somewhere by the cutting March wind, and might have bled a +little, but he could not find the least sign of such a thing. + +When he was finally convinced that he could not account for the stain +he had now washed off, he filled his old pipe thoughtfully and sat +down in a big shabby arm-chair beside the table to think over other +questions more easy of solution. For he was a philosophical man, and +when he could not understand a matter he was able to put it away in a +safe place, to be kept until he got more information about it. + +The next morning, amidst the flamboyant accounts of the subterranean +explosion, and of the heroic conduct of Madame Margarita da Cordova, +the famous Primadonna, in checking a dangerous panic at the Opera, +all the papers found room for a long paragraph about Miss Ida H. +Bamberger, who had died at the theatre in consequence of the shock +her nerves had received, and who was to have married the celebrated +capitalist and philanthropist, Mr. Van Torp, only two days later. +There were various dramatic and heart-rending accounts of her death, +and most of them agreed that she had breathed her last amidst her +nearest and dearest, who had been with her all the evening. + +But Mr. Griggs read these paragraphs thoughtfully, for he remembered +that he had found her lying in a heap behind a red baize door which +his memory could easily identify. + +After all, the least misleading notice was the one in the column of +deaths:-- + +BAMBERGER.--On Wednesday, of heart-failure from shock, IDA HAMILTON, +only child of HANNAH MOON by her former marriage with ISIDORE +BAMBERGER. California papers please copy. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +In the lives of professionals, whatever their profession may be, the +ordinary work of the day makes very little impression on the memory, +whereas a very strong and lasting one is often made by circumstances +which a man of leisure or a woman of the world might barely notice, +and would soon forget. In Margaret's life there were but two sorts of +days, those on which she was to sing and those on which she was at +liberty. In the one case she had a cutlet at five o'clock, and supper +when she came home; in the other, she dined like other people and went +to bed early. At the end of a season in New York, the evenings on +which she had sung all seemed to have been exactly alike; the people +had always applauded at the same places, she had always been called +out about the same number of times, she had always felt very much +the same pleasure and satisfaction, and she had invariably eaten her +supper with the same appetite. Actors lead far more emotional lives +than singers, partly because they have the excitement of a new piece +much more often, with the tremendous nervous strain of a first night, +and largely because they are not obliged to keep themselves in such +perfect training. To an actor a cold, an indigestion, or a headache +is doubtless an annoyance; but to a leading singer such an accident +almost always means the impossibility of appearing at all, with +serious loss of money to the artist, and grave disappointment to the +public. The result of all this is that singers, as a rule, are much +more normal, healthy, and well-balanced people than other musicians, +or than actors. Moreover they generally have very strong bodies and +constitutions to begin with, and when they have not they break down +young. + +Paul Griggs had an old traveller's preference for having plenty of +time, and he was on board the steamer on Saturday a full hour before +she was to sail; his not very numerous belongings, which looked as +weather-beaten as himself, were piled up unopened in his cabin, and he +himself stood on the upper promenade deck watching the passengers as +they came on board. He was an observant man, and it interested him to +note the expression of each new face that appeared; for the fact +of starting on a voyage across the ocean is apt to affect people +inversely as their experience. Those who cross often look so +unconcerned that a casual observer might think they were not to start +at all, whereas those who are going for the first time are either +visibly flurried, or are posing to look as if they were not, though +they are intensely nervous about their belongings; or they try to +appear as if they belonged to the ship, or else as if the ship +belonged to them, making observations which are supposed to be +nautical, but which instantly stamp them as unutterable land-lubbers +in the shrewd estimation of the stewards; and the latter, as every old +hand is aware, always know everything much better than the captain. + +Margaret Donne had been the most sensible and simple of young girls, +and when she appeared at the gangway very quietly dressed in brown, +with a brown fur collar, a brown hat, a brown veil, and a brown +parasol, there was really nothing striking to distinguish her from +other female passengers, except her good looks and her well-set-up +figure. Yet somehow it seems impossible for a successful primadonna +ever to escape notice. Instead of one maid, for instance, Cordova had +two, and they carried rather worn leathern boxes that were evidently +heavy jewel-cases, which they clutched with both hands and refused to +give up to the stewards. They also had about them the indescribable +air of rather aggressive assurance which belongs especially to +highly-paid servants, men and women. Their looks said to every one: +'We are the show and you are the public, so don't stand in the way, +for if you do the performance cannot go on!' They gave their orders +about their mistress's things to the chief steward as if he were +nothing better than a railway porter or a call-boy at the theatre; +and, strange to say, that exalted capitalist obeyed with a docility he +would certainly not have shown to any other passenger less than royal. +They knew their way everywhere, they knew exactly what the best of +everything was, and they made it clear that the great singer would +have nothing less than the very, very best. She had the best cabin +already, and she was to have the best seat at table, the best steward +and the best stewardess, and her deck-chair was to be always in the +best place on the upper promenade deck; and there was to be no mistake +about it; and if anybody questioned the right of Margarita da Cordova, +the great lyric soprano, to absolute precedence during the whole +voyage, from start to finish, her two maids would know the reason why, +and make the captain and all the ship's company wish they were dead. + +That was their attitude. + +But this was not all. There were the colleagues who came to see +Margaret off and wished that they were going too. In spite of the +windy weather there was Signor Pompeo Stromboli, the tenor, as broad +as any two ordinary men, in a fur coat of the most terribly expensive +sort, bringing an enormous box of chocolates with his best wishes; and +there was the great German dramatic barytone, Herr Tiefenbach, who +sang 'Amfortas' better than any one, and was a true musician as well +as a man of culture, and he brought Margaret a book which he insisted +that she must read on the voyage, called _The Genesis of the Tone +Epos_; and there was that excellent and useful little artist, Fräulein +Ottilie Braun, who never had an enemy in her life, who was always +ready to sing any part creditably at a moment's notice if one of the +leading artists broke down, and who was altogether one of the best, +kindest, and least conceited human beings that ever joined an opera +company. She brought her great colleague a little bunch of violets. + +Least expected of them all, there was Schreiermeyer, with a basket +of grape fruit in his tightly-gloved podgy hands; and he was smiling +cheerfully, which was an event in itself. They followed Margaret up to +the promenade deck after her maids had gone below, and stood round her +in a group, all talking at once in different languages. + +Griggs chanced to be the only other passenger on that part of the deck +and he joined the party, for he knew them all. Margaret gave him her +hand quietly and nodded to him. Signor Stromboli was effusive in his +greeting; Herr Tiefenbach gave him a solemn grip; little Fräulein +Ottilie smiled pleasantly, and Schreiermeyer put into his hands the +basket he carried, judging that as he could not get anything else out +of the literary man he could at least make him carry a parcel. + +'Grape fruit for Cordova,' he observed. 'You can give it to the +steward, and tell him to keep the things in a cool place.' + +Griggs took the basket with a slight smile, but Stromboli snatched it +from him instantly, and managed at the same time to seize upon the +book Herr Tiefenbach had brought without dropping his own big box of +sweetmeats. + +'I shall give everything to the waiter!' he cried with exuberant +energy as he turned away. 'He shall take care of Cordova with his +conscience! I tell you, I will frighten him!' + +This was possible, and even probable. Margaret looked after the broad +figure. + +'Dear old Stromboli!' she laughed. + +'He has the kindest heart in the world,' said little Fräulein Ottilie +Braun. + +'He is no a musician,' observed Herr Tiefenbach; 'but he does not sing +out of tune.' + +'He is a lunatic,' said Schreiermeyer gravely. 'All tenors are +lunatics--except about money,' he added thoughtfully. + +'I think Stromboli is very sensible,' said Margaret, turning to +Griggs. 'He brings his little Calabrian wife and her baby out with +him, and they take a small house for the winter and Italian servants, +and live just as if they were in their own country and see only their +Italian friends--instead of being utterly wretched in a horrible +hotel.' + +'For the modest consideration of a hundred dollars a day,' put in +Griggs, who was a poor man. + +'I wish my bills were never more than that!' Margaret laughed. + +'Yes,' said Schreiermeyer, still thoughtful. 'Stromboli understands +money. He is a man of business. He makes his wife cook for him.' + +'I often cook for myself,' said Fräulein Ottilie quite simply. 'If I +had a husband, I would cook for him too!' She laughed like a child, +without the slightest sourness. 'It is easier to cook well than to +marry at all, even badly!' + +'I do not at all agree with you,' answered Herr Tiefenbach severely. +'Without flattering myself, I may say that my wife married well; but +her potato dumplings are terrifying.' + +'You were never married, were you?' Margaret asked, turning to Griggs +with a smile. + +'No,' he answered. 'Can you make potato dumplings, and are you in +search of a husband?' + +'It is the other way,' said Schreiermeyer, 'for the husbands are +always after her. Talking of marriage, that girl who died the other +night was to have been married to Mr. Van Torp yesterday, and they +were to have sailed with you this morning.' + +'I saw his name on the--' Schreiermeyer began, but he was interrupted +by a tremendous blast from the ship's horn, the first warning for +non-passengers to go ashore. + +Before the noise stopped Stromboli appeared again, looking very much +pleased with himself, and twisting up the short black moustache that +was quite lost on his big face. When he was nearer he desisted from +twirling, shook a fat forefinger at Margaret and laughed. + +'Oh, well, then,' he cried, translating his Italian literally into +English, 'I've been in your room, Miss Cordova! Who is this Tom, eh? +Flowers from Tom, one! Sweets from Tom, two! A telegram from Tom, +three! Tom, Tom, Tom; it is full of Tom, her room! In the end, what +is this Tom? For me, I only know Tom the ruffian in the _Ballo in +Maschera_. That is all the Tom I know!' + +They all looked at Margaret and laughed. She blushed a little, more +out of annoyance than from any other reason. + +'The maids wished to put me out,' laughed Stromboli, 'but they could +not, because I am big. So I read everything. If I tell you I read, +what harm is there?' + +'None whatever,' Margaret answered, 'except that it is bad manners to +open other people's telegrams.' + +'Oh, that! The maid had opened it with water, and was reading when I +came. So I read too! You shall find it all well sealed again, have no +fear! They all do so.' + +'Pleasant journey,' said Schreiermeyer abruptly. 'I'm going ashore. +I'll see you in Paris in three weeks.' + +'Read the book,' said Herr Tiefenbach earnestly, as he shook hands. +'It is a deep book.' + +'Do not forget me!' cried Stromboli sentimentally, and he kissed +Margaret's gloves several times. + +'Good-bye,' said Fräulein Ottilie. 'Every one is sorry when you go!' + +Margaret was not a gushing person, but she stooped and kissed the +cheerful little woman, and pressed her small hand affectionately. + +'And everybody is glad when you come, my dear,' she said. + +For Fräulein Ottilie was perhaps the only person in the company whom +Cordova really liked, and who did not jar dreadfully on her at one +time or another. + +Another blast from the horn and they were all gone, leaving her and +Griggs standing by the rail on the upper promenade deck. The little +party gathered again on the pier when they had crossed the plank, and +made farewell signals to the two, and then disappeared. Unconsciously +Margaret gave a little sigh of relief, and Griggs noticed it, as he +noticed most things, but said nothing. + +There was silence for a while, and the gangplank was still in place +when the horn blew a third time, longer than before. + +'How very odd!' exclaimed Griggs, a moment after the sound had ceased. + +'What is odd?' Margaret asked. + +She saw that he was looking down, and her eyes followed his. A +square-shouldered man in mourning was walking up the plank in a +leisurely way, followed by a well-dressed English valet, who carried a +despatch-box in a leathern case. + +'It's not possible!' Margaret whispered in great surprise. + +'Perfectly possible,' Griggs answered, in a low voice. 'That is Rufus +Van Torp.' + +Margaret drew back from the rail, though the new comer was already out +of sight on the lower promenade deck, to which the plank was laid to +suit the height of the tide. She moved away from the door of the first +cabin companion. + +Griggs went with her, supposing that she wished to walk up and down. +Numbers of other passengers were strolling about on the side next to +the pier, waiting to see the start. Margaret went on forward, turned +the deck-house and walked to the rail on the opposite side, where +there was no one. Griggs glanced at her face and thought that she +seemed disturbed. She looked straight before her at the closed iron +doors of the next pier, at which no ship was lying. + +'I wish I knew you better,' she said suddenly. + +Griggs looked at her quietly. It did not occur to him to make a +trivial and complimentary answer to this advance, such as most men of +the world would have made, even at his age. + +'I shall be very glad if we ever know each other better,' he said +after a short pause. + +'So shall I.' + +She leaned upon the rail and looked down at the eddying water. The +tide had turned and was beginning to go out. Griggs watched her +handsome profile in silence for a time. + +'You have not many intimate friends, have you?' she asked presently. + +'No, only one or two.' + +She smiled. + +'I'm not trying to get confidences from you. But really, that is very +vague. You must surely know whether you have only one, or whether +there is another. I'm not suggesting myself as a third, either!' + +'Perhaps I'm over-cautious,' Griggs said. 'It does not matter. You +began by saying that you wished you knew me better. You meant that +if you did, you would either tell me something which you don't tell +everybody, or you would come to me for advice about something, or you +would ask me to do something for you. Is that it?' + +'I suppose so.' + +'It was not very hard to guess. I'll answer the three cases. If you +want to tell me a secret, don't. If you want advice without telling +everything about the case, it will be worthless. But if there is +anything I can do for you, I'll do it if I can, and I won't ask any +questions.' + +'That's kind and sensible,' Margaret answered. 'And I should not be in +the least afraid to tell you anything. You would not repeat it.' + +'No, certainly not. But some day, unless we became real friends, you +would think that I might, and then you would be very sorry.' + +A short pause followed. + +'We are moving,' Margaret said, glancing at the iron doors again. + +'Yes, we are off.' + +There was another pause. Then Margaret stood upright and turned her +face to her companion. She did not remember that she had ever looked +steadily into his eyes since she had known him. + +They were grey and rather deeply set under grizzled eyebrows that +were growing thick and rough with advancing years, and they met hers +quietly. She knew at once that she could bear their scrutiny for any +length of time without blushing or feeling nervous, though there was +something in them that was stronger than she. + +'It's this,' she said at last, as if she had been talking and had +reached a conclusion. 'I'm alone, and I'm a little frightened.' + +'You?' Griggs smiled rather incredulously. + +'Yes. Of course I'm used to travelling without any one and taking care +of myself. Singers and actresses are just like men in that, and it did +not occur to me this morning that this trip could be different from +any other.' + +'No. Why should it be so different? I don't understand.' + +'You said you would do something for me without asking questions. Will +you?' + +'If I can.' + +'Keep Mr. Van Torp away from me during the voyage. I mean, as much +as you can without being openly rude. Have my chair put next to some +other woman's and your own on my other side. Do you mind doing that?' + +Griggs smiled. + +'No,' he said, 'I don't mind.' + +'And if I am walking on deck and he joins me, come and walk beside me +too. Will you? Are you quite sure you don't mind?' + +'Yes.' He was still smiling. 'I'm quite certain that I don't dislike +the idea.' + +'I wish I were sure of being seasick,' Margaret said thoughtfully. +'It's bad for the voice, but it would be a great resource.' + +'As a resource, I shall try to be a good substitute for it,' said +Griggs. + +Margaret realised what she had said and laughed. + +'But it is no laughing matter,' she answered, her face growing grave +again after a moment. + +Griggs had promised not to ask questions, and he expressed no +curiosity. + +'As soon as you go below I'll see about the chair,' he said. + +'My cabin is on this deck,' Margaret answered. 'I believe I have a +tiny little sitting-room, too. It's what they call a suite in their +magnificent language, and the photographs in the advertisements make +it look like a palatial apartment!' + +She left the rail as she spoke, and found her own door on the same +side of the ship, not very far away. + +'Here it is,' she said. 'Thank you very much.' + +She looked into his eyes again for an instant and went in. + +She had forgotten Signor Stromboli and what he had said, for her +thoughts had been busy with a graver matter, but she smiled when she +saw the big bunch of dark red carnations in a water-jug on the table, +and the little cylinder-shaped parcel which certainly contained a +dozen little boxes of the chocolate 'oublies' she liked, and the +telegram, with its impersonal-looking address, waiting to be opened by +her after having been opened, read, and sealed again by her thoughtful +maids. Such trifles as the latter circumstance did not disturb her in +the least, for though she was only a young woman of four and twenty, +a singer and a musician, she had a philosophical mind, and considered +that if virtue has nothing to do with the greatness of princes, moral +worth need not be a clever lady's-maid's strong point. + +'Tom' was her old friend Edmund Lushington, one of the most +distinguished of the younger writers of the day. He was the only son +of the celebrated soprano, Madame Bonanni, now retired from the stage, +by her marriage with an English gentleman of the name of Goodyear, and +he had been christened Thomas. But his mother had got his name and +surname legally changed when he was a child, thinking that it would be +a disadvantage to him to be known as her son, as indeed it might have +been at first; even now the world did not know the truth about his +birth, but it would not have cared, since he had won his own way. + +Margaret meant to marry him if she married at all, for he had been +faithful in his devotion to her nearly three years; and his rivalry +with Constantine Logotheti, her other serious adorer, had brought some +complications into her life. But on mature reflection she was sure +that she did not wish to marry any one for the present. So many of +her fellow-singers had married young and married often, evidently +following the advice of a great American humorist, and mostly with +disastrous consequences, that Margaret preferred to be an exception, +and to marry late if at all. + +In the glaring light of the twentieth century it at last clearly +appears that marriageable young women have always looked upon marriage +as the chief means of escape from the abject slavery and humiliating +dependence hitherto imposed upon virgins between fifteen and fifty +years old. Shakespeare lacked the courage to write the 'Seven Ages of +Woman,' a matter the more to be regretted as no other writer has ever +possessed enough command of the English language to describe more than +three out of the seven without giving offence: namely, youth, which +lasts from sixteen to twenty; perfection, which begins at twenty and +lasts till further notice; and old age, which women generally place +beyond seventy, though some, whose strength is not all sorrow and +weakness even then, do not reach it till much later. If Shakespeare +had dared he would have described with poetic fire the age of the girl +who never marries. But this is a digression. The point is that the +truth about marriage is out, since the modern spinster has shown the +sisterhood how to live, and an amazing number of women look upon +wedlock as a foolish thing, vainly imagined, never necessary, and +rarely amusing. + +The state of perpetual unsanctified virginity, however, is not for +poor girls, nor for operatic singers, nor for kings' daughters, none +of whom, for various reasons, can live, or are allowed to live, +without husbands. Unless she be a hunchback, an unmarried royal +princess is almost as great an exception as a white raven or a cat +without a tail; a primadonna without a husband alive, dead, or +divorced, is hardly more common; and poor girls marry to live. But +give a modern young woman a decent social position, with enough money +for her wants and an average dose of assurance, and she becomes so +fastidious in the choice of a mate that no man is good enough for +her till she is too old to be good enough for any man. Even then the +chances are that she will not deeply regret her lost opportunities, +and though her married friends will tell her that she has made a +mistake, half of them will envy her in secret, the other half will not +pity her much, and all will ask her to their dinner-parties, because a +woman without a husband is such a convenience. + +In respect to her art Margarita da Cordova was in all ways a thorough +artist, endowed with the gifts, animated by the feelings, and +afflicted with the failings that usually make up an artistic nature. +But Margaret Donne was a sound and healthy English girl who had been +brought up in the right way by a very refined and cultivated father +and mother who loved her devotedly. If they had lived she would not +have gone upon the stage; for as her mother's friend Mrs. Rushmore had +often told her, the mere thought of such a life for their daughter +would have broken their hearts. She was a grown woman now, and high +on the wave of increasing success and celebrity, but she still had +a childish misgiving that she had disobeyed her parents and done +something very wrong, just as when she had surreptitiously got into +the jam cupboard at the age of five. + +Yet there are old-fashioned people alive even now who might think that +there was less harm in becoming a public singer than in keeping Edmund +Lushington dangling on a string for two years and more. Those things +are matters of opinion. Margaret would have answered that if he +dangled it was his misfortune and not her fault, since she never, in +her own opinion, had done anything to keep him, and would not have +been broken-hearted if he had gone away, though she would have missed +his friendship very much. Of the two, the man who had disturbed her +maiden peace of mind was Logotheti, whom she feared and sometimes +hated, but who had an inexplicable power over her when they met: the +sort of fateful influence which honest Britons commonly ascribe to all +foreigners with black hair, good teeth, diamond studs, and the other +outward signs of wickedness. Twice, at least, Logotheti had behaved in +a manner positively alarming, and on the second occasion he had very +nearly succeeded in carrying her off bodily from the theatre to +his yacht, a fate from which Lushington and his mother had been +instrumental in saving her. Such doings were shockingly lawless, but +they showed a degree of recklessly passionate admiration which was +flattering from a young financier who was so popular with women that +he found it infinitely easier to please than to be pleased. + +Perhaps, if Logotheti could have put on a little Anglo-Saxon coolness, +Margaret might have married him by this time. Perhaps she would have +married Lushington, if he could have suddenly been animated by a +little Greek fire. As things stood, she told herself that she did not +care to take a man who meant to be not only her master but her tyrant, +nor one who seemed more inclined to be her slave than her master. + +Meanwhile, however, it was the Englishman who kept himself constantly +in mind with her by an unbroken chain of small attentions that often +made her smile but sometimes really touched her. Any one could cable +'Pleasant voyage,' and sign the telegram 'Tom,' which gave it a +friendly and encouraging look, because somehow 'Tom' is a cheerful, +plucky little name, very unlike 'Edmund.' But it was quite another +matter, being in England, to take the trouble to have carnations of +just the right shade fresh on her cabin table at the moment of her +sailing from New York, and beside them the only sort of chocolates she +liked. That was more than a message, it was a visit, a presence, a +real reaching out of hand to hand. + +Logotheti, on the contrary, behaved as if he had forgotten Margaret's +existence as soon as he was out of her sight; and they now no longer +met often, but when they did he had a way of taking up the thread as +if there had been no interval, which was almost as effective as his +rival's method; for it produced the impression that he had been +thinking of her only, and of nothing else in the world since the last +meeting, and could never again give a thought to any other woman. This +also was flattering. He never wrote to her, he never telegraphed good +wishes for a journey or a performance, he never sent her so much as a +flower; he acted as if he were really trying to forget her, as perhaps +he was. But when they met, he was no sooner in the same room with her +than she felt the old disturbing influence she feared and yet +somehow desired in spite of herself, and much as she preferred the +companionship of Lushington and liked his loyal straightforward ways, +and admired his great talent, she felt that he paled and seemed less +interesting beside the vivid personality of the Greek financier. + +He was vivid; no other word expresses what he was, and if that one +cannot properly be applied to a man, so much the worse for our +language. His colouring was too handsome, his clothes were too good, +his shoes were too shiny, his ties too surprising, and he not only +wore diamonds and rubies, but very valuable ones. Yet he was not +vulgarly gorgeous; he was Oriental. No one would say that a Chinese +idol covered with gold and precious stones was overdressed, but it +would be out of place in a Scotch kirk; the minister would be thrown +into the shade and the congregation would look at the idol. In +society, which nowadays is far from a chiaroscuro, everybody looked at +Logotheti. If he had come from any place nearer than Constantinople +people would have smiled and perhaps laughed at him; as it was, he was +an exotic, and besides, he had the reputation of being dangerous to +women's peace, and extremely awkward to meddle with in a quarrel. + +Margaret sat some time in her little sitting-room reflecting on these +things, for she knew that before many days were past she must meet +her two adorers; and when she had thought enough about both, she gave +orders to her maids about arranging her belongings. By and by she went +to luncheon and found herself alone at some distance from the other +passengers, next to the captain's empty seat; but she was rather glad +that her neighbours had not come to table, for she got what she wanted +very quickly and had no reason for waiting after she had finished. + +Then she took a book and went on deck again, and Alphonsine found her +chair on the sunny side and installed her in it very comfortably and +covered her up, and to her own surprise she felt that she was very +sleepy; so that just as she was wondering why, she dozed off and began +to dream that she was Isolde, on board of Tristan's ship, and that she +was singing the part, though she had never sung it and probably never +would. + +When she opened her eyes again there was no land in sight, and the big +steamer was going quietly with scarcely any roll. She looked aft and +saw Paul Griggs leaning against the rail, smoking; and she turned her +head the other way, and the chair next to her own on that side was +occupied by a very pleasant-looking young woman who was sitting up +straight and showing the pictures in a book to a beautiful little girl +who stood beside her. + +The lady had a very quiet healthy face and smooth brown hair, and was +simply and sensibly dressed. Margaret at once decided that she was not +the child's mother, nor an elder sister, but some one who had charge +of her, though not exactly a governess. The child was about nine years +old; she had a quantity of golden hair that waved naturally, and a +spiritual face with deep violet eyes, a broad white forehead and a +pathetic little mouth. + +She examined each picture, and then looked up quickly at the lady, +keeping her wide eyes fixed on the latter's face with an expression of +watchful interest. The lady explained each picture to her, but in such +a soft whisper that Margaret could not hear a sound. Yet the child +evidently understood every word easily. It was natural to suppose that +the lady spoke under her breath in order not to disturb Margaret while +she was asleep. + +'It is very kind of you to whisper,' said the Primadonna graciously, +'but I am awake now.' + +The lady turned with a pleasant smile. + +'Thank you,' she answered. + +The child did not notice Margaret's little speech, but looked up from +the book for the explanation of the next picture. + +'It is the inside of the Colosseum in Rome, and you will see it +before long,' said the lady very distinctly. 'I have told you how the +gladiators fought there, and how Saint Ignatius was sent all the way +from Antioch to be devoured by lions there, like many other martyrs.' + +The little girl watched her face intently, nodded gravely, and looked +down at the picture again, but said nothing. The lady turned to +Margaret. + +'She was born deaf and dumb,' she said quietly, 'but I have taught her +to understand from the lips, and she can already speak quite well. She +is very clever.' + +'Poor little thing!' Margaret looked at the girl with increasing +interest. 'Such a little beauty, too! What is her name?' + +'Ida--' + +The child had turned over the pages to another picture, and now looked +up for the explanation of it. Griggs had finished his cigar and came +and sat down on Margaret's other side. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +The _Leofric_ was three days out, and therefore half-way over the +ocean, for she was a fast boat, but so far Griggs had not been called +upon to hinder Mr. Van Torp from annoying Margaret. Mr. Van Torp had +not been on deck; in fact, he had not been seen at all since he had +disappeared into his cabin a quarter of an hour before the steamer had +left the pier. There was a good deal of curiosity about him amongst +the passengers, as there would have been about the famous Primadonna +if she had not come punctually to every meal, and if she had not been +equally regular in spending a certain number of hours on deck every +day. + +At first every one was anxious to have what people call a 'good look' +at her, because all the usual legends were already repeated about her +wherever she went. It was said that she was really an ugly woman of +thirty-five who had been married to a Spanish count of twice that +age, and that he had died leaving her penniless, so that she had been +obliged to support herself by singing. Others were equally sure that +she was a beautiful escaped nun, who had been forced to take the veil +in a convent in Seville by cruel parents, but who had succeeded in +getting herself carried off by a Polish nobleman disguised as a +priest. Every one remembered the marvellous voice that used to sing so +high above all the other nuns, behind the lattice on Sunday afternoons +at the church of the Dominican Convent. That had been the voice of +Margarita da Cordova, and she could never go back to Spain, for if she +did the Inquisition would seize upon her, and she would be tortured +and probably burnt alive to encourage the other nuns. + +This was very romantic, but unfortunately there was a man who said he +knew the plain truth about her, and that she was just a good-looking +Irish girl whose father used to play the flute at a theatre in Dublin, +and whose mother kept a sweetshop in Queen Street. The man who knew +this had often seen the shop, which was conclusive. + +Margaret showed herself daily and the myths lost value, for every +one saw that she was neither an escaped Spanish nun nor the gifted +offspring of a Dublin flute-player and a female retailer of +bull's-eyes and butterscotch, but just a handsome, healthy, +well-brought-up young Englishwoman, who called herself Miss Donne in +private life. + +But gossip, finding no hold upon her, turned and rent Mr. Van Torp, +who dwelt within his tent like Achilles, but whether brooding or +sea-sick no one was ever to know. The difference of opinion about him +was amazing. Some said he had no heart, since he had not even waited +for the funeral of the poor girl who was to have been his wife. +Others, on the contrary, said that he was broken-hearted, and that +his doctor had insisted upon his going abroad at once, doubtless +considering, as the best practitioners often do, that it is wisest +to send a patient who is in a dangerous condition to distant shores, +where some other doctor will get the credit of having killed him or +driven him mad. Some said that Mr. Van Torp was concerned in the +affair of that Chinese loan, which of course explained why he was +forced to go to Europe in spite of the dreadful misfortune that had +happened to him. The man who knew everything hinted darkly that Mr. +Van Torp was not really solvent, and that he had perhaps left the +country just at the right moment. + +'That is nonsense,' said Miss More to Margaret in an undertone, for +they had both heard what had just been said. + +Miss More was the lady in charge of the pretty deaf child, and the +latter was curled up in the next chair with a little piece of crochet +work. Margaret had soon found out that Miss More was a very nice +woman, after her own taste, who was given neither to flattery nor to +prying, the two faults from which celebrities are generally made to +suffer most by fellow-travellers who make their acquaintance. Miss +More was evidently delighted to find herself placed on deck next to +the famous singer, and Margaret was so well satisfied that the deck +steward had already received a preliminary tip, with instructions to +keep the chairs together during the voyage. + +'Yes,' said Margaret, in answer to Miss More's remark. 'I don't +believe there is the least reason for thinking that Mr. Van Torp is +not immensely rich. Do you know him?' + +'Yes.' + +Miss More did not seem inclined to enlarge upon the fact, and her face +was thoughtful after she had said the one word; so was Margaret's tone +when she answered: + +'So do I.' + +Each of the young women understood that the other did not care to +talk of Mr. Van Torp. Margaret glanced sideways at her neighbour and +wondered vaguely whether the latter's experience had been at all like +her own, but she could not see anything to make her think so. Miss +More had a singularly pleasant expression and a face that made one +trust her at once, but she was far from beautiful, and would hardly +pass for pretty beside such a good-looking woman as Margaret, who +after all was not what people call an out-and-out beauty. It was odd +that the quiet lady-like teacher should have answered monosyllabically +in that tone. She felt Margaret's sidelong look of inquiry, and turned +half round after glancing at little Ida, who was very busy with her +crochet. + +'I'm afraid you may have misunderstood me,' she said, smiling. 'If I +did not say any more it is because he himself does not wish people to +talk of what he does.' + +'I assure you, I'm not curious,' Margaret answered, smiling too. 'I'm +sorry if I looked as if I were.' + +'No--you misunderstood me, and it was a little my fault. Mr. Van Torp +is doing something very, very kind which it was impossible that I +should not know of, and he has asked me not to tell any one.' + +'I see,' Margaret answered. 'Thank you for telling me. I am glad to +know that he--' + +She checked herself. She detested and feared the man, for reasons of +her own, and she found it hard to believe that he could do something +'very, very kind' and yet not wish it to be known. He did not strike +her as being the kind of person who would go out of his way to hide +his light under a bushel. Yet Miss More's tone had been quiet and +earnest. Perhaps he had employed her to teach some poor deaf and dumb +child, like little Ida. Her words seemed to imply this, for she had +said that it had been impossible that she should not know; that is, +he had been forced to ask her advice or help, and her help and advice +could only be considered indispensable where her profession as a +teacher of the deaf and dumb was concerned. + +Miss More was too discreet to ask the question which Margaret's +unfinished sentence suggested, but she would not let the speech pass +quite unanswered. + +'He is often misjudged,' she said. 'In business he may be what many +people say he is. I don't understand business! But I have known him to +help people who needed help badly and who never guessed that he even +knew their names.' + +'You must be right,' Margaret answered. + +She remembered the last words of the girl who had died in the +manager's room at the theatre. There had been a secret. The secret +was that Mr. Van Torp had done the thing, whatever it was. She had +probably not known what she was saying, but it had been on her mind to +say that Mr. Van Torp had done it, the man she was to have married. +Margaret's first impression had been that the thing done must have +been something very bad, because she herself disliked the man so +much; but Miss More knew him, and since he often did 'very, very kind +things,' it was possible that the particular action of which the dying +girl was thinking might have been a charitable one; possibly he had +confided the secret to her. Margaret smiled rather cruelly at her own +superior knowledge of the world--yes, he had told the girl about that +'secret' charity in order to make a good impression on her! Perhaps +that was his favourite method of interesting women; if it was, he +had not invented it. Margaret thought she could have told Miss More +something which would have thrown another light on Mr. Van Torp's +character. + +Her reflections had led her back to the painful scene at the theatre, +and she remembered the account of it the next day, and the fact that +the girl's name had been Ida. To change the subject she asked her +neighbour an idle question. + +'What is the little girl's full name?' she inquired. + +'Ida Moon,' answered Miss More. + +'Moon?' Margaret turned her head sharply. 'May I ask if she is any +relation of the California Senator who died last year?' + +'She is his daughter,' said Miss More quietly. + +Margaret laid one hand on the arm of her chair and leaned forward a +little, so as to see the child better. + +'Really!' she exclaimed, rather deliberately, as if she had chosen +that particular word out of a number that suggested themselves. +'Really!' she repeated, still more slowly, and then leaned back again +and looked at the grey waves. + +She remembered the notice of Miss Bamberger's death. It had described +the deceased as the only child of Hannah Moon by her former marriage +with Isidore Bamberger. But Hannah Moon, as Margaret happened to know, +was now the widow of Senator Alvah Moon. Therefore the little deaf +child was the half-sister of the girl who had died at the theatre in +Margaret's arms and had been christened by the same name. Therefore, +also, she was related to Margaret, whose mother had been the +California magnate's cousin. + +'How small the world is!' Margaret said in a low voice as she looked +at the grey waves. + +She wondered whether little Ida had ever heard of her half-sister, and +what Miss More knew about it all. + +'How old is Mrs. Moon?' she asked. + +'I fancy she must be forty, or near that. I know that she was nearly +thirty years younger than the Senator, but I never saw her.' + +'You never saw her?' Margaret was surprised. + +'No,' Miss More answered. 'She is insane, you know. She went quite +mad soon after the little girl was born. It was very painful for +the Senator. Her delusion was that he was her divorced husband, Mr. +Bamberger, and when the child came into the world she insisted that +it should be called Ida, and that she had no other. Mr. Bamberger's +daughter was Ida, you know. It was very strange. Mrs. Moon was +convinced that she was forced to live her life over again, year by +year, as an expiation for something she had done. The doctors say it +is a hopeless case. I really think it shortened the Senator's life.' + +Margaret did not think that the world had any cause to complain of +Mrs. Moon on that account. + +'So this child is quite alone in the world,' she said. + +'Yes. Her father is dead and her mother is in an asylum.' + +'Poor little thing!' + +The two young women were leaning back in their chairs, their faces +turned towards each other as they talked, and Ida was still busy with +her crochet. + +'Luckily she has a sunny nature,' said Miss More. 'She is interested +in everything she sees and hears.' She laughed a little. 'I always +speak of it as hearing,' she added, 'for it is quite as quick, when +there is light enough. You know that, since you have talked with her.' + +'Yes. But in the dark, how do you make her understand?' + +'She can generally read what I say by laying her hand on my lips; but +besides that, we have the deaf and dumb alphabet, and she can feel my +fingers as I make the letters.' + +'You have been with her a long time, I suppose,' Margaret said. + +'Since she was three years old.' + +'California is a beautiful country, isn't it?' asked Margaret after a +pause. + +She put the question idly, for she was thinking how hard it must be to +teach deaf and dumb children. Miss More's answer surprised her. + +'I have never been there.' + +'But, surely, Senator Moon lived in San Francisco,' Margaret said. + +'Yes. But the child was sent to New England when she was three, +and never went back again. We have been living in the country near +Boston.' + +'And the Senator used to pay you a visit now and then, of course, when +he was alive. He must have been immensely pleased by the success of +your teaching.' + +Though Margaret felt that she was growing more curious about little +Ida than she often was about any one, it did not occur to her that the +question she now suggested, rather than asked, was an indiscreet one, +and she was surprised by her companion's silence. She had already +discovered that Miss More was one of those literally truthful people +who never let an inaccurate statement pass their lips, and who will +be obstinately silent rather than answer a leading question, quite +regardless of the fact that silence is sometimes the most direct +answer that can be given. On the present occasion Miss More said +nothing and turned her eyes to the sea, leaving Margaret to make any +deduction she pleased; but only one suggested itself, namely, that the +deceased Senator had taken very little interest in the child of his +old age, and had felt no affection for her. Margaret wondered whether +he had left her rich, but Miss More's silence told her that she had +already asked too many questions. + +She glanced down the long line of passengers beyond Miss More and Ida. +Men, women, and children lay side by side in their chairs, wrapped and +propped like a row of stuffed specimens in a museum. They were not +interesting, Margaret thought; for those who were awake all looked +discontented, and those who were asleep looked either ill or +apoplectic. Perhaps half of them were crossing because they were +obliged to go to Europe for one reason or another; the other half were +going in an aimless way, because they had got into the habit while +they were young, or had been told that it was the right thing to do, +or because their doctors sent them abroad to get rid of them. The grey +light from the waves was reflected on the immaculate and shiny white +paint, and shed a cold glare on the commonplace faces and on the +plaid rugs, and on the vivid magazines which many of the people were +reading, or pretending to read; for most persons only look at the +pictures nowadays, and read the advertisements. A steward in a very +short jacket was serving perfectly unnecessary cups of weak broth on a +big tray, and a great number of the passengers took some, with a vague +idea that the Company's feelings might be hurt if they did not, or +else that they would not be getting their money's worth. + +Between the railing and the feet of the passengers, which stuck out +over the foot-rests of their chairs to different lengths according +to the height of the possessors, certain energetic people walked +ceaselessly up and down the deck, sometimes flattening themselves +against the railing to let others who met them pass by, and sometimes, +when the ship rolled a little, stumbling against an outstretched foot +or two without making any elaborate apology for doing so. + +Margaret only glanced at the familiar sight, but she made a little +movement of annoyance almost directly, and took up the book that lay +open and face downwards on her knee; she became absorbed in it so +suddenly as to convey the impression that she was not really reading +at all. + +She had seen Mr. Van Torp and Paul Griggs walking together and coming +towards her. + +The millionaire was shorter than his companion and more clumsily made, +though not by any means a stout man. Though he did not look like a +soldier he had about him the very combative air which belongs to so +many modern financiers of the Christian breed. There was the bull-dog +jaw, the iron mouth, and the aggressive blue eye of the man who takes +and keeps by force rather than by astuteness. Though his face had +lines in it and his complexion was far from brilliant he looked +scarcely forty years of age, and his short, rough, sandy hair had not +yet begun to turn grey. + +He was not ugly, but Margaret had always seen something in his face +that repelled her. It was some lack of proportion somewhere, which +she could not precisely define; it was something that was out of +the common type of faces, but that was disquieting rather than +interesting. Instead of wondering what it meant, those who noticed it +wished it were not there. + +Margaret was sure she could distinguish his heavy step from Griggs's +when he was near her, but she would not look up from her book till he +stopped and spoke to her. + +'Good-morning, Madame Cordova; how are you this morning?' he inquired, +holding out his hand. 'You didn't expect to see me on board, did you?' + +His tone was hard and business-like, but he lifted his yachting cap +politely as he held out his hand. Margaret hesitated a moment before +taking it, and when she moved her own he was already holding his out +to Miss More. + +'Good-morning, Miss More; how are you this morning?' + +Miss More leaned forward and put down one foot as if she would have +risen in the presence of the great man, but he pushed her back by her +hand which he held, and proceeded to shake hands with the little girl. + +'Good-morning, Miss Ida; how are you this morning?' + +Margaret felt sure that if he had shaken hands with a hundred people +he would have repeated the same words to each without any variation. +She looked at Griggs imploringly, and glanced at his vacant chair on +her right side. He did not answer by sitting down, because the action +would have been too like deliberately telling Mr. Van Torp to go away, +but he began to fold up the chair as if he were going to take it away, +and then he seemed to find that there was something wrong with one of +its joints, and altogether it gave him a good deal of trouble, and +made it quite impossible for the great man to get any nearer to +Margaret. + +Little Ida had taken Mr. Van Torp's proffered hand, and had watched +his hard lips when he spoke. She answered quite clearly and rather +slowly, in the somewhat monotonous voice of those born deaf who have +learned to speak. + +'I'm very well, thank you, Mr. Van Torp. I hope you are quite well.' + +Margaret heard, and saw the child's face, and at once decided that, if +the little girl knew of her own relationship to Ida Bamberger, she was +certainly ignorant of the fact that her half-sister had been engaged +to Mr. Van Torp, when she had died so suddenly less than a week ago. +Little Ida's manner strengthened the impression in Margaret's mind +that the millionaire was having her educated by Miss More. Yet it +seemed impossible that the rich old Senator should not have left her +well provided. + +'I see you've made friends with Madame Cordova,' said Mr. Van Torp. +'I'm very glad, for she's quite an old friend of mine too.' + +Margaret made a slight movement, but said nothing. Miss More saw her +annoyance and intervened by speaking to the financier. + +'We began to fear that we might not see you at all on the voyage,' she +said, in a tone of some concern. 'I hope you have not been suffering +again.' + +Margaret wondered whether she meant to ask if he had been sea-sick; +what she said sounded like an inquiry about some more or less frequent +indisposition, though Mr. Van Torp looked as strong as a ploughman. + +In answer to the question he glanced sharply at Miss More, and shook +his head. + +'I've been too busy to come on deck,' he said, rather curtly, and he +turned to Margaret again. + +'Will you take a little walk with me, Madame Cordova?' he asked. + +Not having any valid excuse for refusing, Margaret smiled, for the +first time since she had seen him on deck. + +'I'm so comfortable!' she answered. 'Don't make me get out of my rug!' + +'If you'll take a little walk with me, I'll give you a pretty +present,' said Mr. Van Torp playfully. + +Margaret thought it best to laugh and shake her head at this singular +offer. Little Ida had been watching them both. + +'You'd better go with him,' said the child gravely. 'He makes lovely +presents.' + +'Does he?' Margaret laughed again. + +'"A fortress that parleys, or a woman who listens, is lost,'" put in +Griggs, quoting an old French proverb. + +'Then I won't listen,' Margaret said. + +Mr. Van Torp planted himself more firmly on his sturdy legs, for the +ship was rolling a little. + +'I'll give you a book, Madame Cordova,' he said. + +His habit of constantly repeating the name of the person with whom +he was talking irritated her extremely. She was not smiling when she +answered. + +'Thank you. I have more books than I can possibly read.' + +'Yes. But you have not the one I will give you, and it happens to be +the only one you want.' + +'But I don't want any book at all! I don't want to read!' + +'Yes, you do, Madame Cordova. You want to read this one, and it's the +only copy on board, and if you'll take a little walk with me I'll give +it to you.' + +As he spoke he very slowly drew a new book from the depths of the wide +pocket in his overcoat, but only far enough to show Margaret the first +words of the title, and he kept his aggressive blue eyes fixed on her +face. A faint blush came into her cheeks at once and he let the volume +slip back. Griggs, being on his other side, had not seen it, and it +meant nothing to Miss More. To the latter's surprise Margaret pushed +her heavy rug from her knees and let her feet slip from the chair to +the ground. Her eyes met Griggs's as she rose, and seeing that his +look asked her whether he was to carry out her previous instructions +and walk beside her, she shook her head. + +'Nine times out of ten, proverbs are true,' he said in a tone of +amusement. + +Mr. Van Torp's hard face expressed no triumph when Margaret stood +beside him, ready to walk. She had yielded, as he had been sure she +would; he turned from the other passengers to go round to the weather +side of the ship, and she went with him submissively. Just at the +point where the wind and the fine spray would have met them if they +had gone on, he stopped in the lee of a big ventilator. There was no +one in sight of them now. + +'Excuse me for making you get up,' he said. 'I wanted to see you alone +for a moment.' + +Margaret said nothing in answer to this apology, and she met his fixed +eyes coldly. + +'You were with Miss Bamberger when she died,' he said. + +Margaret bent her head gravely in assent. His face was as +expressionless as a stone. + +'I thought she might have mentioned me before she died,' he said +slowly. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered after a moment's pause; 'she did.' + +'What did she say?' + +'She told me that it was a secret, but that I was to tell you what she +said, if I thought it best.' + +'Are you going to tell me?' + +It was impossible to guess whether he was controlling any emotion or +not; but if the men with whom he had done business where large sums +were involved had seen him now and had heard his voice, they would +have recognised the tone and the expression. + +'She said, "he did it,"' Margaret answered slowly, after a moment's +thought. + +'Was that all she said?' + +'That was all. A moment later she was dead. Before she said it, she +told me it was a secret, and she made me promise solemnly never to +tell any one but you.' + +'It's not much of a secret, is it?' As he spoke, Mr. Van Torp turned +his eyes from Margaret's at last and looked at the grey sea beyond the +ventilator. + +'Such as it is, I have told it to you because she wished me to,' +answered Margaret. 'But I shall never tell any one else. It will be +all the easier to be silent, as I have not the least idea what she +meant.' + +'She meant our engagement,' said Mr. Van Torp in a matter-of-fact +tone. 'We had broken it off that afternoon. She meant that it was I +who did it, and so it was. Perhaps she did not like to think that when +she was dead people might call her heartless and say she had thrown me +over; and no one would ever know the truth except me, unless I chose +to tell--me and her father.' + +'Then you were not to be married after all!' Margaret showed her +surprise. + +'No. I had broken it off. We were going to let it be known the next +day.' + +'On the very eve of the wedding!' + +'Yes.' Mr. Van Torp fixed his eyes on Margaret's again. 'On the very +eve of the wedding,' he said, repeating her words. + +He spoke very slowly and without emphasis, but with the greatest +possible distinctness. Margaret had once been taken to see a motor-car +manufactory and she remembered a machine that clipped bits off the +end of an iron bar, inch by inch, smoothly and deliberately. Mr. Van +Torp's lips made her think of that; they seemed to cut the hard words +one by one, in lengths. + +'Poor girl!' she sighed, and looked away. + +The man's face did not change, and if his next words echoed the +sympathy she expressed his tone did not. + +'I was a good deal cut up myself,' he observed coolly. 'Here's your +book, Madame Cordova.' + +'No,' Margaret answered with a little burst of indignation, 'I don't +want it. I won't take it from you!' + +'What's the matter now?' asked Mr. Van Torp without the least change +of manner. 'It's your friend Mr. Lushington's latest, you know, and it +won't be out for ten days. I thought you would like to see it, so I +got an advance copy before it was published.' + +He held the volume out to her, but she would not even look at it, nor +answer him. + +'How you hate me! Don't you, Madame Cordova?' + +Margaret still said nothing. She was considering how she could best +get rid of him. If she simply brushed past him and went back to her +chair on the lee side, he would follow her and go on talking to her as +if nothing had happened; and she knew that in that case she would lose +control of herself before Griggs and Miss More. + +'Oh, well,' he went on, 'if you don't want the book, I don't. I can't +read novels myself, and I daresay it's trash anyhow.' + +Thereupon, with a quick movement of his arm and hand, he sent Mr. +Lushington's latest novel flying over the lee rail, fully thirty feet +away, and it dropped out of sight into the grey waves. He had been a +good baseball pitcher in his youth. + +Margaret bit her lip and her eyes flashed. + +'You are quite the most disgustingly brutal person I ever met,' she +said, no longer able to keep down her anger. + +'No,' he answered calmly. 'I'm not brutal; I'm only logical. I took a +great deal of trouble to get that book for you because I thought +it would give you pleasure, and it wasn't a particularly legal +transaction by which I got it either. Since you didn't want it, I +wasn't going to let anybody else have the satisfaction of reading it +before it was published, so I just threw it away because it is safer +in the sea than knocking about in my cabin. If you hadn't seen me +throw it overboard you would never have believed that I had. You're +not much given to believing me, anyway. I've noticed that. Are you, +now?' + +'Oh, it was not the book!' + +Margaret turned from him and made a step forward so that she faced the +sharp wind. It cut her face and she felt that the little pain was +a relief. He came and stood beside her with his hands deep in the +pockets of his overcoat. + +'If you think I'm a brute on account of what I told you about +Miss Bamberger,' he said, 'that's not quite fair. I broke off our +engagement because I found out that we were going to make each other +miserable and we should have had to divorce in six months; and if half +the people who are just going to get married would do the same thing +there would be a lot more happy women in the world, not to say men! +That's all, and she knew it, poor girl, and was just as glad as I was +when the thing was done. Now what is there so brutal in that, Madame +Cordova?' + +Margaret turned on him almost fiercely. + +'Why do you tell me all this?' she asked. 'For heaven's sake let poor +Miss Bamberger rest in her grave!' + +'Since you ask me why,' answered Mr. Van Torp, unmoved, 'I tell you +all this because I want you to know more about me than you do. If you +did, you'd hate me less. That's the plain truth. You know very well +that there's nobody like you, and that if I'd judged I had the +slightest chance of getting you I would no more have thought of +marrying Miss Bamberger than of throwing a million dollars into the +sea after that book, or ten million, and that's a great deal of +money.' + +'I ought to be flattered,' said Margaret with scorn, still facing the +wind. + +'No. I'm not given to flattery, and money means something real to me, +because I've fought for it, and got it. Your regular young lover will +always call you his precious treasure, and I don't see much difference +between a precious treasure and several million dollars. I'm logical, +you see. I tell you I'm logical, that's all.' + +'I daresay. I think we have been talking here long enough. Shall we go +back?' + +She had got her anger under again. She detested Mr. Van Torp, but she +was honest enough to realise that for the present she had resented his +saying that Lushington's book was probably trash, much more than what +he had told her of his broken engagement. She turned and came back to +the ventilator, meaning to go around to her chair, but he stopped her. + +'Don't go yet, please!' he said, keeping beside her. 'Call me a +disgusting brute if you like. I sha'n't mind it, and I daresay it's +true in a kind of way. Business isn't very refining, you know, and it +was the only education I got after I was sixteen. I'm sorry I called +that book rubbish, for I'm sure it's not. I've met Mr. Lushington in +England several times; he's very clever, and he's got a first-rate +position. But you see I didn't like your refusing the book, after I'd +taken so much trouble to get it for you. Perhaps if I hadn't thrown it +overboard you'd take it, now that I've apologised. Would you?' + +His tone had changed at last, as she had known it to change before in +the course of an acquaintance that had lasted more than a year. He put +the question almost humbly. + +'I don't know,' Margaret answered, relenting a little in spite of +herself. 'At all events I'm sorry I was so rude. I lost my temper.' + +'It was very natural,' said Mr. Van Torp meekly, but not looking at +her, 'and I know I deserved it. You really would let me give you the +book now, if it were possible, wouldn't you?' + +'Perhaps.' She thought that as there was no such possibility it was +safe to say as much as that. + +'I should feel so much better if you would,' he answered. 'I should +feel as if you'd accepted my apology. Won't you say it, Madame +Cordova?' + +'Well--yes--since you wish it so much,' Margaret replied, feeling that +she risked nothing. + +'Here it is, then,' he said, to her amazement, producing the new novel +from the pocket of his overcoat, and enjoying her surprise as he put +it into her hand. + +It looked like a trick of sleight of hand, and she took the book and +stared at him, as a child stares at the conjuror who produces an apple +out of its ear. + +'But I saw you throw it away,' she said in a puzzled tone. + +'I got two while I was about it,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling without +showing his teeth. 'It was just as easy and it didn't cost me any +more.' + +'I see! Thank you very much.' + +She knew that she could not but keep the volume now, and in her heart +she was glad to have it, for Lushington had written to her about it +several times since she had been in America. + +'Well, I'll leave you now,' said the millionaire, resuming his stony +expression. 'I hope I've not kept you too long.' + +Before Margaret had realised the idiotic conventionality of the last +words her companion had disappeared and she was left alone. He had not +gone back in the direction whence they had come, but had taken the +deserted windward side of the ship, doubtless with the intention of +avoiding the crowd. + +Margaret stood still for some time in the lee of the ventilator, +holding the novel in her hand and thinking. She wondered whether Mr. +Van Torp had planned the whole scene, including the sacrifice of the +novel. If he had not, it was certainly strange that he should have had +the second copy ready in his pocket. Lushington had once told her that +great politicians and great financiers were always great comedians, +and now that she remembered the saying it occurred to her that Mr. Van +Torp reminded her of a certain type of American actor, a type that +has a heavy jaw and an aggressive eye, and strongly resembles the +portraits of Daniel Webster. Now Daniel Webster had a wide reputation +as a politician, but there is reason to believe that the numerous +persons who lent him money and never got it back thought him a +financier of undoubted ability, if not a comedian of talent. There +were giants in those days. + +The English girl, breathing the clean air of the ocean, felt as if +something had left a bad taste in her mouth; and the famous young +singer, who had seen in two years what a normal Englishwoman would +neither see, nor guess at, nor wish to imagine in a lifetime, thought +she understood tolerably well what the bad taste meant. Moreover, +Margaret Donne was ashamed of what Margarita da Cordova knew, and +Cordova had moments of sharp regret when she thought of the girl who +had been herself, and had lived under good Mrs. Rushmore's protection, +like a flower in a glass house. + +She remembered, too, how Lushington and Mrs. Rushmore had warned her +and entreated her not to become an opera-singer. She had taken her +future into her own hands and had soon found out what it meant to be +a celebrity on the stage; and she had seen only too clearly where +she was classed by the women who would have been her companions and +friends if she had kept out of the profession. She had learned by +experience, too, how little real consideration she could expect from +men of the world, and how very little she could really exact from such +people as Mr. Van Torp; still less could she expect to get it from +persons like Schreiermeyer, who looked upon the gifted men and women +he engaged to sing as so many head of cattle, to be driven more or +less hard according to their value, and to be turned out to starve the +moment they were broken-winded. That fate is sure to overtake the best +of them sooner or later. The career of a great opera-singer is rarely +more than half as long as that of a great tragedian, and even when a +primadonna or a tenor makes a fortune, the decline of their glory is +far more sudden and sad than that of actors generally is. Lady Macbeth +is as great a part as Juliet for an actress of genius, but there are +no 'old parts' for singers; the soprano dare not turn into a contralto +with advancing years, nor does the unapproachable Parsifal of +eight-and-twenty turn into an incomparable Amfortas at fifty. For the +actor, it often happens that the first sign of age is fatigue; in the +singer's day, the first shadow is an eclipse, the first false note is +disaster, the first breakdown is often a heart-rending failure that +brings real tears to the eyes of younger comrades. The exquisite voice +does not grow weak and pathetic and ethereal by degrees, so that we +still love to hear it, even to the end; far more often it is suddenly +flat or sharp by a quarter of a tone throughout whole acts, or it +breaks on one note in a discordant shriek that is the end. Down goes +the curtain then, in the middle of the great opera, and down goes the +great singer for ever into tears and silence. Some of us have seen +that happen, many have heard of it; few can think without real +sympathy of such mortal suffering and distress. + +Margaret realised all this, without any illusion, but there was +another side to the question. There was success, glorious and +far-reaching, and beyond her brightest dreams; there was the certainty +that she was amongst the very first, for the deafening ring of +universal applause was in her ears; and, above all, there was youth. +Sometimes it seemed to her that she had almost too much, and that some +dreadful thing must happen to her; yet if there were moments when she +faintly regretted the calmer, sweeter life she might have led, she +knew that she would have given that life up, over and over again, for +the splendid joy of holding thousands spellbound while she sang. She +had the real lyric artist's temperament, for that breathless silence +of the many while her voice rang out alone, and trilled and died away +to a delicate musical echo, was more to her than the roar of applause +that could be heard through the walls and closed doors in the street +outside. To such a moment as that Faustus himself would have cried +'Stay!' though the price of satisfied desire were his soul. And there +had been many such moments in Cordova's life. They satisfied something +much deeper than greedy vanity and stronger than hungry ambition. Call +it what you will, according to the worth you set on such art, it is +a longing which only artists feel, and to which only something in +themselves can answer. To listen to perfect music is a feast for gods, +but to be the living instrument beyond compare is to be a god oneself. +Of our five senses, sight calls up visions, divine as well as earthly, +but hearing alone can link body, mind, and soul with higher things, by +the word and by the word made song. The mere memory of hearing when it +is lost is still enough for the ends of genius; for the poet and the +composer touch the blind most deeply, perhaps, when other senses do +not count at all; but a painter who loses his sight is as helpless in +the world of art as a dismasted ship in the middle of the ocean. + +Some of these thoughts passed through Margaret's brain as she stood +beside the ventilator with her friend's new book in her hand, and, +although her reflections were not new to her, it was the first time +she clearly understood that her life had made two natures out of her +original self, and that the two did not always agree. She felt that +she was not halved by the process, but doubled. She was two women +instead of one, and each woman was complete in herself. She had not +found this out by any elaborate self-study, for healthy people do not +study themselves. She simply felt it, and she was sure it was true, +because she knew that each of her two selves was able to do, suffer, +and enjoy as much as any one woman could. The one might like what the +other disliked and feared, but the contradiction was open and natural, +not secret or morbid. The two women were called respectively Madame +Cordova and Miss Donne. Miss Donne thought Madame Cordova very showy, +and much too tolerant of vulgar things and people, if not a little +touched with vulgarity herself. On the other hand, the brilliantly +successful Cordova thought Margaret Donne a good girl, but rather +silly. Miss Donne was very fond of Edmund Lushington, the writer, but +the Primadonna had a distinct weakness for Constantine Logotheti, the +Greek financier who lived in Paris, and who wore too many rubies and +diamonds. + +On two points, at least, the singer and the modest English girl +agreed, for they both detested Rufus Van Torp, and each had positive +proof that he was in love with her, if what he felt deserved the name. + +For in very different ways she was really loved by Lushington and by +Logotheti; and since she had been famous she had made the acquaintance +of a good many very high and imposing personages, whose names are to +be found in the first and second part of the _Almanack de Gotha_, in +the Olympian circle of the reigning or the supernal regions of the +Serene Mediatized, far above the common herd of dukes and princes; +they had offered her a share in the overflowing abundance of their +admirative protection; and then had seemed surprised, if not deeply +moved, by the independence she showed in declining their intimacy. +Some of them were frankly and contentedly cynical; some were of a +brutality compared with which the tastes and manners of a bargee would +have seemed ladylike; some were as refined and sensitive as English +old maids, though less scrupulous and much less shy; the one was +as generous as an Irish sailor, the next was as mean as a Normandy +peasant; some had offered her rivers of rubies, and some had proposed +to take her incognito for a drive in a cab, because it would be so +amusing--and so inexpensive. Yet in their families and varieties +they were all of the same species, all human and all subject to the +ordinary laws of attraction and repulsion. Rufus Van Torp was not like +them. + +Neither of Margaret's selves could look upon him as a normal human +being. At first sight there was nothing so very unusual in his face, +certainly nothing that suggested a monster; and yet, whatever mood she +chanced to be in, she could not be with him five minutes without being +aware of something undefinable that always disturbed her profoundly, +and sometimes became positively terrifying. She always felt the +sensation coming upon her after a few moments, and when it had +actually come she could hardly hide her repulsion till she felt, as +to-day, that she must run from him, without the least consideration +of pride or dignity. She might have fled like that before a fire or a +flood, or from the scene of an earthquake, and more than once nothing +had kept her in her place but her strong will and healthy nerves. She +knew that it was like the panic that seizes people in the presence of +an appalling disturbance of nature. + +Doubtless, when she had talked with Mr. Van Torp just now, she had +been disgusted by the indifferent way in which he spoke of poor Miss +Bamberger's sudden death; it was still more certain that what he said +about the book, and his very ungentlemanly behaviour in throwing it +into the sea, had roused her justifiable anger. But she would have +smiled at the thought that an exhibition of heartlessness, or the most +utter lack of manners, could have made her wish to run away from any +other man. Her life had accustomed her to people who had no more +feeling than Schreiermeyer, and no better manners than Pompeo +Stromboli. Van Torp might have been on his very best behaviour that +morning, or at any of her previous chance meetings with him; sooner +or later she would have felt that same absurd and unreasoning fear +of him, and would have found it very hard not to turn and make her +escape. His face was so stony and his eyes were so aggressive; he was +always like something dreadful that was just going to happen. + +Yet Margarita da Cordova was a brave woman, and had lately been called +a heroine because she had gone on singing after that explosion till +the people were quiet again; and Margaret Donne was a sensible girl, +justly confident of being able to take care of herself where men were +concerned. She stood still and wondered what there was about Mr. Van +Torp that could frighten her so dreadfully. + +After a little while she went quietly back to her chair, and sat down +between Griggs and Miss More. The elderly man rose and packed her +neatly in her plaid, and she thanked him. Miss More looked at her and +smiled vaguely, as even the most intelligent people do sometimes. Then +Griggs got into his own chair again and took up his book. + +'Was that right of me?' he asked presently, so low that Miss More did +not hear him speak. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, under her breath, 'but don't let me do it +again, please.' + +They both began to read, but after a time Margaret spoke to him again +without turning her eyes. + +'He wanted to ask me about that girl who died at the theatre,' she +said, just audibly. + +'Oh--yes!' + +Griggs seemed so vague that Margaret glanced at him. He was looking at +the inside of his right hand in a meditative way, as if it recalled +something. If he had shown more interest in what she said she would +have told him what she had just learned, about the breaking off of the +engagement, but he was evidently absorbed in thought, while he slowly +rubbed that particular spot on his hand, and looked at it again and +again as if it recalled something. + +Margaret did not resent his indifference, for he was much more than +old enough to be her father; he was a man whom all younger writers +looked upon as a veteran, he had always been most kind and courteous +to her when she had met him, and she freely conceded him the right to +be occupied with his own thoughts and not with hers. With him she was +always Margaret Donne, and he seldom talked to her about music, or of +her own work. Indeed, he so rarely mentioned music that she fancied he +did not really care for it, and she wondered why he was so often in +the house when she sang. + +Mr. Van Torp did not show himself at luncheon, and Margaret began to +hope that he would not appear on deck again till the next day. In +the afternoon the wind dropped, the clouds broke, and the sun shone +brightly. Little Ida, who was tired of doing crochet work, and had +looked at all the books that had pictures, came and begged Margaret to +walk round the ship with her. It would please her small child's vanity +to show everybody that the great singer was willing to be seen walking +up and down with her, although she was quite deaf, and could not hope +ever to hear music. It was her greatest delight to be treated before +every one as if she were just like other girls, and her cleverness in +watching the lips of the person with her, without seeming too intent, +was wonderful. + +They went the whole length of the promenade deck, as if they were +reviewing the passengers, bundled and packed in their chairs, and the +passengers looked at them both with so much interest that the child +made Margaret come all the way back again. + +'The sea has a voice, too, hasn't it?' Ida asked, as they paused and +looked over the rail. + +She glanced up quickly for the answer, but Margaret did not find one +at once. + +'Because I've read poetry about the voices of the sea,' Ida explained. +'And in books they talk of the music of the waves, and then they say +the sea roars, and thunders in a storm. I can hear thunder, you know. +Did you know that I could hear thunder?' + +Margaret smiled and looked interested. + +'It bangs in the back of my head,' said the child gravely. 'But I +should like to hear the sea thunder. I often watch the waves on the +beach, as if they were lips moving, and I try to understand what they +say. Of course, it's play, because one can't, can one? But I can only +make out "Boom, ta-ta-ta-ta," getting quicker and weaker to the end, +you know, as the ripples run up the sand.' + +'It's very like what I hear,' Margaret answered. + +'Is it really?' Little Ida was delighted. 'Perhaps it's a language +after all, and I shall make it out some day. You see, until I know the +language people are speaking, their lips look as if they were talking +nonsense. But I'm sure the sea could not really talk nonsense all day +for thousands of years.' + +'No, I'm sure it couldn't!' Margaret was amused. 'But the sea is not +alive,' she added. + +'Everything that moves is alive,' the child said, 'and everything that +is alive can make a noise, and the noise must mean something. If it +didn't, it would be of no use, and everything is of some use. So +there!' + +Delighted with her own argument, the beautiful child laughed and +showed her even teeth in the sun. + +They were standing at the end of the promenade deck, which extended +twenty feet abaft the smoking-room, and took the whole beam; above +the latter, as in most modern ships, there was the boat deck, to the +after-part of which passengers had access. Standing below, it was easy +to see and talk with any one who looked over the upper rail. + +Ida threw her head back and looked up as she laughed, and Margaret +laughed good-naturedly with her, thinking how pretty she was. But +suddenly the child's expression changed, her face grew grave, and her +eyes fixed themselves intently on some point above. Margaret looked in +the same direction, and saw that Mr. Van Torp was standing alone up +there, leaning against the railing and evidently not seeing her, for +he gazed fixedly into the distance; and as he stood there, his lips +moved as if he were talking to himself. + +Margaret gave a little start of surprise when she saw him, but the +child watched him steadily, and a look of fear stole over her face. +Suddenly she grasped Margaret's arm. + +'Come away! Come away!' she cried in a low tone of terror. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Margaret was sorry to say good-bye to Miss More and little Ida when +the voyage was over, three days later. She was instinctively fond of +children, as all healthy women are, and she saw very few of them in +her wandering life. It is true that she did not understand them very +well, for she had been an only child, brought up much alone, and +children's ways are only to be learnt and understood by experience, +since all children are experimentalists in life, and what often seems +to us foolishness in them is practical wisdom of the explorative kind. + +When Ida had pulled Margaret away from the railing after watching Mr. +Van Torp while he was talking to himself, the singer had thought +very little of it; and Ida never mentioned it afterwards. As for the +millionaire, he was hardly seen again, and he made no attempt to +persuade Margaret to take another walk with him on deck. + +'Perhaps you would like to see my place,' he said, as he bade her +good-bye on the tender at Liverpool. 'It used to be called Oxley +Paddox, but I didn't like that, so I changed the name to Torp Towers. +I'm Mr. Van Torp of Torp Towers. Sounds well, don't it?' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, biting her lip, for she wanted to laugh. 'It +has a very lordly sound. If you bought a moor and a river in Scotland, +you might call yourself the M'Torp of Glen Torp, in the same way.' + +'I see you're laughing at me,' said the millionaire, with a quiet +smile of a man either above or beyond ridicule. 'But it's all a game +in a toy-shop anyway, this having a place in Europe. I buy a doll to +play with when I have time, and I can call it what I please, and +smash its head when I'm tired of it. It's my doll. It isn't any one's +else's. The Towers is in Derbyshire if you want to come.' + +Margaret did not 'want to come' to Torp Towers, even if the doll +wasn't 'any one's else's.' She was sorry for any person or thing +that had the misfortune to be Mr. Van Torp's doll, and she felt her +inexplicable fear of him coming upon her while he was speaking. She +broke off the conversation by saying good-bye rather abruptly. + +'Then you won't come,' he said, in a tone of amusement. + +'Really, you are very kind, but I have so many engagements.' + +'Saturday to Monday in the season wouldn't interfere with your +engagements. However, do as you like.' + +'Thank you very much. Good-bye again.' + +She escaped, and he looked after her, with an unsatisfied expression +that was almost wistful, and that would certainly not have been in his +face if she could have seen it. + +Griggs was beside her when she went ashore. + +'I had not much to do after all,' he said, glancing at Van Torp. + +'No,' Margaret answered, 'but please don't think it was all +imagination. I may tell you some day. No,' she said again, after a +short pause, 'he did not make himself a nuisance, except that once, +and now he has asked me to his place in Derbyshire.' + +'Torp Towers,' Griggs observed, with a smile. + +'Yes. I could hardly help laughing when he told me he had changed its +name.' + +'It's worth seeing,' said Griggs. 'A big old house, all full of other +people's ghosts.' + +'Ghosts?' + +'I mean figuratively. It's full of things that remind one of the +people who lived there. It has one of the oldest parks in England. +Lots of pheasants, too--but that cannot last long.' + +'Why not?' + +'He won't let any one shoot them! They will all die of overcrowding in +two or three years. His keepers are three men from the Society for the +Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.' + +'What a mad idea!' Margaret laughed. 'Is he a Buddhist?' + +'No.' Paul Griggs knew something about Buddhism. 'Certainly not! He's +eccentric. That's all.' + +They were at the pier. Half-an-hour later they were in the train +together, and there was no one else in the carriage. Miss More and +little Ida had disappeared directly after landing, but Margaret had +seen Mr. Van Torp get into a carriage on the window of which was +pasted the label of the rich and great: 'Reserved.' She could have had +the same privilege if she had chosen to ask for it or pay for it, but +it irritated her that he should treat himself like a superior being. +Everything he did either irritated her or frightened her, and she +found herself constantly thinking of him and wishing that he would get +out at the first station. Griggs was silent too, and Margaret thought +he really might have taken some trouble to amuse her. + +She had Lushington's book on her knee, for she had found it less +interesting than she had expected, and was rather ashamed of not +having finished it before meeting him, since it had been given to her. +She thought he might come down as far as Rugby to meet her, and she +was quite willing that he should find her with it in her hand. A +literary man is always supposed to be flattered at finding a friend +reading his last production, as if he did not know that the friend has +probably grabbed the volume with undignified haste the instant he was +on the horizon, with the intention of being discovered deep in it. Yet +such little friendly frauds are sweet compared with the extremes of +brutal frankness to which our dearest friends sometimes think it their +duty to go with us, for our own good. + +After a time Griggs spoke to her, and she was glad to hear his voice. +She had grown to like him during the voyage, even more than she had +ever thought probable. She had even gone so far as to wonder whether, +if he had been twenty-five years younger, he might not have been the +one man she had ever met whom she might care to marry, and she had +laughed at the involved terms of the hypothesis as soon as she thought +of it. Griggs had never been married, but elderly people remembered +that there had been some romantic tale about his youth, when he had +been an unknown young writer struggling for life as a newspaper +correspondent. + +'You saw the notice of Miss Bamberger's death, I suppose,' he said, +turning his grey eyes to hers. + +He had not alluded to the subject during the voyage. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, wondering why he broached it now. + +'The notice said that she died of heart failure, from shock,' Griggs +continued. 'I should like to know what you think about it, as you were +with her when she died. Have you any idea that she may have died of +anything else?' + +'No.' Margaret was surprised. 'The doctor said it was that.' + +'I know. I only wanted to have your own impression. I believe that +when people die of heart failure in that way, they often make +desperate efforts to explain what has happened, and go on trying to +talk when they can only make inarticulate sounds. Do you remember if +it was at all like that?' + +'Not at all,' Margaret said. 'She whispered the last words she spoke, +but they were quite distinct. Then she drew three or four deep +breaths, and all at once I saw that she was dead, and I called the +doctor from the next room.' + +'I suppose that might be heart failure,' said Griggs thoughtfully. +'You are quite sure that you thought it was only that, are you not?' + +'Only what?' Margaret asked with growing surprise. + +'Only fright, or the result of having been half-suffocated in the +crowd.' + +'Yes, I think I am sure. What do you mean? Why do you insist so much?' + +'It's of no use to tell other people,' said Griggs, 'but you may just +as well know. I found her lying in a heap behind a door, where there +could not have been much of a crowd.' + +'Perhaps she had taken refuge there, to save herself,' Margaret +suggested. + +'Possibly. But there was another thing. When I got home I found that +there was a little blood on the palm of my hand. It was the hand I had +put under her waist when I lifted her.' + +'Do you mean to say you think she was wounded?' Margaret asked, +opening her eyes wide. + +'There was blood on the inside of my hand,' Griggs answered, 'and I +had no scratch to account for it. I know quite well that it was on the +hand that I put under her waist--a little above the waist, just in the +middle of her back.' + +'But it would have been seen afterwards.' + +'On the dark red silk she wore? Not if there was very little of it. +The doctor never thought of looking for such a wound. Why should he? +He had not the slightest reason for suspecting that the poor girl had +been murdered.' + +'Murdered?' + +Margaret looked hard at Griggs, and then she suddenly shuddered from +head to foot. She had never before had such a sensation; it was like +a shock from an electric current at the instant when the contact is +made, not strong enough to hurt, but yet very disagreeable. She felt +it at the moment when her mind connected what Griggs was saying with +the dying girl's last words, 'he did it'; and with little Ida's look +of horror when she had watched Mr. Van Torp's lips while he was +talking to himself on the boat-deck of the _Leofric_; and again, with +the physical fear of the man that always came over her when she had +been near him for a little while. When she spoke to Griggs again the +tone of her voice had changed. + +'Please tell me how it could have been done,' she said. + +'Easily enough. A steel bodkin six or seven inches long, or even a +strong hat-pin. It would be only a question of strength.' + +Margaret remembered Mr. Van Torp's coarse hands, and shuddered again. + +'How awful!' she exclaimed. + +'One would bleed to death internally before long,' Griggs said. + +'Are you sure?' + +'Yes. That is the reason why the three-cornered blade for duelling +swords was introduced in France thirty years ago. Before that, men +often fought with ordinary foils filed to a point, and there were many +deaths from internal hemorrhage.' + +'What odd things you always know! That would be just like being run +through with a bodkin, then?' + +'Very much the same.' + +'But it would have been found out afterwards,' Margaret said, 'and the +papers would have been full of it.' + +'That does not follow,' Griggs answered. 'The girl was an only child, +and her mother had been divorced and married again. She lived alone +with her father, and he probably was told the truth. But Isidore +Bamberger is not the man to spread out his troubles before the public +in the newspapers. On the contrary, if he found out that his daughter +had been killed--supposing that she was--he probably made up his mind +at once that the world should not know it till he had caught the +murderer. So he sent for the best detective in America, put the matter +in his hands, and inserted a notice of his daughter's death that +agreed with what the doctor had said. That would be the detective's +advice, I'm sure, and probably Van Torp approved of it.' + +'Mr. Van Torp? Do you think he was told about it? Why?' + +'First, because Bamberger is Van Torp's banker, broker, figure-head, +and general representative on earth,' answered Griggs. 'Secondly, +because Van Torp was engaged to marry the girl.' + +'The engagement was broken off,' Margaret said. + +'How do you know that?' asked Griggs quickly. + +'Mr. Van Torp told me, on the steamer. They had broken it off that +very day, and were going to let it be known the next morning. He told +me so, that afternoon when I walked with him.' + +'Really!' + +Griggs was a little surprised, but as he did not connect Van Torp with +the possibility that Miss Bamberger had been murdered, his thoughts +did not dwell on the broken engagement. + +'Why don't you try to find out the truth?' Margaret asked rather +anxiously. 'You know so many people everywhere--you have so much +experience.' + +'I never had much taste for detective work,' answered the literary +man, 'and besides, this is none of my business. But Bamberger and Van +Torp are probably both of them aware by this time that I found the +girl and carried her to the manager's room, and when they are ready +to ask me what I know, or what I remember, the detective they +are employing will suddenly appear to me in the shape of a new +acquaintance in some out-of-the-way place, who will go to work +scientifically to make me talk to him. He will very likely have a +little theory of his own, to the effect that since it was I who +brought Miss Bamberger to Schreiermeyer's room, it was probably I who +killed her, for some mysterious reason!' + +'Shall you tell him about the drop of blood on your hand?' + +'Without the slightest hesitation. But not until I am asked, and I +shall be very glad if you will not speak of it.' + +'I won't,' Margaret said; 'but I wonder why you have told me if you +mean to keep it a secret!' + +The veteran man of letters turned his sad grey eyes to hers, while his +lips smiled. + +'The world is not all bad,' he said. 'All men are not liars, and all +women do not betray confidence.' + +'It's very good to hear a man like you say that,' Margaret answered. +'It means something.' + +'Yes,' assented Griggs thoughtfully. 'It means a great deal to me to +be sure of it, now that most of my life is lived.' + +'Were you unhappy when you were young?' + +She asked the question as a woman sometimes does who feels herself +strongly drawn to a man much older than she. Griggs did not answer at +once, and when he spoke his voice was unusually grave, and his eyes +looked far away. + +'A great misfortune happened to me,' he said. 'A great misfortune,' he +repeated slowly, after a pause, and his tone and look told Margaret +how great that calamity had been better than a score of big words. + +'Forgive me,' Margaret said softly; 'I should have known.' + +'No,' Griggs answered after a moment. 'You could not have known. It +happened very long ago, perhaps ten years before you were born.' + +Again he turned his sad grey eyes to hers, but no smile lingered now +about the rather stern mouth. The two looked at each other quietly +for five or six seconds, and that may seem a long time. When Margaret +turned away from the elderly man's more enduring gaze, both felt that +there was a bond of sympathy between them which neither had quite +acknowledged till then. There was silence after that, and Margaret +looked out of the window, while her hand unconsciously played with the +book on her knee, lifting the cover a little and letting it fall again +and again. + +Suddenly she turned to Griggs once more and held the book out to him +with a smile. + +'I'm not an autograph-hunter,' she said, 'but will you write something +on the fly-leaf? Just a word or two, without your name, if you like. +Do you think I'm very sentimental?' + +She smiled again, and he took the book from her and produced a pencil. + +'It's a book I shall not throw away,' she went on, 'because the man +who wrote it is a great friend of mine, and I have everything he has +ever written. So, as I shall keep it, I want it to remind me that you +and I grew to know each other better on this voyage.' + +It occurred to the veteran that while this was complimentary to +himself it was not altogether promising for Lushington, who was the +old friend in question. A woman who loves a man does not usually ask +another to write a line in that man's book. Griggs set the point of +the pencil on the fly-leaf as if he were going to write; but then he +hesitated, looked up, glanced at Margaret, and at last leaned back in +the seat, as if in deep thought. + +'I didn't mean to give you so much trouble,' Margaret said, still +smiling. 'I thought it must be so easy for a famous author like you to +write half-a-dozen words!' + +'A "sentiment" you mean!' Griggs laughed rather contemptuously, and +then was grave again. + +'No!' Margaret said, a little disappointed. 'You did not understand +me. Don't write anything at all. Give me back the book.' + +She held out her hand for it; but as if he had just made up his mind, +he put his pencil to the paper again, and wrote four words in a small +clear hand. She leaned forwards a little to see what he was writing. + +'You know enough Latin to read that,' he said, as he gave the book +back to her. + +She read the words aloud, with a puzzled expression. + +'"Credo in resurrectionem mortuorum."' She looked at him for some +explanation. + +'Yes,' he said, answering her unspoken question. '"I believe in the +resurrection of the dead."' + +'It means something especial to you--is that it?' + +'Yes.' His eyes were very sad again as they met hers. + +'My voice?' she asked. 'Some one--who sang like me? Who died?' + +'Long before you were born,' he answered gently. + +There was another little pause before she spoke again, for she was +touched. + +'Thank you,' she said. 'Thank you for writing that.' + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Mr. Van Torp arrived in London alone, with one small valise, for he +had sent his man with his luggage to the place in Derbyshire. At +Euston a porter got him a hansom, and he bargained with the cabman to +take him and his valise to the Temple for eighteenpence, a sum which, +he explained, allowed sixpence for the valise, as the distance could +not by any means be made out to be more than two miles. + +Such close economy was to be expected from a millionaire, travelling +incognito; what was more surprising was that, when the cab stopped +before a door in Hare Court and Mr. Van Torp received his valise from +the roof of the vehicle, he gave the man half-a-crown, and said it was +'all right.' + +'Now, my man,' he observed, 'you've not only got an extra shilling, +to which you had no claim whatever, but you've had the pleasure of a +surprise which you could not have bought for that money.' + +The cabman grinned as he touched his hat and drove away, and Mr. Van +Torp took his valise in one hand and his umbrella in the other and +went up the dark stairs. He went up four flights without stopping +to take breath, and without so much as glancing at any of the names +painted in white letters on the small black boards beside the doors on +the right and left of each landing. + +The fourth floor was the last, and though the name on the left had +evidently been there a number of years, for the white lettering was of +the tint of a yellow fog, it was still quite clear and legible. + +MR.I. BAMBERGER. + +That was the name, but the millionaire did not look at it any more +than he had looked at the others lower down. He knew them all by +heart. He dropped his valise, took a small key from his pocket, opened +the door, picked up his valise again, and, as neither hand was free, +he shut the door with his heel as he passed in, and it slammed behind +him, sending dismal echoes down the empty staircase. + +The entry was almost quite dark, for it was past six o'clock in the +afternoon, late in March, and the sky was overcast; but there was +still light enough to see in the large room on the left into which Mr. +Van Torp carried his things. + +It was a dingy place, poorly furnished, but some one had dusted the +table, the mantelpiece, and the small bookcase, and the fire was laid +in the grate, while a bright copper kettle stood on a movable hob. Mr. +Van Torp struck a match and lighted the kindling before he took off +his overcoat, and in a few minutes a cheerful blaze dispelled the +gathering gloom. He went to a small old-fashioned cupboard in a corner +and brought from it a chipped cup and saucer, a brown teapot, and a +cheap japanned tea-caddy, all of which he set on the table; and as +soon as the fire burned brightly, he pushed the movable hob round with +his foot till the kettle was over the flame of the coals. Then he took +off his overcoat and sat down in the shabby easy-chair by the hearth, +to wait till the water boiled. + +His proceedings, his manner, and his expression would have surprised +the people who had been his fellow-passengers on the _Leofric_, and +who imagined Mr. Van Torp driving to an Olympian mansion, somewhere +between Constitution Hill and Sloane Square, to be received at his own +door by gravely obsequious footmen in plush, and to drink Imperial +Chinese tea from cups of Old Saxe, or Bleu du Roi, or Capo di Monte. + +Paul Griggs, having tea and a pipe in a quiet little hotel in Clarges +Street, would have been much surprised if he could have seen Rufus Van +Torp lighting a fire for himself in that dingy room in Hare Court. +Madame Margarita da Cordova, waiting for an expected visitor in her +own sitting-room, in her own pretty house in Norfolk Crescent, would +have been very much surprised indeed. The sight would have plunged her +into even greater uncertainty as to the man's real character, and it +is not unlikely that she would have taken his mysterious retreat to be +another link in the chain of evidence against him which already seemed +so convincing. She might naturally have wondered, too, what he had +felt when he had seen that board beside the door, and she could hardly +have believed that he had gone in without so much as glancing at the +yellowish letters that formed the name of Bamberger. + +But he seemed quite at home where he was, and not at all uncomfortable +as he sat before the fire, watching the spout of the kettle, his +elbows on the arms of the easy-chair and his hands raised before him, +with the finger-tips pressed against each other, in the attitude +which, with most men, means that they are considering the two sides of +a question that is interesting without being very important. + +Perhaps a thoughtful observer would have noticed at once that there +had been no letters waiting for him when he had arrived, and would +have inferred either that he did not mean to stay at the rooms +twenty-four hours, or that, if he did, he had not chosen to let any +one know where he was. + +Presently it occurred to him that there was no longer any light in +the room except from the fire, and he rose and lit the gas. The +incandescent light sent a raw glare into the farthest corners of the +large room, and just then a tiny wreath of white steam issued from the +spout of the kettle. This did not escape Mr. Van Torp's watchful eye, +but instead of making tea at once he looked at his watch, after which +he crossed the room to the window and stood thoughtfully gazing +through the panes at the fast disappearing outlines of the roofs and +chimney-pots which made up the view when there was daylight outside. +He did not pull down the shade before he turned back to the fire, +perhaps because no one could possibly look in. + +But he poured a little hot water into the teapot, to scald it, and +went to the cupboard and got another cup and saucer, and an old +tobacco-tin of which the dingy label was half torn off, and which +betrayed by a rattling noise that it contained lumps of sugar. The +imaginary thoughtful observer already mentioned would have inferred +from all this that Mr. Van Torp had resolved to put off making tea +until some one came to share it with him, and that the some one +might take sugar, though he himself did not; and further, as it was +extremely improbable, on the face of it, that an afternoon visitor +should look in by a mere chance, in the hope of finding some one in +Mr. Isidore Bamberger's usually deserted rooms, on the fourth floor of +a dark building in Hare Court, the observer would suppose that Mr. Van +Torp was expecting some one to come and see him just at that hour, +though he had only landed in Liverpool that day, and would have been +still at sea if the weather had been rough or foggy. + +All this might have still further interested Paul Griggs, and would +certainly have seemed suspicious to Margaret, if she could have known +about it. + +Five minutes passed, and ten, and the kettle was boiling furiously, +and sending out a long jet of steam over the not very shapely toes of +Mr. Van Torp's boots, as he leaned back with his feet on the fender. +He looked at his watch again and apparently gave up the idea of +waiting any longer, for he rose and poured out the hot water from the +teapot into one of the cups, as a preparatory measure, and took off +the lid to put in the tea. But just as he had opened the caddy, he +paused and listened. The door of the room leading to the entry was +ajar, and as he stood by the table he had heard footsteps on the +stairs, still far down, but mounting steadily. + +He went to the outer door and listened. There was no doubt that +somebody was coming up; any one not deaf could have heard the sound. +It was more strange that Mr. Van Torp should recognise the step, +for the rooms on the other side of the landing were occupied, and a +stranger would have thought it quite possible that the person who +was coming up should be going there. But Mr. Van Torp evidently knew +better, for he opened his door noiselessly and stood waiting to +receive the visitor. The staircase below was dimly lighted by gas, but +there was none at the upper landing, and in a few seconds a dark form +appeared, casting a tall shadow upwards against the dingy white paint +of the wall. The figure mounted steadily and came directly to the open +door--a lady in a long black cloak that quite hid her dress. She wore +no hat, but her head was altogether covered by one of those things +which are neither hoods nor mantillas nor veils, but which serve women +for any of the three, according to weather and circumstances. The +peculiarity of the one the lady wore was that it cast a deep shadow +over her face. + +'Come in,' said Mr. Van Torp, withdrawing into the entry to make way. + +She entered and went on directly to the sitting-room, while he shut +the outer door. Then he followed her, and shut the second door behind +him. She was standing before the fire spreading her gloved hands to +the blaze, as if she were cold. The gloves were white, and they fitted +very perfectly. As he came near, she turned and held out one hand. + +'All right?' he inquired, shaking it heartily, as if it had been a +man's. + +A sweet low voice answered him. + +'Yes--all right,' it said, as if nothing could ever be wrong with +its possessor. 'But you?' it asked directly afterwards, in a tone of +sympathetic anxiety. + +'I? Oh--well--' Mr. Van Torp's incomplete answer might have meant +anything, except that he too was 'all right.' + +'Yes,' said the lady gravely. 'I read the telegram the next day. Did +you get my cable? I did not think you would sail.' + +'Yes, I got your cable. Thank you. Well--I did sail, you see. Take off +your things. The water's boiling and we'll have tea in a minute.' + +The lady undid the fastening at her throat so that the fur-lined cloak +opened and slipped a little on her white shoulders. She held it in +place with one hand, and with the other she carefully turned back the +lace hood from her face, so as not to disarrange her hair. Mr. Van +Torp was making tea, and he looked up at her over the teapot. + +'I dressed for dinner,' she said, explaining. + +'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, looking at her, 'I should think you did!' + +There was real admiration in his tone, though it was distinctly +reluctant. + +'I thought it would save half an hour and give us more time together,' +said the lady simply. + +She sat down in the shabby easy-chair, and as she did so the cloak +slipped and lay about her waist, and she gathered one side of it over +her knees. Her gown was of black velvet, without so much as a bit of +lace, except at the sleeves, and the only ornament she wore was a +short string of very perfect pearls clasped round her handsome young +throat. + +She was handsome, to say the least. If tired ghosts of departed +barristers were haunting the dingy room in Hare Court that night, they +must have blinked and quivered for sheer pleasure at what they saw, +for Mr. Van Torp's visitor was a very fine creature to look at; and if +ghosts can hear, they heard that her voice was sweet and low, like an +evening breeze and flowing water in a garden, even in the Garden of +Eden. + +She was handsome, and she was young; and above all she had the +freshness, the uncontaminated bloom, the subdued brilliancy of +nature's most perfect growing things. It was in the deep clear eyes, +in the satin sheen of her bare shoulders under the sordid gaslight; it +was in the strong smooth lips, delicately shaded from salmon colour to +the faintest peach-blossom; it was in the firm oval of her face, in +the well-modelled ear, the straight throat and the curving neck; it +was in her graceful attitude; it was everywhere. 'No doubt,' the +ghosts might have said, 'there are more beautiful women in England +than this one, but surely there is none more like a thoroughbred and a +Derby winner!' + +'You take sugar, don't you?' asked Mr. Van Torp, having got the lid +off the old tobacco-tin with some difficulty, for it had developed an +inclination to rust since it had last been moved. + +'One lump, please,' said the thoroughbred, looking at the fire. + +'I thought I remembered,' observed the millionaire. 'The tea's good,' +he added, 'and you'll have to excuse the cup. And there's no cream.' + +'I'll excuse anything,' said the lady, 'I'm so glad to be here!' + +'Well, I'm glad to see you too,' said Mr. Van Torp, giving her the +cup. 'Crackers? I'll see if there're any in the cupboard. I forgot.' + +He went to the corner again and found a small tin of biscuits, which +he opened and examined under gaslight. + +'Mouldy,' he observed. 'Weevils in them, too. Sorry. Does it matter +much?' + +'Nothing matters,' answered the lady, sweet and low. 'But why do you +put them away if they are bad? It would be better to burn them and be +done with it.' + +He was taking the box back to the cupboard. + +'I suppose you're right,' he said reluctantly. 'But it always seems +wicked to burn bread, doesn't it?' + +'Not when it's weevilly,' replied the thoroughbred, after sipping the +hot tea. + +He emptied the contents of the tin upon the coal fire, and the room +presently began to smell of mouldy toast. + +'Besides,' he said, 'it's cruel to burn weevils, I suppose. If I'd +thought of that, I'd have left them alone. It's too late now. They're +done for, poor beasts! I'm sorry. I don't like to kill things.' + +He stared thoughtfully at the already charred remains of the +holocaust, and shook his head a little. The lady sipped her tea and +looked at him quietly, perhaps affectionately, but he did not see her. + +'You think I'm rather silly sometimes, don't you?' he asked, still +gazing at the fire. + +'No,' she answered at once. 'It's never silly to be kind, even to +weevils.' + +'Thank you for thinking so,' said Mr. Van Torp, in an oddly humble +tone, and he began to drink his own tea. + +If Margaret Donne could have suddenly found herself perched among the +chimney-pots on the opposite roof, and if she had then looked at his +face through the window, she would have wondered why she had ever felt +a perfectly irrational terror of him. It was quite plain that the lady +in black velvet had no such impression. + +'You need not be so meek,' she said, smiling. + +She did not laugh often, but sometimes there was a ripple in her fresh +voice that would turn a man's head. Mr. Van Torp looked at her in a +rather dull way. + +'I believe I feel meek when I'm with you. Especially just now.' + +He swallowed the rest of his tea at a gulp, set the cup on the table, +and folded his hands loosely together, his elbows resting on his +knees; in this attitude he leaned forward and looked at the burning +coals. Again his companion watched his hard face with affectionate +interest. + +'Tell me just how it happened,' she said. 'I mean, if it will help you +at all to talk about it.' + +'Yes. You always help me,' he answered, and then paused. 'I think I +should like to tell you the whole thing,' he added after an instant. +'Somehow, I never tell anybody much about myself.' + +'I know.' + +She bent her handsome head in assent. Just then it would have been +very hard to guess what the relations were between the oddly assorted +pair, as they sat a little apart from each other before the grate. +Mr. Van Torp was silent now, as if he were making up his mind how to +begin. + +In the pause, the lady quietly held out her hand towards him. He saw +without turning further, and he stretched out his own. She took it +gently, and then, without warning, she leaned very far forward, bent +over it and touched it with her lips. He started and drew it back +hastily. It was as if the leaf of a flower had settled upon it, and +had hovered an instant, and fluttered away in a breath of soft air. + +'Please don't!' he cried, almost roughly. 'There's nothing to thank me +for. I've often told you so.' + +But the lady was already leaning back in the old easy-chair again as +if she had done nothing at all unusual. + +'It wasn't for myself,' she said. 'It was for all the others, who will +never know.' + +'Well, I'd rather not,' he answered. 'It's not worth all that. Now, +see here! I'm going to tell you as near as I can what happened, and +when you know you can make up your mind. You never saw but one side of +me anyhow, but you've got to see the other sooner or later. No, I know +what you're going to say--all that about a dual nature, and Jekyll and +Hyde, and all the rest of it. That may be true for nervous people, but +I'm not nervous. Not at all. I never was. What I know is, there are +two sides to everybody, and one's always the business side. The other +may be anything. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Sometimes +it cares for a woman, sometimes it's a collector of art things, +Babylonian glass, and Etruscan toys and prehistoric dolls. It may +gamble, or drink, or teach a Sunday school, or read Dante, or shoot, +or fish, or anything that's of no use. But one side's always the +business side. That's certain.' + +Mr. Van Torp paused, and looked at his companion's empty cup. Seeing +that he was going to get up in order to give her more, she herself +rose quickly and did it for herself. He sat still and watched her, +probably because the business side of his nature judged that he could +be of no use. The fur-lined cloak was now lying in the easy-chair, and +there was nothing to break the sweeping lines of the black velvet from +her dazzling shoulders to her waist, to her knee, to her feet. Mr. Van +Torp watched her in silence, till she sat down again. + +'You know me well enough to understand that,' he said, going on. 'My +outside's my business side, and that's what matters most. Now the +plain truth is this. My engagement to Miss Bamberger was just a +business affair. Bamberger thought of it first, and suggested it to +me, and he asked her if she'd mind being engaged to me for a few +weeks; and she said she wouldn't provided she wasn't expected to marry +me. That was fair and square, anyway, on both sides. Wasn't it?' + +'It depends on why you did it,' said the lady, going to the point +directly. + +'That was the business side,' answered her companion. 'You see, a big +thing like the Nickel Trust always has a lot of enemies, besides a +heap of people who want to get some of it cheap. This time they put +their heads together and got up one of the usual stories. You see, +Isidore H. Bamberger is the president and I only appear as a director, +though most of it's mine. So they got up a story that he was operating +on his own account to get behind me, and that we were going to quarrel +over it, and there was going to be a slump, and people began to +believe it. It wasn't any use talking to the papers. We soon found +that out. Sometimes the public won't believe anything it's told, and +sometimes it swallows faster than you can feed to it. I don't know +why, though I've had a pretty long experience, but I generally do know +which state it's in. I feel it. That's what's called business ability. +It's like fishing. Any old fisherman can judge in half an hour whether +the fish are going to bite all day or not. If he's wrong once, he'll +be right a hundred times. Well, I felt talking was no good, and so did +Bamberger, and the shares began to go down before the storm. If the +big slump had come there'd have been a heap of money lost. I don't say +we didn't let the shares drop a couple of points further than they +needed to, and Bamberger bought any of it that happened to be lying +around, and the more he bought the quicker it wanted to go +down, because people said there was going to be trouble and an +investigation. But if we'd gone on, lots of people would have been +ruined, and yet we didn't just see how to stop it sharp, till +Bamberger started his scheme. Do you understand all that?' + +The lady nodded gravely. + +'You make it clear,' she said. + +'Well, I thought it was a good scheme,' continued her companion, +'and as the girl said she didn't mind, we told we were engaged. That +settled things pretty quick. The shares went up again in forty-eight +hours, and as we'd bought for cash we made the points, and the other +people were short and lost. But when everything was all right again we +got tired of being engaged, Miss Bamberger and I; and besides, there +was a young fellow she'd a fancy for, and he kept writing to her that +he'd kill himself, and that made her nervous, you see, and she said if +it went on another day she knew she'd have appendicitis or something. +So we were going to announce that the engagement was broken. And the +very night before--' + +He paused. Not a muscle of the hard face moved, there was not a change +in the expression of the tremendous mouth, there was not a tremor in +the tone; but the man kept his eyes steadily on the fire. + +'Oh, well, she's dead now, poor thing,' he said presently. 'And that's +what I wanted to tell you. I suppose it's not a very pretty story, is +it? But I'll tell you one thing. Though we made a little by the turn +of the market, we saved a heap of small fry from losing all they'd put +in. If we'd let the slump come and then bought we should have made a +pile; but then we might have had difficulty in getting the stock up to +anywhere near par again for some time.' + +'Besides,' said the lady quietly, 'you would not have ruined all those +little people if you could help it.' + +'You think I wouldn't?' He turned his eyes to her now. + +'I'm sure you would not,' said the lady with perfect confidence. + +'I don't know, I'm sure,' answered Mr. Van Torp in a doubtful tone. +'Perhaps I wouldn't. But it would only have been business if I had. +It's not as if Bamberger and I had started a story on purpose about +our quarrelling in order to make things go down. I draw the line +there. That's downright dishonest, I call it. But if we'd just let +things slide and taken advantage of what happened, it would only have +been business after all. Except for that doubt about getting back +to par,' he added, as an afterthought. 'But then I should have felt +whether it was safe or not.' + +'Then why did you not let things slide, as you call it?' + +'I don't know, I'm sure. Maybe I was soft-hearted. We don't always +know why we do things in business. There's a great deal more in the +weather where big money is moving than you might think. For instance, +there was never a great revolution in winter. But as for making people +lose their money, those who can't keep it ought not to have it. +They're a danger to society, and half the time it's they who upset the +market by acting like lunatics. They get a lot of sentimental pity +sometimes, those people; but after all, if they didn't try to cut in +without capital, and play the game without knowing the rules, business +would be much steadier and there would be fewer panics. They're the +people who get frightened and run, not we. The fact is, they ought +never to have been there. That's why I believe in big things myself.' + +He paused, having apparently reached the end of his subject. + +'Were you with the poor girl when she died?' asked the lady presently. + +'No. She'd dined with a party and was in their box, and they were the +last people who saw her. You read about the explosion. She bolted +from the box in the dark, I was told, and as she couldn't be found +afterwards they concluded she had rushed out and taken a cab home. It +seemed natural, I suppose.' + +'Who found her at last?' + +'A man called Griggs--the author, you know. He carried her to the +manager's room, still alive. They got a doctor, and as she wanted +to see a woman, they sent for Cordova, the singer, from her +dressing-room, and the girl died in her arms. They said it was heart +failure, from shock.' + +'It was very sad.' + +'I'm sorry for poor Bamberger,' said Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully. 'She +was his only child, and he doted on her. I never saw a man so cut up +as he looked. I wanted to stay, but he said the mere sight of me drove +him crazy, poor fellow, and as I had business over here and my passage +was taken, I just sailed. Sometimes the kindest thing one can do is +to get out. So I did. But I'm very sorry for him. I wish I could do +anything to make it easier for him. It was nobody's fault, I suppose, +though I do think the people she was with might have prevented her +from rushing out in the dark.' + +'They were frightened themselves. How could any one be blamed for her +death?' + +'Exactly. But if any one could be made responsible, I know Bamberger +would do for him in some way. He's a resentful sort of man if any one +does him an injury. Blood for blood is Bamberger's motto, every time. +One thing I'm sure of. He'll run down whoever was responsible for +that explosion, and he'll do for him, whoever he is, if it costs one +million to get a conviction. I wouldn't like to be the fellow!' + +'I can understand wishing to be revenged for the death of one's only +child,' said the lady thoughtfully. 'Cannot you?' + +The American turned his hard face to her. + +'Yes,' he said, 'I can. It's only human, after all.' + +She sighed and looked into the fire. She was married, but she was +childless, and that was a constant regret to her. Mr. Van Torp knew it +and understood. + +'To change the subject,' he said cheerfully, 'I suppose you need +money, don't you?' + +'Oh yes! Indeed I do!' + +Her momentary sadness had already disappeared, and there was almost a +ripple in her tone again as she answered. + +'How much?' asked the millionaire smiling. + +She shook her head and smiled too; and as she met his eyes she +settled herself and leaned far back in the shabby easy-chair. She was +wonderfully graceful and good to look at in her easy attitude. + +'I'm afraid to tell you how much!' She shook her head again, as she +answered. + +'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp in an encouraging tone, 'I've brought some +cash in my pocket, and if it isn't enough I'll get you some more +to-morrow. But I won't give you a cheque. It's too compromising. I +thought of that before I left New York, so I brought some English +notes from there.' + +'How thoughtful you always are for me!' + +'It's not much to do for a woman one likes. But I'm sorry if I've +brought too little. Here it is, anyway.' + +He produced a large and well-worn pocket-book, and took from it a +small envelope, which he handed to her. + +'Tell me how much more you'll need,' he said, 'and I'll give it to +you to-morrow. I'll put the notes between the pages of a new book and +leave it at your door. He wouldn't open a package that was addressed +to you from a bookseller's, would he?' + +'No,' answered the lady, her expression changing a little, 'I think he +draws the line at the bookseller.' + +'You see, this was meant for you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'There are your +initials on it.' + +She glanced at the envelope, and saw that it was marked in pencil with +the letters M.L. in one corner. + +'Thank you,' she said, but she did not open it. + +'You'd better count the notes,' suggested the millionaire. 'I'm open +to making mistakes myself.' + +The lady took from the envelope a thin flat package of new Bank of +England notes, folded together in four. Without separating them she +glanced carelessly at the first, which was for a hundred pounds, and +then counted the others by the edges. She counted four after the +first, and Mr. Van Torp watched her face with evident amusement. + +'You need more than that, don't you?' he asked, when she had finished. + +'A little more, perhaps,' she said quietly, though she could not quite +conceal her disappointment, as she folded the notes and slipped them +into the envelope again. 'But I shall try to make this last. Thank you +very much.' + +'I like you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'You're the real thing. They'd call +you a chief's daughter in the South Seas. But I'm not so mean as all +that. I only thought you might need a little cash at once. That's +all.' + +A loud knocking at the outer door prevented the lady from answering. + +She looked at Mr. Van Torp in surprise. + +'What's that?' she asked, rather anxiously. + +'I don't know,' he answered. 'He couldn't guess that you were here, +could he?' + +'Oh no! That's quite out of the question!' + +'Then I'll open the door,' said the millionaire, and he left the +sitting-room. + +The lady had not risen, and she still leaned back in her seat. She +idly tapped the knuckles of her gloved hand with the small envelope. + +The knocking was repeated, she heard the outer door opened, and the +sound of voices followed directly. + +'Oh!' Mr. Van Torp exclaimed in a tone of contemptuous surprise, 'it's +you, is it? Well, I'm busy just now. I can't see you till to-morrow.' + +'My business will not keep till to-morrow,' answered an oily voice in +a slightly foreign accent. + +At the very first syllables the lady rose quickly to her feet, and +resting one hand on the table she leant forward in the direction of +the door, with an expression that was at once eager and anxious, and +yet quite fearless. + +'What you call your business is going to wait my convenience,' said +Mr. Van Torp. 'You'll find me here to-morrow morning until eleven +o'clock.' + +From the sounds the lady judged that the American now attempted to +shut the door in his visitor's face, but that he was hindered and that +a scuffle followed. + +'Hold him!' cried the oily voice in a tone of command. 'Bring him in! +Lock the door!' + +It was clear enough that the visitor had not come alone, and that Mr. +Van Torp had been overpowered. The lady bit her salmon-coloured lip +angrily and contemptuously. + +A moment later a tall heavily-built man with thick fair hair, a long +moustache, and shifty blue eyes, rushed into the room and did not stop +till there was only the small table between him and the lady. + +'I've caught you! What have you to say?' he asked. + +'To you? Nothing!' + +She deliberately turned her back on her husband, rested one elbow on +the mantelpiece and set one foot upon the low fender, drawing up +her velvet gown over her instep. But a moment later she heard other +footsteps in the room, and turned her head to see Mr. Van Torp enter +the room between two big men who were evidently ex-policemen. The +millionaire, having failed to shut the door in the face of the three +men, had been too wise to attempt any further resistance. + +The fair man glanced down at the table and saw the envelope with his +wife's initials lying beside the tea things. She had dropped it there +when she had risen to her feet at the sound of his voice. He snatched +it away as soon as he saw the pencilled letters on it, and in a moment +he had taken out the notes and was looking over them. + +'I should like you to remember this, please,' he said, addressing the +two men who had accompanied him. 'This envelope is addressed to my +wife, under her initials, in the handwriting of Mr. Van Torp. Am +I right in taking it for your handwriting?' he inquired, in a +disagreeably polite tone, and turning towards the millionaire. + +'You are,' answered the American, in a perfectly colourless voice and +without moving a muscle. 'That's my writing.' + +'And this envelope,' continued the husband, holding up the notes +before the men, 'contains notes to the amount of four thousand one +hundred pounds.' + +'Five hundred pounds, you mean,' said the lady coldly. + +'See for yourself!' retorted the fair man, raising his eyebrows and +holding out the notes. + +'That's correct,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling and looking at the lady. +'Four thousand one hundred. Only the first one was for a hundred, and +the rest were thousands. I meant it for a little surprise, you see.' + +'Oh, how kind! How dear and kind!' cried the lady gratefully, and with +amazing disregard of her husband's presence. + +The two ex-policemen had not expected anything so interesting as this, +and their expressions were worthy of study. They had been engaged, +through a private agency, to assist and support an injured husband, +and afterwards to appear as witnesses of a vulgar clandestine meeting, +as they supposed. It was not the first time they had been employed on +such business, but they did not remember ever having had to deal with +two persons who exhibited such hardened indifference; and though the +incident of the notes was not new to them, they had never been in a +case where the amount of cash received by the lady at one time was so +very large. + +'It is needless,' said the fair man, addressing them both, 'to ask +what this money was for.' + +'Yes,' said Mr. Van Torp coolly. 'You needn't bother. But I'll call +your attention to the fact that the notes are not yours, and that I'd +like to see them put back into that envelope and laid on that table +before you go. You broke into my house by force anyhow. If you take +valuables away with you, which you found here, it's burglary in +England, whatever it may be in your country; and if you don't know it, +these two professional gentlemen do. So you just do as I tell you, if +you want to keep out of gaol.' + +The fair man had shown a too evident intention of slipping the +envelope into his own pocket, doubtless to be produced in evidence, +but Mr. Van Torp's final argument seemed convincing. + +'I have not the smallest intention of depriving my wife of the price +of my honour, sir. Indeed, I am rather flattered to find that you both +value it so highly.' + +Mr. Van Torp's hard face grew harder, and a very singular light came +into his eyes. He moved forwards till he was close to the fair man. + +'None of that!' he said authoritatively. 'If you say another word +against your wife in my hearing I'll make it the last you ever said to +anybody. Now you'd better be gone before I telephone for the police. +Do you understand?' + +The two ex-policemen employed by a private agency thought the case was +becoming more and more interesting; but at the same time they were +made vaguely nervous by Mr. Van Torp's attitude. + +'I think you are threatening me,' said the fair man, drawing back a +step, and leaving the envelope on the table. + +'No,' answered his adversary, 'I'm warning you off my premises, and +if you don't go pretty soon I'll telephone for the police. Is that a +threat?' + +The last question was addressed to the two men. + +'No, sir,' answered one of them. + +'It would hardly be to your advantage to have more witnesses of my +wife's presence here,' observed the fair man coldly, 'but as I intend +to take her home we may as well go at once. Come, Maud! The carriage +is waiting.' + +The lady, whose name was now spoken for the first time since she had +entered Mr. Van Torp's lodging, had not moved from the fireplace since +she had taken up her position there. Women are as clever as Napoleon +or Julius Caesar in selecting strong positions when there is to be an +encounter, and a fireplace, with a solid mantelpiece to lean against, +to strike, to cry upon or to cling to, is one of the strongest. +The enemy is thus reduced to prowling about the room and handling +knick-knacks while he talks, or smashing them if he is of a violent +disposition. + +The lady now leant back against the dingy marble shelf and laid one +white-gloved arm along it, in an attitude that was positively regal. +Her right hand might appropriately have been toying with the orb of +empire on the mantelpiece, and her left, which hung down beside her, +might have loosely held the sceptre. Mr. Van Torp, who often bought +large pictures, was reminded of one recently offered to him in +America, representing an empress. He would have bought the portrait if +the dealer could have remembered which empress it represented, but the +fact that he could not had seemed suspicious to Mr. Van Torp. It was +clearly the man's business to know empresses by sight. + +From her commanding position the Lady Maud refused her husband's +invitation to go home with him. + +'I shall certainly not go with you,' she said. 'Besides, I'm dining +early at the Turkish Embassy and we are going to the play. You need +not wait for me. I'll take care of myself this evening, thank you.' + +'This is monstrous!' cried the fair man, and with a peculiarly +un-English gesture he thrust his hand into his thick hair. + +The foreigner in despair has always amused the genuine Anglo-Saxon. +Lady Maud's lip did not curl contemptuously now, she did not raise +her eyebrows, nor did her eyes flash with scorn. On the contrary, +she smiled quite frankly, and the sweet ripple was in her voice, the +ripple that drove some men almost crazy. + +'You needn't make such a fuss,' she said. 'It's quite absurd, you +know. Mr. Van Torp is an old friend of mine, and you have known him +ever so long, and he is a man of business. You are, are you not?' she +asked, looking to the American for assent. + +'I'm generally thought to be that,' he answered. + +'Very well. I came here, to Mr. Van Torp's rooms in the Temple, +before going to dinner, because I wished to see him about a matter of +business, in what is a place of business. It's all ridiculous nonsense +to talk about having caught me--and worse. That money is for a +charity, and I am going to take it before your eyes, and thank Mr. Van +Torp for being so splendidly generous. Now go, and take those persons +with you, and let me hear no more of this!' + +Thereupon Lady Maud came forward from the mantelpiece and deliberately +took from the table the envelope which contained four thousand one +hundred pounds in new Bank of England notes; and she put it into the +bosom of her gown, and smiled pleasantly at her husband. + +Mr. Van Torp watched her with genuine admiration, and when she looked +at him and nodded her thanks again, he unconsciously smiled too, and +answered by a nod of approval. + +The fair-haired foreign gentleman turned to his two ex-policemen with +considerable dignity. + +'You have heard and seen,' he said impressively. 'I shall expect you +to remember all this when you are in the witness-box. Let us go.' +He made a sweeping bow to his wife and Mr. Van Torp. 'I wish you an +agreeable evening,' he said. + +Thereupon he marched out of the room, followed by his men, who each +made an awkward bow at nothing in particular before going out. Mr. Van +Torp followed them at some distance towards the outer door, judging +that as they had forced their way in they could probably find their +way out. He did not even go to the outer threshold, for the last of +the three shut the door behind him. + +When the millionaire came back Lady Maud was seated in the easy-chair, +leaning forward and looking thoughtfully into the fire. Assuredly no +one would have suspected from her composed face that anything unusual +had happened. She glanced at her friend when he came in, but did not +speak, and he began to walk up and down on the other side of the +table, with his hands behind him. + +'You've got pretty good nerves,' he said presently. + +'Yes,' answered Lady Maud, still watching the coals, 'they really are +rather good.' + +A long silence followed, during which she did not move and Mr. Van +Torp steadily paced the floor. + +'I didn't tell a fib, either,' she said at last. 'It's charity, in its +way.' + +'Certainly,' assented her friend. 'What isn't either purchase-money or +interest, or taxes, or a bribe, or a loan, or a premium, or a present, +or blackmail, must be charity, because it must be something, and it +isn't anything else you can name.' + +'A present may be a charity,' said Lady Maud, still thoughtful. + +'Yes,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'It may be, but it isn't always.' + +He walked twice the length of the room before he spoke again. + +'Do you think it's really to be war this time?' he asked, stopping +beside the table. 'Because if it is, I'll see a lawyer before I go to +Derbyshire.' + +Lady Maud looked up with a bright smile. Clearly she had been thinking +of something compared with which the divorce court was a delightful +contrast. + +'I don't know,' she answered. 'It must come sooner or later, because +he wants to be free to marry that woman, and as he has not the courage +to cut my throat, he must divorce me--if he can!' + +'I've sometimes thought he might take the shorter way,' said Van Torp. + +'He?' Lady Maud almost laughed, but her companion looked grave. + +'There's a thing called homicidal mania,' he said. 'Didn't he shoot a +boy in Russia a year ago?' + +'A young man--one of the beaters. But that was an accident.' + +'I'm not so sure. How about that poor dog at the Theobalds' last +September?' + +'He thought the creature was mad,' Lady Maud explained. + +'He knows as well as you do that there's no rabies in the British +Isles,' objected Mr. Van Torp. 'Count Leven never liked that dog for +some reason, and he shot him the first time he got a chance. He's +always killing things. Some day he'll kill you, I'm afraid.' + +'I don't think so,' answered the lady carelessly. 'If he does, I hope +he'll do it neatly! I should hate to be maimed or mangled.' + +'Do you know it makes me uncomfortable to hear you talk like that? I +wish you wouldn't! You can't deny that your husband's half a lunatic, +anyway. He was behaving like one here only a quarter of an hour ago, +and it's no use denying it.' + +'But I'm not denying anything!' + +'No, I know you're not,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'If you don't know how +crazy he is, I don't suppose any one else does. But your nerves are +better than mine, as I told you. The idea of killing anything makes +me uncomfortable, and when it comes to thinking that he really might +murder you some day--well, I can't stand it, that's all! If I didn't +know that you lock your door at night I shouldn't sleep, sometimes. +You do lock it, always, don't you?' + +'Oh yes!' + +'Be sure you do to-night. I wonder whether he is in earnest about the +divorce this time, or whether the whole scene was just bluff, to get +my money.' + +'I don't know,' answered Lady Maud, rising. 'He needs money, I +believe, but I'm not sure that he would try to get it just in that +way.' + +'Too bad? Even for him?' + +'Oh dear, no! Too simple! He's a tortuous person.' + +'He tried to pocket those notes with a good deal of directness!' +observed Mr. Van Torp. + +'Yes. That was an opportunity that turned up unexpectedly, but he +didn't know it would. How could he? He didn't come here expecting to +find thousands of pounds lying about on the table! It was easy enough +to know that I was here, of course. I couldn't go out of my own house +on foot, in a dinner-gown, and pick up a hansom, could I? I had one +called and gave the address, and the footman remembered it and told my +husband. There's nothing more foolish than making mysteries and giving +the cabman first one address and then another. If Boris is really +going to bring a suit, the mere fact that there was no concealment as +to where I was going this evening would be strong evidence, wouldn't +it? Evidence he cannot deny, too, since he must have learnt the +address from the footman, who heard me give it! And people who make no +secret of a meeting are not meeting clandestinely, are they?' + +'You argue that pretty well,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling. + +'And besides,' rippled Lady Maud's sweet voice, as she shook out the +folds of her black velvet, 'I don't care.' + +Her friend held up the fur-lined cloak and put it over her shoulders. +She fastened it at the neck and then turned to the fire for a moment +before leaving. + +'Rufus,' she said gravely, after a moment's pause, and looking down at +the coals, 'you're an angel.' + +'The others in the game don't think so,' answered Mr. Van Torp. + +'No one was ever so good to a woman as you've been to me,' said Maud. + +And all at once the joyful ring had died away from her voice and there +was another tone in it that was sweet and low too, but sad and tender +and grateful, all at once. + +'There's nothing to thank me for,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'I've often +told you so. But I have a good deal of reason to be grateful to you +for all you've given me.' + +'Nonsense!' returned the lady, and the sadness was gone again, but +not all the tenderness. 'I must be going,' she added a moment later, +turning away from the fire. + +'I'll take you to the Embassy in a hansom,' said the millionaire, +slipping on his overcoat. + +'No. You mustn't do that--we should be sure to meet some one at the +door. Are you going anywhere in particular? I'll drop you wherever you +like, and then go on. It will give us a few minutes more together.' + +'Goodness knows we don't get too many!' + +'No, indeed!' + +So the two went down the dismal stairs of the house in Hare Court +together. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The position of a successful lyric primadonna with regard to other +artists and the rest of the world is altogether exceptional, and +is not easy to explain. Her value for purposes of advertisement +apparently exceeds that of any other popular favourite, not to mention +the majority of royal personages. A respectable publisher has been +known to bring out a book in which he did not believe, solely because +a leading lyric soprano promised him to say in an interview that it +was the book of the year. Countless brands of cigars, cigarettes, +wines and liquors, have been the fashion with the flash crowd that +frequents public billiard-rooms and consumes unlimited tobacco and +drink, merely because some famous 'Juliet' or 'Marguerite' has +'consented' to lend her name to the articles in question; and half +the grog-shops on both sides of the Atlantic display to the admiring +street the most alarming pink and white caricatures, or monstrously +enlarged photographs, of the three or four celebrated lyric sopranos +who happen to be before the public at any one time. In the popular +mind those artists represent something which they themselves do not +always understand. There is a legend about each; she is either an +angel of purity and light, or a beautiful monster of iniquity; she +has turned the heads of kings--'kings' in a vaguely royal +plural--completely round on their shoulders, or she has built out of +her earnings a hospital for crippled children; the watery-sentimental +eye of the flash crowd in its cups sees in her a Phryne, a Mrs. Fry, +or a Saint Cecilia. Goethe said that every man must be either the +hammer or the anvil; the billiard-room public is sure that every +primadonna is a siren or a martyred wife, or else a public +benefactress, unless she is all three by turns, which is even more +interesting. + +In any case, the reporters are sure that every one wants to know just +what she thinks about everything. In the United States, for instance, +her opinion on political matters is often asked, and is advertised +with 'scare-heads' that would stop a funeral or arrest the attention +of a man on his way to the gallows. + +Then, too, she has her 'following' of 'girls,' thousands of whom have +her photograph, or her autograph, or both, and believe in her, and are +ready to scratch out the eyes of any older person who suggests that +she is not perfection in every way, or that to be a primadonna like +her ought not to be every girl's highest ambition. They not only +worship her, but many of them make real sacrifices to hear her sing; +for most of them are anything but well off, and to hear an opera means +living without little luxuries, and sometimes without necessaries, for +days together. Their devotion to their idol is touching and true; and +she knows it and is good-natured in the matter of autographs for them, +and talks about 'my matinée girls' to the reporters, as if those +eleven thousand virgins and more were all her younger sisters and +nieces. An actress, even the most gifted, has no such 'following.' The +greatest dramatic sopranos that ever sing Brunhilde and Kundry +enjoy no such popularity. It belongs exclusively to the nightingale +primadonnas, whose voices enchant the ear if they do not always +stir the blood. It may be explicable, but no explanation is at all +necessary, since the fact cannot be disputed. + +To this amazing popularity Margaret Donne had now attained; and she +was known to the matinée girls' respectful admiration as Madame +Cordova, to the public generally and to her comrades as Cordova, to +sentimental paragraph-writers as Fair Margaret, and to her friends as +Miss Donne, or merely as Margaret. Indeed, from the name each person +gave her in speaking of her, it was easy to know the class to which +each belonged. + +She had bought a house in London, because in her heart she still +thought England the finest country in the world, and had never felt +the least desire to live anywhere else. She had few relations left and +none whom she saw; for her father, the Oxford scholar, had not had +money, and they all looked with disapproval on the career she had +chosen. Besides, she had been very little in England since her +parents' death. Her mother's American friend, the excellent Mrs. +Rushmore, who had taken her under her wing, was now in Versailles, +where she had a house, and Margaret actually had the audacity to live +alone, rather than burden herself with a tiresome companion. + +Her courage in doing so was perhaps mistaken, considering what the +world is and what it generally thinks of the musical and theatrical +professions; and Mrs. Rushmore, who was quite powerless to influence +Margaret's conduct, did not at all approve of it. The girl's will had +always been strong, and her immense success had so little weakened +her belief in herself, or softened her character, that she had grown +almost too independent. The spirit of independence is not a fault in +women, but it is a defect in the eyes of men. Darwin has proved that +the dominant characteristic of male animals is vanity; and what is +to become of that if women show that they can do without us? If the +emancipation of woman had gone on as it began when we were boys, we +should by this time be importing wives for our sons from Timbuctoo or +the Friendly Islands. Happily, women are practical beings who rarely +stray far from the narrow path along which usefulness and pleasure may +still go hand in hand; for considering how much most women do that +is useful, the amount of pleasure they get out of life is perfectly +amazing; and when we try to keep up with them in the chase after +amusement we are surprised at the number of useful things they +accomplish without effort in twenty-four hours. + +But, indeed, women are to us very like the moon, which has shown the +earth only one side of herself since the beginning, though she has +watched and studied our world from all its sides through uncounted +ages. We men are alternately delighted, humiliated, and terrified when +women anticipate our wishes, perceive our weaknesses, and detect our +shortcomings, whether we be frisky young colts in the field or sober +stagers plodding along between the matrimonial shafts in harness and +blinkers. We pride ourselves on having the strength to smash the +shafts, shake off the harness, and kick the cart to pieces if we +choose, and there are men who can and do. But the man does not live +who knows what the dickens women are up to when he is going quietly +along the road, as a good horse should. Sometimes they are driving us, +and then there is no mistake about it; and sometimes they are just +sitting in the cart and dozing, and we can tell that they are behind +us by their weight; but very often we are neither driven by them nor +are we dragging them, and we really have not the faintest idea where +they are, so that we are reduced to telling ourselves, with a little +nervousness which we do not care to acknowledge, that it is noble and +beautiful to trust what we love. + +A part of the great feminine secret is the concealment of that +independence about which there has been so much talk in our time. As +for suffrage, wherever there is such a thing, the woman who does not +vote always controls far more men's votes than the woman who goes to +the polls, and has only her own vote to give. + +Margaret, the primadonna, did not want to vote for or against +anything; but she was a little too ready to assert that she could and +would lead her own life as she pleased, without danger to her good +name, because she had never done anything to be ashamed of. The +natural consequence was that she was gradually losing something +which is really much more worth having than commonplace, technical +independence. Her friend Lushington realised the change as soon as she +landed, and it hurt him to see it, because it seemed to him a great +pity that what he had thought an ideal, and therefore a natural +manifestation of art, should be losing the fine outlines that had +made it perfect to his devoted gaze. But this was not all. His rather +over-strung moral sense was offended as well as his artistic taste. +He felt that Margaret was blunting the sensibilities of her feminine +nature and wronging a part of herself, and that the delicate bloom +of girlhood was opening to a blossom that was somewhat too evidently +strong, a shade too vivid and more brilliant than beautiful. + +There were times when she reminded him of his mother, and those were +some of the most painful moments of his present life. It is true that +compared with Madame Bonanni in her prime, as he remembered her, +Margaret was as a lily of the valley to a giant dahlia; yet when he +recalled the sweet and healthy English girl he had known and loved in +Versailles three years ago, the vision was delicate and fairy-like +beside the strong reality of the successful primadonna. She was so +very sure of herself now, and so fully persuaded that she was not +accountable to any one for her doings, her tastes, or the choice of +her friends! If not actually like Madame Bonanni, she was undoubtedly +beginning to resemble two or three of her famous rivals in the +profession who were nearer to her own age. Her taste did not run in +the direction of white fox cloaks, named diamonds, and imperial jade +plates; she did not use a solid gold toothbrush with emeralds set in +the handle, like Ismail Pacha; bridge did not amuse her at all, nor +could she derive pleasure from playing at Monte Carlo; she did not +even keep an eighty-horse-power motor-car worth five thousand pounds. +Paul Griggs, who was old-fashioned, called motor-cars 'sudden-death +carts,' and Margaret was inclined to agree with him. She cared for +none of these things. + +Nevertheless there was a quiet thoroughgoing luxury in her existence, +an unseen private extravagance, such as Rufus Van Torp, the +millionaire, had never dreamt of. She had first determined to be a +singer in order to support herself, because she had been cheated of +a fortune by old Alvah Moon; but before she had actually made her +_début_ a handsome sum had been recovered for her, and though she was +not exactly what is now called rich, she was at least extremely well +off, apart from her professional earnings, which were very large +indeed. In the certainty that if her voice failed she would always +have a more than sufficient income for the rest of her life, and +considering that she was not under the obligation of supporting a +number of poor relations, it was not surprising that she should spend +a great deal of money on herself. + +It is not every one who can be lavish without going a little beyond +the finely-drawn boundary which divides luxury from extravagance; for +useless profusion is by nature as contrary to what is aesthetic as fat +in the wrong place, and is quite as sure to be seen. To spend well +what rich people are justified in expending over and above an ample +provision for the necessities and reasonable comforts of a large +existence is an art in itself, and the modest muse of good taste loves +not the rich man for his riches, nor the successful primadonna for the +thousands she has a right to throw away if she likes. + +Mr. Van Torp vaguely understood this, without at all guessing how the +great artist spent her money. He had understood at least enough to +hinder him from trying to dazzle her in the beginning of the New York +season, when he had brought siege against her. + +A week after her arrival in London, Margaret was alone at her piano +and Lushington was announced. Unlike the majority of musicians in real +fiction she had not been allowing her fingers to 'wander over the +keys,' a relaxation that not seldom leads to outer darkness, where the +consecutive fifth plays hide-and-seek with the falling sub-tonic to +superinduce gnashing of teeth in them that hear. Margaret was learning +her part in the _Elisir d'Amore_, and instead of using her voice she +was whistling from the score and playing the accompaniment. The old +opera was to be revived during the coming season with her and the +great Pompeo Stromboli, and she was obliged to work hard to have it +ready. + +The music-room had a polished wooden floor, and the furniture +consisted chiefly of a grand piano and a dozen chairs. The walls were +tinted a pale green; there were no curtains at the windows, because +they would have deadened sound, and a very small wood fire was burning +in an almost miniature fireplace quite at the other end of the room. +The sun had not quite set yet, and as the blinds were still open, +a lurid glare came in from the western sky, over the houses on the +opposite side of the wide square. There had been a heavy shower, but +the streets were already drying. One shaded electric lamp stood on the +desk of the piano, and the rest of the room was illuminated by the +yellowish daylight. + +Margaret was very much absorbed in her work, and did not hear the door +open; but the servant came slowly towards her, purposely making his +steps heard on the wooden floor in order to attract her attention. +When she stopped playing and whistling, and looked round, the man said +that Mr. Lushington was downstairs. + +'Ask him to come up,' she answered, without hesitation. + +She rose from the piano, went to the window and looked out at the +smoky sunset. + +Lushington entered the room in a few moments and saw only the outline +of her graceful figure, as if she were cut out in black against the +glare from the big window. She turned, and a little of the shaded +light from the piano fell upon her face, just enough to show him her +expression, and though her glad smile welcomed him, there was anxiety +in her brown eyes. He came forward, fair and supernaturally neat, as +ever, and much more self-possessed than in former days. It was not +their first meeting since she had landed, for he had been to see her +late in the afternoon on the day of her arrival, and she had expected +him; but she had felt a sort of constraint in his manner then, which +was new to her, and they had talked for half an hour about indifferent +things. Moreover, he had refused a second cup of tea, which was a sure +sign that something was wrong. So she had asked him to come again a +week later, naming the day, and she had been secretly disappointed +because he did not protest against being put off so long. She wondered +what had happened, for his letters, his cable to her when she had left +America, and the flowers he had managed to send on board the steamer, +had made her believe that he had not changed since they had parted +before Christmas. + +As she was near the piano she sat down on the stool, while he took a +small chair and established himself near the corner of the instrument, +at the upper end of the keyboard. The shaded lamp cast a little light +on both their faces, as the two looked at each other, and Margaret +realised that she was not only very fond of him, but that his whole +existence represented something she had lost and wished to get back, +but feared that she could never have again. For many months she had +not felt like her old self till a week ago, when he had come to see +her after she had landed. + +They had been in love with each other before she had begun her career, +and she would have married him then, but a sort of quixotism, which +was highly honourable if nothing else, had withheld him. He had felt +that his mother's son had no right to marry Margaret Donne, though she +had told him as plainly as a modest girl could that she was not of the +same opinion. Then had come Logotheti's mad attempt to carry her off +out of the theatre, after the dress rehearsal before her début, and +Madame Bonanni and Lushington between them had spirited her away just +in time. After that it had been impossible for him to keep up the +pretence of avoiding her, and a sort of intimacy had continued, which +neither of them quite admitted to be love, while neither would have +called it mere friendship. + +The most amazing part of the whole situation was that Margaret had +continued to see Logotheti as if he had not actually tried to carry +her off in his motor-car, very much against her will. And in spite of +former jealousies and a serious quarrel Logotheti and Lushington spoke +to each other when they met. Possibly Lushington consented to treat +him civilly because the plot for carrying off Margaret had so +completely failed that its author had got himself locked up on +suspicion of being a fugitive criminal. Lushington, feeling that he +had completely routed his rival on that occasion, could afford to be +generous. Yet the man of letters, who was a born English gentleman on +his father's side, and who was one altogether by his bringing up, was +constantly surprised at himself for being willing to shake hands with +a Greek financier who had tried to run away with an English girl; and +possibly, in the complicated workings of his mind and conflicting +sensibilities, half Anglo-Saxon and half Southern French, his present +conduct was due to the fact that Margaret Donne had somehow ceased to +be a 'nice English girl' when she joined the cosmopolitan legion that +manoeuvres on the international stage of 'Grand Opera.' How could a +'nice English girl' remain herself if she associated daily with +such people as Pompeo Stromboli, Schreiermeyer, Herr Tiefenbach and +Signorina Baci-Roventi, the Italian contralto who could pass for a man +so well that she was said to have fought a real duel with sabres and +wounded her adversary before he discovered that she was the very lady +he had lately left for another--a regular Mademoiselle de Maupin! Had +not Lushington once seen her kiss Margaret on both cheeks in a moment +of enthusiastic admiration? He was not the average young man who falls +in love with a singer, either; he knew the stage and its depths only +too well, for he had his own mother's life always before him, a +perpetual reproach. + +Though Margaret had at first revolted inwardly against the details of +her professional surroundings, she had grown used to them by sure and +fatal degrees, and things that would once have disgusted her were +indifferent to her now. Men who have been educated in conditions of +ordinary refinement and who have volunteered in the ranks or gone to +sea before the mast have experienced something very like what befell +Margaret; but men are not delicately nurtured beings whose bloom is +damaged by the rough air of reality, and the camp and the forecastle +are not the stage. Perhaps nothing that is necessary shocks really +sensible people; it is when disagreeable things are perfectly useless +and quite avoidable--in theory--that they are most repugnant to men +like Edmund Lushington. He had warned Margaret of what was in store +for her, before she had taken the final step; but he had not warned +himself that in spite of her bringing-up she might get used to it +all and end by not resenting it any more than the rest of the +professionals with whom she associated. It was this that chilled him. + +'I hope I'm not interrupting your work,' he said as he sat down. + +'My work?' + +'I heard you studying when they let me in.' + +'Oh!' + +His voice sounded very indifferent, and a pause followed Margaret's +mild ejaculation. + +'It's rather a thankless opera for the soprano, I always think,' he +observed. 'The tenor has it all his own way.' + +'_The Elisir d'Amore_?' + +'Yes.' + +'I've not rehearsed it yet,' said Margaret rather drearily. 'I don't +know.' + +He evidently meant to talk of indifferent things again, as at their +last meeting, and she felt that she was groping in the dark for +something she had lost. There was no sympathy in his voice, no +interest, and she was inclined to ask him plainly what was the matter; +but her pride hindered her still, and she only looked at him with an +expression of inquiry. He laid his hand on the corner of the piano, +and his eyes rested on the shaded lamp as if it attracted him. +Perhaps he wondered why he had nothing to say to her, and why she was +unwilling to help the conversation a little, since her new part might +be supposed to furnish matter for a few commonplace phrases. The smoky +sunset was fading outside and the room was growing dark. + +'When do the rehearsals begin?' he asked after a long interval, and as +if he was quite indifferent to the answer. + +'When Stromboli comes, I suppose.' + +Margaret turned on the piano stool, so as to face the desk, and she +quietly closed the open score and laid it on the little table on her +other side, as if not caring to talk of it any more, but she did not +turn to him again. + +'You had a great success in New York,' he said, after some time. + +To this she answered nothing, but she shrugged her shoulders a little, +and though he was not looking directly at her he saw the movement, +and was offended by it. Such a little shrug was scarcely a breach of +manners, but it was on the verge of vulgarity in his eyes, because +he was persuaded that she had begun to change for the worse. He had +already told himself that her way of speaking was not what it had been +last year, and he felt that if the change went on she would set +his teeth on edge some day; and that he was growing more and more +sensitive, while she was continually becoming less so. + +Margaret could not have understood that, and would have been hurt if +he had tried to explain it. She was disappointed, because his letters +had made her think that she was going to find him just as she had left +him, as indeed he had been till the moment when he saw her after her +arrival; but then he had changed at once. He had been disappointed +then, as she was now, and chilled, as she was now; he had felt that he +was shrinking from her then, as she now shrank from him. He suffered a +good deal in his quiet way, for he had never known any woman who had +moved him as she once had; but she suffered too, and in a much more +resentful way. Two years of maddening success had made her very sure +that she had a prime right to anything she wanted--within reason! If +she let him alone he would sit out his half-hour's visit, making an +idle remark now and then, and he would go away; but she would not let +him do that. It was too absurd that after a long and affectionate +intimacy they should sit there in the soft light and exchange +platitudes. + +'Tom,' she said, suddenly resolving to break the ice, 'we have +been much too good friends to behave in this way to each other. If +something has come between us, I think you ought to tell me--don't +you?' + +'I wish I could,' Lushington answered, after a moment's hesitation. + +'If you know, you can,' said Margaret, taking the upper hand and +meaning to keep it. + +'That does not quite follow.' + +'Oh yes, it does,' retorted Margaret energetically. 'I'll tell you +why. If it's anything on your side, it's not fair and honest to keep +it from me after writing to me as you have written all winter. But if +it's the other way, there's nothing you can possibly know about me +which you cannot tell me, and if you think there is, then some one has +been telling you what is not true.' + +'It's nothing against you; I assure you it's not.' + +'Then there is a woman in the case. Why should you not say so frankly? +We are not bound to each other in any way, I'm sure. I believe I once +asked you to marry me, and you refused!' She laughed rather sharply. +'That does not constitute an engagement!' + +'You put the point rather brutally, I think,' said Lushington. + +'Perhaps, but isn't it quite true? It was not said in so many words, +but you knew I meant it, and but for a quixotic scruple of yours we +should have been married. I remember asking you what we were making +ourselves miserable about, since we both cared so much. It was at +Versailles, the last time we walked together, and we had stopped, and +I was digging little round holes in the road with my parasol. I'm not +going to ask you again to marry me, so there is no reason in the world +why you should behave differently to me if you have fallen in love +with some one else.' + +'I'm not in love with any one,' said Lushington sharply. + +'Then something you have heard about me has changed you in spite of +what you say, and I have a right to know what it is, because I've done +nothing I'm ashamed of.' + +'I've not heard a word against you,' he answered, almost angrily. 'Why +do you imagine such things?' + +'Because I'm honest enough to own that your friendship has meant a +great deal to me, even at a distance; and as I see that it has broken +its neck at some fence or other, I'm natural enough to ask what the +jump was like!' + +He would not answer. He only looked at her suddenly for an instant, +with a slight pinching of the lids, and his blue eyes glittered a +little; then he turned away with a displeased air. + +'Am I just or not?' Margaret asked, almost sternly. + +'Yes, you are just,' he said, for it was impossible not to reply. + +'And do you think it is just to me to change your manner altogether, +without giving me a reason? I don't!' + +'You will force me to say something I would rather not say.' + +'That is what I am trying to do,' Margaret retorted. + +'Since you insist on knowing the truth,' answered Lushington, yielding +to what was very like necessity, 'I think you are very much changed +since I saw you last. You do not seem to me the same person.' + +For a moment Margaret looked at him with something like wonder, and +her lips parted, though she said nothing. Then they met again and shut +very tight, while her brown eyes darkened till they looked almost +black; she turned a shade paler, too, and there was something almost +tragic in her face. + +'I'm sorry,' Lushington said, watching her, 'but you made me tell +you.' + +'Yes,' she answered slowly. 'I made you tell me, and I'm glad I did. +So I have changed as much as that, have I? In two years!' + +She folded her hands on the little shelf of the empty music desk, bent +far forwards and looked down between the polished wooden bars at the +strings below, as if she were suddenly interested in the mechanism of +the piano. + +Lushington turned his eyes to the darkening windows, and both sat thus +in silence for some time. + +'Yes,' she repeated at last, 'I'm glad I made you tell me. It explains +everything very well.' + +Still Lushington said nothing, and she was still examining the +strings. Her right hand stole to the keys, and she pressed down one +note so gently that it did not strike; she watched the little hammer +that rose till it touched the string and then fell back into its +place. + +'You said I should change--I remember your words.' Her voice was quiet +and thoughtful, whatever she felt. 'I suppose there is something about +me now that grates on your nerves.' + +There was no resentment in her tone, nor the least intonation of +sarcasm. But Lushington said nothing; he was thinking of the time when +he had thought her an ideal of refined girlhood, and had believed in +his heart that she could never stand the life of the stage, and would +surely give it up in sheer disgust, no matter how successful she might +be. Yet now, she did not even seem offended by what he had told her. +So much the better, he thought; for he was far too truthful to take +back one word in order to make peace, even if she burst into tears. +Possibly, of the two, his reflections were sadder than hers just then, +but she interrupted them with a question. + +'Can you tell me of any one thing I do that jars on you?' she asked. +'Or is it what I say, or my way of speaking? I should like to know.' + +'It's nothing, and it's everything,' answered Lushington, taking +refuge in a commonplace phrase, 'and I suppose no one else would ever +notice it. But I'm so awfully sensitive about certain things. You know +why.' + +She knew why; yet it was with a sort of wonder that she asked herself +what there was in her tone or manner that could remind him of his +mother; but though she had spoken quietly, and almost humbly, a cold +and secret anger was slowly rising in her. The great artist, who held +thousands spellbound and breathless, could not submit easily to losing +in such a way the only friendship that had ever meant much to her. The +man who had just told her that she had lost her charm for him meant +that she was sinking to the level of her surroundings, and he was the +only man she had ever believed that she loved. Two years ago, and even +less, she would have been generously angry with him, and would have +spoken out, and perhaps all would have been over; but those two years +of life on the stage had given her the self-control of an actress when +she chose to exercise it, and she had acquired an artificial command +of her face and voice which had not belonged to her original frank and +simple self. Perhaps Lushington knew that too, as a part of the change +that offended his taste. At twenty-two, Margaret Donne would have +coloured, and would have given him a piece of her young mind very +plainly; Margarita da Cordova, aged twenty-four, turned a trifle +paler, shut her lips, and was frigidly angry, as if some ignorant +music-hall reporter had attacked her singing in print. She was +convinced that Lushington was mistaken, and that he was merely +yielding to that love of finding fault with what he liked which a +familiar passage in Scripture attributes to the Divinity, but with +which many of us are better acquainted in our friends; in her opinion, +such fault-finding was personal criticism, and it irritated her +vanity, over-fed with public adulation and the sincere praise of +musical critics. 'If you don't like me as I am, there are so many +people who do that you don't count!' That was the sub-conscious form +of her mental retort, and it was in the manner of Cordova, and not of +Margaret. + +Once upon a time, when his exaggerated sense of honour was driving him +away, she had said rather foolishly that if he left her she would not +answer for herself. She had felt a little desperate, but he had told +her quietly that he, who knew her, would answer for her, and her mood +had changed, and she had been herself again. But it was different this +time. He meant much more than he said; he meant that she had lowered +herself, and she was sure that he would not 'answer' for her now. On +the contrary, it was his intention to let her know that he no longer +believed in her, and perhaps no longer respected or trusted her. Yet, +little by little, during their last separation, his belief in her, and +his respect for her, had grown in her estimation, because they alone +still connected her with the maidenliness and feminine refinement in +which she had grown up. Lushington had broken a link that had been +strong. + +She was at one of the cross-roads of her life; she was at a turning +point in the labyrinth, after passing which it would be hard to come +back and find the right way. Perhaps old Griggs could help her if it +occurred to him; but that was unlikely, for he had reached the age +when men who have seen much take people as they find them. Logotheti +would certainly not help her, though she knew instinctively that she +was still to him what she had always been, and that if he ever had the +opportunity he sought, her chances of escape would be small indeed. + +Therefore she felt more lonely after Lushington had spoken than she +had ever felt since her parents had died, and much more desperate. But +nothing in the world would have induced her to let him know it, and +her anger against him rose slowly, and it was cold and enduring, as +that sort of resentment is. She was so proud that it gave her the +power to smile carelessly after a minute's silence, and she asked him +some perfectly idle questions about the news of the day. He should +not know that he had hurt her very much; he should not suspect for a +moment that she wished him to go away. + +She rose presently and turned up the lights, rang the bell, and +when the window curtains were drawn, and tea was brought, she did +everything she could to make Lushington feel at his ease; she did it +out of sheer pride, for she did not meditate any vengeance, but was +only angry, and wished to get rid of him without a scene. + +At last he rose to go away, and when he held out his hand there was a +dramatic moment. + +'I hope you're not angry with me,' he said with a cheerful smile, for +he was quite sure that she bore him no lasting grudge. + +'I?' + +She laughed so frankly and musically after pronouncing the syllable, +that he took it for a disclaimer. + +So he went away, shutting the door after him in a contented way, +not sharply as if he were annoyed with her, nor very softly and +considerately as if he were sorry for her, but with a moderate, +businesslike snap of the latch as if everything were all right. + +She went back to the piano when she was alone, and sat down on the +music-stool, but her hands did not go to the keys till she was sure +that Lushington was already far from the house. + +A few chords, and then she suddenly began to sing with the full power +of her voice, as if she were on the stage. She sang Rosina's song in +the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ as she had never sung it in her life, and +for the first time the words pleased her. + + '... una vipera sarò!' + +What 'nice English girl' ever told herself or any one else that she +would be a 'viper'? + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Two days later Margaret was somewhat surprised by an informal +invitation to dine at the Turkish Embassy. The Ambassador had lately +been transferred to London from Paris, where she had known him through +Logotheti and had met him two or three times. The latter, as a +Fanariote Greek, was a Turkish subject, and although he had once told +Margaret that the Turks had murdered his father in some insurrection, +and though he himself might have hesitated to spend much time in +Constantinople, he nevertheless maintained friendly relations with +the representatives of what was his country; and for obvious reasons, +connected with Turkish finance, they treated him with marked +consideration. On general principles and in theory Turks and Greeks +hate each other; in practice they can live very amicably side by side. +In the many cases in which Armenians have been attacked and killed by +the Turks no Greek has ever been hurt except by accident; on the other +hand, none has lifted a hand to defend an Armenian in distress, +which sufficiently proves that the question of religion has not been +concerned at all. + +Margaret accepted the Ambassador's invitation, feeling tolerably sure +of meeting Logotheti at the dinner. If there were any other women they +would be of the meteoric sort, the fragments of former social planets +that go on revolving in the old orbit, more or less divorced, +bankrupt, or otherwise unsound, though still smart, the kind of women +who are asked to fill a table on such occasions 'because they +won't mind'--that is to say, they will not object to dining with a +primadonna or an actress whose husband has become nebulous and whose +reputation is mottled. The men, of whom there might be several, would +be either very clever or overpoweringly noble, because all geniuses +and all peers are supposed to like their birds of paradise a little +high. I wonder why. I have met and talked with a good many men +of genius, from Wagner and Liszt to Zola and some still living +contemporaries, and, really, their general preference for highly +correct social gatherings has struck me as phenomenal. There are even +noblemen who seem to be quite respectable, and pretend that they would +rather talk to an honest woman at a dinner party than drink bumpers of +brut champagne out of Astarte's satin slipper. + +Mustapha Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador, was a fair, pale man of fifty, +who had spiritual features, quiet blue eyes, and a pleasant smile. His +hands were delicately made and very white, but not effeminate. He had +been educated partly in England, and spoke English without difficulty +and almost without accent, as Logotheti did. He came forward to meet +Margaret as she entered the room, and he greeted her warmly, thanking +her for being so good as to come at short notice. + +Logotheti was the next to take her hand, and she looked at him +attentively when her eyes met his, wondering whether he, too, would +think her changed. He himself was not, at all events. Mustapha Pasha, +a born Musalman and a genuine Turk, never arrested attention in an +English drawing-room by his appearance; but Constantino Logotheti, the +Greek, was an Oriental in looks as well as in character. His beautiful +eyes were almond-shaped, his lips were broad and rather flat, and the +small black moustache grew upwards and away from them so as not to +hide his mouth at all. He had an even olive complexion, and any judge +of men would have seen at a glance that he was thoroughly sound and +as strong as a professional athlete. His coat had a velvet collar; a +single emerald stud, worth several thousand pounds, diffused a green +refulgence round itself in the middle of his very shiny shirt front; +his waistcoat was embroidered and adorned with diamond buttons, his +trousers were tight, and his name, with those of three or four other +European financiers, made it alternately possible or impossible for +impecunious empires and kingdoms to raise money in England, France and +Germany. In matters of business, in the East, the Jew fears the Greek, +the Greek fears the Armenian, the Armenian fears the Persian, and +the Persian fears only Allah. One reason why the Jews do not care to +return to Palestine and Asia Minor is that they cannot get a living +amongst Christians and Mohammedans, a plain fact which those +eminent and charitable European Jews who are trying to draw their +fellow-believers eastward would do well to consider. Even in Europe +there are far more poor Jews than Christians realise; in Asia there +are hardly any rich ones. The Venetians were too much for Shylock, +and he lost his ducats and his daughter; amongst Christian Greeks, +Christian Armenians, and Musalman Persians, from Constantinople to +Tiflis, Teheran, Bagdad and Cairo, the poor man could not have saved +sixpence a year. + +This is not a mere digression, since it may serve to define +Logotheti's position in the scale of the financial forces. + +Margaret took his hand and looked at him just a little longer than she +had looked at Mustapha Pasha. He never wrote to her, and never took +the trouble to let her know where he was; but when they met his time +was hers, and when he could be with her he seemed to have no other +pre-occupation in life. + +'I came over from Paris to-day,' he said. 'When may I come and see +you?' + +That was always the first question, for he never wasted time. + +'To-morrow, if you like. Come late--about seven.' + +The Ambassador was on her other side. A little knot of men and one +lady were standing near the fire in an expectant sort of way, ready to +be introduced to Margaret. She saw the bony head of Paul Griggs, and +she smiled at him from a distance. He was talking to a very handsome +and thoroughbred looking woman in plain black velvet, who had the most +perfectly beautiful shoulders Margaret had ever seen. + +Mustapha Pasha led the Primadonna to the group. + +'Lady Maud,' he said to the beauty, 'this is my old friend Señorita da +Cordova. Countess Leven,' he added, for Margaret's benefit. + +She had not met him more than three times, but she did not resent +being called his old friend. It was well meant, she thought. + +Lady Maud held out her hand cordially. + +'I've wanted to know you ever so long,' she said, in her sweet low +voice. + +'That's very kind of you,' Margaret answered. + +It is not easy to find a proper reply to people who say they have long +hoped to meet you, but Griggs came to the rescue, as he shook hands in +his turn. + +'That was not a mere phrase,' he said with a smile. 'It's quite true. +Lady Maud wanted me to give her a letter to you a year ago.' + +'Indeed I did,' asseverated the beauty, nodding, 'but Mr. Griggs said +he didn't know you well enough!' + +'You might have asked me,' observed Logotheti. 'I'm less cautious than +Griggs.' + +'You're too exotic,' retorted Lady Maud, with a ripple in her voice. + +The adjective described the Greek so well that the others laughed. + +'Exotic,' Margaret repeated the word thoughtfully. + +'For that matter,' put in Mustapha Pasha with a smile, 'I can hardly +be called a native!' + +The Countess Leven looked at him critically. + +'You could pass for one,' she said, 'but Monsieur Logotheti couldn't.' +The other men, whom Margaret did not know, had been listening in +silence, and maintained their expectant attitude. In the pause which +followed Lady Maud's remark the Ambassador introduced them in foreign +fashion: one was a middle-aged peer who wore gold-rimmed spectacles +and looked like a student or a man of letters; another was the most +successful young playwright of the younger generation, and he wore a +very good coat and was altogether well turned out, for in his heart he +prided himself on being the best groomed man in London; a third was +a famous barrister who had a crisp and breezy way with him that made +flat calms in conversation impossible. Lastly, a very disagreeable +young man, who seemed a mere boy, was introduced to the Primadonna. + +'Mr. Feist,' said the Ambassador, who never forgot names. + +Margaret was aware of a person with an unhealthy complexion, thick +hair of a dead-leaf brown colour, and staring blue eyes that made her +think of glass marbles. The face had an unnaturally youthful look, and +yet, at the same time, there was something profoundly vicious about +it. Margaret wondered who in the world the young man might be and why +he was at the Turkish Embassy, apparently invited there to meet her. +She at once supposed that in spite of his appearance he must have some +claim to celebrity. + +'I'm a great admirer of yours, Señorita,' said Mr. Feist in a womanish +voice and with a drawl. 'I was in the Metropolitan in New York when +you sang in the dark and prevented a panic. I suppose that was about +the finest thing any singer ever did.' + +Margaret smiled pleasantly, though she felt the strongest repulsion +for the man. + +'I happened to be on the stage,' she said modestly. 'Any of the others +would have done the same.' + +'Well,' drawled Mr. Feist, 'may be. I doubt it.' + +Dinner was announced. + +'Will you keep house for me?' asked the Ambassador of Lady Maud. + +'There's something rather appropriate about your playing Ambassadress +here,' observed Logotheti. + +Margaret heard but did not understand that her new acquaintance was +a Russian subject. Mustapha Pasha held out his arm to take her in to +dinner. The spectacled peer took in Lady Maud, and the men straggled +in. At table Lady Maud sat opposite the Pasha, with the peer on her +right and the barrister on her left. Margaret was on the right of the +Ambassador, on whose other side Griggs was placed, and Logotheti +was Margaret's other neighbour. Feist and the young playwright were +together, between Griggs and the nobleman. + +Margaret glanced round the table at the people and wondered about +them. She had heard of the barrister and the novelist, and the peer's +name had a familiar sound that suggested something unusual, though she +could not quite remember what it was. It might be pictures, or the +north pole, or the divorce court, or a new idiot asylum; it would +never matter much. The new acquaintances on whom her attention fixed +itself were Lady Maud, who attracted her strongly, and Mr. Feist, +who repelled her. She wished she could speak Greek in order to ask +Logotheti who the latter was and why he was present. To judge by +appearances he was probably a rich young American who travelled and +frequented theatres a good deal, and who wished to be able to say +that he knew Cordova. He had perhaps arrived lately with a letter +of introduction to the Ambassador, who had asked him to the first +nondescript informal dinner he gave, because the man would not have +fitted in anywhere else. + +Logotheti began to talk at once, while Mustapha Pasha plunged into a +political conversation with Griggs. + +'I'm much more glad to see you than you can imagine,' the Greek said, +not in an undertone, but just so softly that no one else could hear +him. + +'I'm not good at imagining,' answered Margaret. 'But I'm glad you are +here. There are so many new faces.' + +'Happily you are not shy. One of your most enviable qualities is your +self-possession.' + +'You're not lacking in that way either,' laughed Margaret. 'Unless you +have changed very much.' + +'Neither of us has changed much since last year. I only wish you +would!' + +Margaret turned her head to look at him. + +'So you think I am not changed!' she said, with a little pleased +surprise in her tone. + +'Not a bit. If anything, you have grown younger in the last two +years.' + +'Does that mean more youthful? More frisky? I hope not!' + +'No, not at all. What I see is the natural effect of vast success on a +very, nice woman. Formerly, even after you had begun your career, +you had some doubts as to the ultimate result. The future made you +restless, and sometimes disturbed the peace of your face a little, +when you thought about it too much. That's all gone now, and you are +your real self, as nature meant you to be.' + +'My real self? You mean, the professional singer!' + +'No. A great artist, in the person of a thoroughly nice woman.' + +Margaret had thought that blushing was a thing of the past with her, +but a soft colour rose in her cheeks now, from sheer pleasure at what +he had said. + +'I hope you don't think it impertinent of me to tell you so,' said +Logotheti with a slight intonation of anxiety. + +'Impertinent!' cried Margaret. 'It's the nicest thing any one has said +to me for months, and thank goodness I'm not above being pleased.' + +Nor was Logotheti above using any art that could please her. His +instinct about women, finding no scruples in the way, had led him into +present favour by the shortest road. It is one thing to say brutally +that all women like flattery; it is quite another to foresee just what +form of flattery they will like. People who do not know professional +artistic life from the inner side are much too ready to cry out that +first-class professionals will swallow any amount of undiscriminating +praise. The ability to judge their own work is one of the gifts which +place them above the second class. + +'I said what I thought,' observed Logotheti with a sudden air of +conscientious reserve. 'For once in our acquaintance, I was not +thinking of pleasing you. And then I was afraid that I had displeased +you, as I so often have.' + +The last words were spoken with a regret that was real. + +'I have forgiven you,' said Margaret quietly; 'with conditions!' she +added, as an afterthought, and smiling. + +'Oh, I know--I'll never do it again.' + +'That's what a runaway horse seems to say when he walks quietly home, +with his head down and his ears limp, after nearly breaking one's +neck!' + +'I was a born runaway,' said Logotheti meekly, 'but you have cured +me.' + +In the pause that followed this speech, Mr. Feist leaned forward and +spoke to Margaret across the table. + +'I think we have a mutual friend, Madame,' he said. + +'Indeed?' Margaret spoke coolly; she did not like to be called +'Madame' by people who spoke English. + +'Mr. Van Torp,' explained the young man. + +'Yes,' Margaret said, after a moment's hesitation, 'I know Mr. Van +Torp; he came over on the same steamer.' + +The others at the table were suddenly silent, and seemed to be +listening. Lady Maud's clear eyes rested on Mr. Feist's face. + +'He's quite a wonderful man, I think,' observed the latter. + +'Yes,' assented the Primadonna indifferently. + +'Don't you think he is a wonderful man?' insisted Mr. Feist, with his +disagreeable drawl. + +'I daresay he is,' Margaret answered, 'but I don't know him very +well.' + +'Really? That's funny!' + +'Why?' + +'Because I happen to know that he thinks everything of you, Madame +Cordova. That's why I supposed, you were intimate friends.' + +The others had listened hitherto in a sort of mournful silence, +distinctly bored. Lady Maud's eyes now turned to Margaret, but the +latter still seemed perfectly indifferent, though she was wishing that +some one else would speak. Griggs turned to Mr. Feist, who was next to +him. + +'You mean that he is a wonderful man of business, perhaps,' he said. + +'Well, we all know he's that, anyway,' returned his neighbour. 'He's +not exactly a friend of mine, not exactly!' A meaning smile wrinkled +the unhealthy face and suddenly made it look older. 'All the same, I +think he's quite wonderful. He's not merely an able man, he's a man of +powerful intellect.' + +'A Nickel Napoleon,' suggested the barrister, who was bored to death +by this time, and could not imagine why Lady Maud followed the +conversation with so much interest. + +'Your speaking of nickel,' said the peer, at her elbow, 'reminds me of +that extraordinary new discovery--let me see--what is it?' + +'America?' suggested the barrister viciously. + +'No,' said his lordship, with perfect gravity, 'it's not that. Ah yes, +I remember! It's a process for making nitric acid out of air.' + +Lady Maud nodded and smiled, as if she knew all about it, but her eyes +were again scrutinising Mr. Feist's face. Her neighbour, whose hobby +was applied science, at once launched upon a long account of the +invention. From time to time the beauty nodded and said that she quite +understood, which was totally untrue, but well meant. + +'That young man has the head of a criminal,' said the barrister on her +other side, speaking very low. + +She bent her head very slightly, to show that she had heard, and she +continued to listen to the description of the new process. By this +time every one was talking again. Mr. Feist was in conversation with +Griggs, and showed his profile to the barrister, who quietly studied +the retreating forehead and the ill-formed jaw, the latter plainly +discernible to a practised eye, in spite of the round cheeks. The +barrister was a little mad on the subject of degeneracy, and knew that +an unnaturally boyish look in a grown man is one of the signs of it. +In the course of a long experience at the bar he had appeared in +defence of several 'high-class criminals.' By way of comparing Mr. +Feist with a perfectly healthy specimen of humanity, he turned to look +at Logotheti beside him. Margaret was talking with the Ambassador, and +the Greek was just turning to talk to his neighbour, so that their +eyes met, and each waited for the other to speak first. + +'Are you a judge of faces?' asked the barrister after a moment. + +'Men of business have to be, to some extent,' answered Logotheti. + +'So do lawyers. What should you say was the matter with that one?' + +It was impossible to doubt that he was speaking of the only abnormal +head at the table, and Logotheti looked across the wide table at Mr. +Feist for several seconds before he answered. + +'Drink,' he said in an undertone, when he had finished his +examination. + +'Yes. Anything else?' + +'May go mad any day, I should think,' observed Logotheti. + +'Do you know anything about him?' + +'Never saw him before.' + +'And we shall probably never see him again,' said the Englishman. +'That's the worst of it. One sees such heads occasionally, but one +very rarely hears what becomes of them.' + +The Greek did not care a straw what became of Mr. Feist's head, for he +was waiting to renew his conversation with Margaret. + +Mustapha Pasha told her that she should go to Constantinople some day +and sing to the Sultan, who would give her a pretty decoration in +diamonds; and she laughed carelessly and answered that it might be +very amusing. + +'I shall be very happy to show you the way,' said the Pasha. 'Whenever +you have a fancy for the trip, promise to let me know.' + +Margaret had no doubt that he was quite in earnest, and would enjoy +the holiday vastly. She was used to such kind offers and knew how to +laugh at them, though she was very well aware that they were not made +in jest. + +'I have a pretty little villa on the Bosphorus,' said the Ambassador, +'If you should ever come to Constantinople it is at your disposal, +with everything in it, as long as you care to use it.' + +'It's too good of you!' she answered. 'But I have a small house of my +own here which is very comfortable, and I like London.' + +'I know,' answered the Pasha blandly; 'I only meant to suggest a +little change.' + +He smiled pleasantly, as if he had meant nothing, and there was a +pause, of which Logotheti took advantage. + +'You are admirable,' he said. + +'I have had much more magnificent invitations,' she answered. 'You +once wished to give me your yacht as a present if I would only make +a trip to Crete--with a party of archaeologists! An archduke once +proposed to take me for a drive in a cab!' + +'If I remember,' said Logotheti, 'I offered you the owner with the +yacht. But I fancy you thought me too "exotic," as Countess Leven +calls me.' + +'Oh, much!' Margaret laughed again, and then lowered her voice, 'by +the bye, who is she?' + +'Lady Maud? Didn't you know her? She is Lord Creedmore's daughter, one +of seven or eight, I believe. She married a Russian in the diplomatic +service, four years ago--Count Leven--but everybody here calls her +Lady Maud. She hadn't a penny, for the Creedmores are poor. Leven was +supposed to be rich, but there are all sorts of stories about him, and +he's often hard up. As for her, she always wears that black velvet +gown, and I've been told that she has no other. I fancy she gets a new +one every year. But people say--' + +Logotheti broke off suddenly. + +'What do they say?' Margaret was interested. + +'No, I shall not tell you, because I don't believe it.' + +'If you say you don't believe the story, what harm can there be in +telling it?' + +'No harm, perhaps. But what is the use of repeating a bit of wicked +gossip?' + +Margaret's curiosity was roused about the beautiful Englishwoman. + +'If you won't tell me, I may think it is something far worse!' + +'I'm sure you could not imagine anything more unlikely!' + +'Please tell me! Please! I know it's mere idle curiosity, but you've +roused it, and I shall not sleep unless I know.' + +'And that would be bad for your voice.' + +'Of course! Please--' + +Logotheti had not meant to yield, but he could not resist her winning +tone. + +'I'll tell you, but I don't believe a word of it, and I hope you will +not either. The story is that her husband found her with Van Torp +the other evening in rooms he keeps in the Temple, and there was an +envelope on the table addressed to her in his handwriting, in which +there were four thousand one hundred pounds in notes.' + +Margaret looked thoughtfully at Lady Maud before she answered. + +'She? With Mr. Van Torp, and taking money from him? Oh no! Not with +that face!' + +'Besides,' said Logotheti, 'why the odd hundred? The story gives too +many details. People never know as much of the truth as that.' + +'And if it is true,' returned Margaret, 'he will divorce her, and then +we shall know.' + +'For that matter,' said the Greek contemptuously, 'Leven would not be +particular, provided he had his share of the profits.' + +'Is it as bad as that? How disgusting! Poor woman!' + +'Yes. I fancy she is to be pitied. In connection with Van Torp, may I +ask an indiscreet question?' + +'No question you can ask me about him can be indiscreet. What is it?' + +'Is it true that he once asked you to marry him and you refused him?' + +Margaret turned her pale face to Logotheti with a look of genuine +surprise. + +'Yes. It's true. But I never told any one. How in the world did you +hear it?' + +'And he quite lost his head, I heard, and behaved like a madman--' + +'Who told you that?' asked Margaret, more and more astonished, and not +at all pleased. + +'He behaved so strangely that you ran into the next room and bolted +the door, and waited till he went away--' + +'Have you been paying a detective to watch me?' + +There was anger in her eyes for a moment, but she saw at once that she +was mistaken. + +'No,' Logotheti answered with a smile, 'why should I? If a detective +told me anything against you I should not believe it, and no one could +tell me half the good I believe about you!' + +'You're really awfully nice,' laughed Margaret, for she could not help +being flattered. 'Forgive me, please!' + +'I would rather that the Nike of Samothrace should think dreadful +things of me than that she should not think of me at all!' + +'Do I still remind you of her?' asked Margaret. + +'Yes. I used to be quite satisfied with my Venus, but now I want the +Victory from the Louvre. It's not a mere resemblance. She is you, and +as she has no face. I see yours when I look at her. The other day I +stood so long on the landing where she is, that a watchman took me for +an anarchist waiting to deposit a bomb, and he called a policeman, who +asked me my name and occupation. I was very near being arrested--on +your account again! You are destined to turn the heads of men of +business!' + +At this point Margaret became aware that she and Logotheti were +talking in undertones, while the conversation at the table had become +general, and she reluctantly gave up the idea of again asking where he +had got his information about her interview with Mr. Van Torp in New +York. The dinner came to an end before long, and the men went out with +the ladies, and began to smoke in the drawing-room, standing round the +coffee. + +Lady Maud put her arm through Margaret's. + +'Cigarettes are bad for your throat, I'm sure,' she said, 'and I hate +them.' + +She led the Primadonna away through a curtained door to a small room +furnished according to Eastern ideas of comfort, and she sat down on a +low, hard divan, which was covered with a silk carpet. The walls were +hung with Persian silks, and displayed three or four texts from the +Koran, beautifully written in gold on a green ground. Two small inlaid +tables stood near the divan, one at each end, and two deep English +easy-chairs, covered with red leather, were placed symmetrically +beside them. There was no other furniture, and there were no gimcracks +about, such as Europeans think necessary in an 'oriental' room. + +With her plain black velvet, Lady Maud looked handsomer than ever in +the severely simple surroundings. + +'Do you mind?' she asked, as Margaret sat down beside her. 'I'm afraid +I carried you off rather unceremoniously!' + +'No,' Margaret answered. 'I'm glad to be quiet, it's so long since I +was at a dinner-party.' + +'I've always hoped to meet you,' said Lady Maud, 'but you're quite +different from what I expected. I did not know you were really so +young--ever so much younger than I am.' + +'Really?' + +'Oh, yes! I'm seven-and-twenty, and I've been married four years.' + +'I'm twenty-four,' said Margaret, 'and I'm not married yet.' + +She was aware that the clear eyes were studying her face, but she did +not resent their scrutiny. There was something about her companion +that inspired her with trust at first sight, and she did not even +remember the impossible story Logotheti had told her. + +'I suppose you are tormented by all sorts of people who ask things, +aren't you?' + +Margaret wondered whether the beauty was going to ask her to sing for +nothing at a charity concert. + +'I get a great many begging letters, and some very amusing ones,' she +answered cautiously. 'Young girls, of whom I never heard, write +and ask me to give them pianos and the means of getting a musical +education. I once took the trouble to have one of those requests +examined. It came from a gang of thieves in Chicago.' + +Lady Maud smiled, but did not seem surprised. + +'Millionaires get lots of letters of that sort,' she said. 'Think of +poor Mr. Van Torp!' + +Margaret moved uneasily at the name, which seemed to pursue her since +she had left New York; but her present companion was the first person +who had applied to him the adjective 'poor.' + +'Do you know him well?' she asked, by way of saying something. + +Lady Maud was silent for a moment, and seemed to be considering the +question. + +'I had not meant to speak of him,' she answered presently. 'I like +him, and from what you said at dinner I fancy that you don't, so we +shall never agree about him.' + +'Perhaps not,' said Margaret. 'But I really could not have answered +that odious man's question in any other way, could I? I meant to +be quite truthful. Though I have met Mr. Van Torp often since last +Christmas, I cannot say that I know him very well, because I have not +seen the best side of him.' + +'Few people ever do, and you have put it as fairly as possible. When +I first met him I thought he was a dreadful person, and now we're +awfully good friends. But I did not mean to talk about him!' + +'I wish you would,' protested Margaret. 'I should like to hear the +other side of the case from some one who knows him well.' + +'It would take all night to tell even what I know of his story,' said +Lady Maud. 'And as you've never seen me before you probably would not +believe me,' she added with philosophical calm. 'Why should you? The +other side of the case, as I know it, is that he is kind to me, and +good to people in trouble, and true to his friends.' + +'You cannot say more than that of any man,' Margaret observed gravely. + +'I could say much more, but I want to talk to you about other things.' + +Margaret, who was attracted by her, and who was sure that the story +Logotheti had told was a fabrication, as he said it was, wished that +her new acquaintance would leave other matters alone and tell her what +she knew about Van Torp. + +'It all comes of my having mentioned him accidentally,' said Lady +Maud. 'But I often do--probably because I think about him a good +deal.' + +Margaret thought her amazingly frank, but nothing suggested itself in +the way of answer, so she remained silent. + +'Did you know that your father and my father were friends at Oxford?' +Lady Maud asked, after a little pause. + +'Really?' Margaret was surprised. + +'When they were undergrads. Your name is Donne, isn't it? Margaret +Donne? My father was called Foxwell then. That's our name, you know. +He didn't come into the title till his uncle died, a few years ago.' + +'But I remember a Mr. Foxwell when I was a child,' said Margaret. 'He +came to see us at Oxford sometimes. Do you mean to say that he was +your father?' + +'Yes. He is alive, you know--tremendously alive!--and he remembers you +as a little girl, and wants me to bring you to see him. Do you mind +very much? I told him I was to meet you this evening.' + +'I should be very glad indeed,' said Margaret. + +'He would come to see you,' said Lady Maud, rather apologetically, +'but he sprained his ankle the other day. He was chivvying a cat +that was after the pheasants at Creedmore--he's absurdly young, you +know--and he came down at some hurdles.' + +'I'm so sorry! Of course I shall be delighted to go.' + +'It's awfully good of you, and he'll be ever so pleased. May I come +and fetch you? When? To-morrow afternoon about three? Are you quite +sure you don't mind?' + +Margaret was quite sure; for the prospect of seeing an old friend of +her father's, and one whom she herself remembered well, was pleasant +just then. She was groping for something she had lost, and the merest +thread was worth following. + +'If you like I'll sing for him,' she said. + +'Oh, he simply hates music!' answered Lady Maud, with unconscious +indifference to the magnificence of such an offer from the greatest +lyric soprano alive. + +Margaret laughed in spite of herself. + +'Do you hate music too?' she asked. + +'No, indeed! I could listen to you for ever. But my father is quite +different. I believe he hears half a note higher with one ear than +with the other. At all events the effect of music on him is dreadful. +He behaves like a cat in a thunderstorm. If you want to please him, +talk to him about old bindings. Next to shooting he likes bindings +better than anything in the world--in fact he's a capital bookbinder +himself.' + +At this juncture Mustapha Pasha's pale and spiritual face appeared +between the curtains of the small room, and he interrupted the +conversation by a single word. + +'Bridge?' + +Lady Maud was on her feet in an instant. + +'Rather!' + +'Do you play?' asked the Ambassador, turning to Margaret, who rose +more slowly. + +'Very badly. I would rather not.' + +The diplomatist looked disappointed, and she noticed his expression, +and suspected that he would feel himself obliged to talk to her +instead of playing. + +'I'm very fond of looking on,' she added quickly, 'if you will let me +sit beside you.' + +They went back to the drawing-room, and presently the celebrated +Señorita da Cordova, who was more accustomed to being the centre of +interest than she realised, felt that she was nobody at all, as +she sat at her host's elbow watching the game through a cloud of +suffocating cigarette smoke. Even old Griggs, who detested cards, +had sacrificed himself in order to make up the second table. As for +Logotheti, he was too tactful to refuse a game in which every one knew +him to be a past master, in order to sit out and talk to her the whole +evening. + +Margaret watched the players with some little interest at first. The +disagreeable Mr. Feist lost and became even more disagreeable, and +Margaret reflected that whatever he might be he was certainly not an +adventurer, for she had seen a good many of the class. The Ambassador +lost even more, but with the quiet indifference of a host who plays +because his guests like that form of amusement. Lady Maud and the +barrister were partners, and seemed to be winning a good deal; the +peer whose hobby was applied science revoked and did dreadful things +with his trumps, but nobody seemed to care in the least, except the +barrister, who was no respecter of persons, and had fought his way to +celebrity by terrorising juries and bullying the Bench. + +At last Margaret let her head rest against the back of her comfortable +chair, and when she closed her eyes because the cigarette smoke made +them smart, she forgot to open them again, and went sound asleep; for +she was a healthy young person, and had eaten a good dinner, and on +evenings when she did not sing she was accustomed to go to bed at ten +o'clock, if not earlier. + +No one even noticed that she was sleeping, and the game went on till +nearly midnight, when she was awakened by the sound of voices, and +sprang to her feet with the impression of having done something +terribly rude. Every one was standing, the smoke was as thick as ever, +and it was tempered by a smell of Scotch whisky. The men looked more +or less tired, but Lady Maud had not turned a hair. + +The peer, holding a tall glass of weak whisky and soda in his hand, +and blinking through his gold-rimmed spectacles, asked her if she were +going anywhere else. + +'There's nothing to go to yet,' she said rather regretfully. + +'There are women's clubs,' suggested Logotheti. + +'That's the objection to them,' answered the beauty with more sarcasm +than grammatical sequence. + +'Bridge till all hours, though,' observed the barrister. + +'I'd give something to spend an evening at a smart women's club,' said +the playwright in a musing tone. 'Is it true that the Crown Prince of +Persia got into the one in Mayfair as a waiter?' + +'They don't have waiters,' said Lady Maud. 'Nothing is ever true. I +must be going home.' + +Margaret was only too glad to go too. When they were downstairs she +heard a footman ask Lady Maud if he should call a hansom for her. He +evidently knew that she had no carriage. + +'May I take you home?' Margaret asked. + +'Oh, please do!' answered the beauty with alacrity. 'It's awfully good +of you!' + +It was raining as the two handsome women got into the singer's +comfortable brougham. + +'Isn't there room for me too?' asked Logotheti, putting his head in +before the footman could shut the door. + +'Don't be such a baby,' answered Lady Maud in a displeased tone. + +The Greek drew back with a laugh and put up his umbrella; Lady Maud +told the footman where to go, and the carriage drove away. + +'You must have had a dull evening,' she said. + +'I was sound asleep most of the time,' Margaret answered. 'I'm afraid +the Ambassador thought me very rude.' + +'Because you went to sleep? I don't believe he even noticed it. And if +he did, why should you mind? Nobody cares what anybody does nowadays. +We've simplified life since the days of our fathers. We think more of +the big things than they did, and much less of the little ones.' + +'All the same, I wish I had kept awake!' + +'Nonsense!' retorted Lady Maud. 'What is the use of being famous if +you cannot go to sleep when you are sleepy? This is a bad world as +it is, but it would be intolerable if one had to keep up one's +school-room manners all one's life, and sit up straight and spell +properly, as if Society, with a big S, were a governess that could +send us to bed without our supper if we didn't!' + +Margaret laughed a little, but there was no ripple in Lady Maud's +delicious voice as she made these singular statements. She was +profoundly in earnest. + +'The public is my schoolmistress,' said Margaret. 'I'm so used to +being looked at and listened to on the stage that I feel as if people +were always watching me and criticising me, even when I go out to +dinner.' + +'I've no right at all to give you my opinion, because I'm nobody in +particular,' answered Lady Maud, 'and you are tremendously famous and +all that! But you'll make yourself miserable for nothing if you get +into the way of caring about anybody's opinion of you, except on the +stage. And you'll end by making the other people uncomfortable too, +because you'll make them think that you mean to teach them manners!' + +'Heaven forbid!' Margaret laughed again. + +The carriage stopped, and Lady Maud thanked her, bade her good-night, +and got out. + +'No,' she said, as the footman was going to ring the bell, 'I have a +latch-key, thank you.' + +It was a small house in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, and the +windows were quite dark. There was not even a light in the hall when +Margaret saw Lady Maud open the front door and disappear within. + +Margaret went over the little incidents of the evening as she drove +home alone, and felt better satisfied with herself than she had been +since Lushington's visit, in spite of having deliberately gone to +sleep in Mustapha Pasha's drawing-room. No one had made her feel that +she was changed except for the better, and Lady Maud, who was most +undoubtedly a smart woman of the world, had taken a sudden fancy to +her. Margaret told herself that this would be impossible if she were +ever so little vulgarised by her stage life, and in this reflection +she consoled herself for what Lushington had said, and nursed her +resentment against him. + +The small weaknesses of celebrities are sometimes amazing. There was a +moment that evening, as she stood before her huge looking-glass before +undressing and scrutinised her face in it, when she would have given +her fame and her fortune to be Lady Maud, who trusted to a passing +hansom or an acquaintance's carriage for getting home from an Embassy, +who let herself into a dark and cheerless little house with a +latch-key, who was said to be married to a slippery foreigner, and +about whom the gossips invented unedifying tales. + +Margaret wondered whether Lady Maud would ever think of changing +places with her, to be a goddess for a few hours every week, to have +more money than she could spend on herself, and to be pursued with +requests for autographs and grand pianos, not to mention invitations +to supper from those supernal personages whose uneasy heads wear +crowns or itch for them; and Señorita da Cordova told herself rather +petulantly that Lady Maud would rather starve than be the most +successful soprano that ever trilled on the high A till the house +yelled with delight, and the royalties held up their stalking-glasses +to watch the fluttering of her throat, if perchance they might see how +the pretty noise was made. + +But at this point Margaret Donne was a little ashamed of herself, and +went to bed; and she dreamt that Edmund Lushington had suddenly taken +to wearing a little moustache, very much turned up and flattened on +his cheeks, and a single emerald for a stud, which cast a greenish +refulgence round it upon a shirt-front that was hideously shiny; +and the effect of these changes in his appearance was to make him +perfectly odious. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Lord Creedmore had begun life as a poor barrister, with no particular +prospects, had entered the House of Commons early, and had been a +hard-working member of Parliament till he had inherited a title and a +relatively exiguous fortune when he was over fifty by the unexpected +death of his uncle and both the latter's sons within a year. He had +married young; his wife was the daughter of a Yorkshire country +gentleman, and had blessed him with ten children, who were all alive, +and of whom Lady Maud was not the youngest. He was always obliged to +make a little calculation to remember how old she was, and whether +she was the eighth or the ninth. There were three sons and seven +daughters. The sons were all in the army, and all stood between +six and seven feet in their stockings; the daughters were all +good-looking, but none was as handsome as Maud; they were all married, +and all but she had children. Lady Creedmore had been a beauty too, +but at the present time she was stout and gouty, had a bad temper, and +alternately soothed and irritated her complaint and her disposition by +following cures or committing imprudences. Her husband, who was now +over sixty, had never been ill a day in his life; he was as lean and +tough as a greyhound and as active as a schoolboy, a good rider, and a +crack shot. + +His connection with this tale, apart from the friendship which grew +up between Margaret and Lady Maud, lies in the fact that his land +in Derbyshire adjoined the estate which Mr. Van Torp had bought and +re-named after himself. It was here that Lady Maud and the American +magnate had first met, two years after her marriage, when she had come +home on a long visit, very much disillusionised as to the supposed +advantages of the marriage bond as compared with the freedom of a +handsome English girl of three-and-twenty, who is liked in her set and +has the run of a score of big country houses without any chaperonial +encumbrance. For the chaperon is going down to the shadowy kingdom of +the extinct, and is already reckoned with dodos, stagecoaches, muzzle +loaders, crinolines, Southey's poems, the Thirty-nine Articles, +Benjamin Franklin's reputation, the British workman, and the late +Herbert Spencer's philosophy. + +On the previous evening Lady Maud had not told Margaret that Lord +Creedmore lived in Surrey, having let his town house since his +youngest daughter had married. She now explained that it would be +absurd to think of driving such a distance when one could go almost +all the way by train. The singer was rather scared at the prospect of +possibly missing trains, waiting in draughty stations, and getting wet +by a shower; she was accustomed to think nothing of driving twenty +miles in a closed carriage to avoid the slightest risk of a wetting. + +But Lady Maud piloted her safely, and showed an intimate knowledge +of the art of getting about by public conveyances which amazed her +companion. She seemed to know by instinct the difference between one +train and another, when all looked just alike, and when she had to +ask a question of a guard or a porter her inquiry was met with +business-like directness and brevity, and commanded the respect which +all officials feel for people who do not speak to them without a +really good reason--so different from their indulgent superiority when +we enter into friendly conversation with them. + +The journey ended in a walk of a quarter of a mile from the station to +the gate of the small park in which the house stood. Lady Maud said +she was sorry she had forgotten to telephone for a trap to be sent +down, but added cheerfully that the walk would do Margaret good. + +'You know your way wonderfully well,' Margaret said. + +'Yes,' answered her companion carelessly. 'I don't think I could lose +myself in London, from Limehouse to Wormwood Scrubs.' + +She spoke quite naturally, as if it were not in the least surprising +that a smart woman of the world should possess such knowledge. + +'You must have a marvellous memory for places,' Margaret ventured to +say. + +'Why? Because I know my way about? I walk a great deal, that's all.' + +Margaret wondered whether the Countess Leven habitually took her walks +in the direction of Limehouse in the east or Shepherd's Bush in the +west; and if so, why? As for the distance, the thoroughbred looked +as if she could do twenty miles without turning a hair, and Margaret +wished she would not walk quite so fast, for, like all great singers, +she herself easily got out of breath if she was hurried; it was not +the distance that surprised her, however, but the fact that Lady Maud +should ever visit such regions. + +They reached the house and found Lord Creedmore in the library, his +lame foot on a stool and covered up with a chudder. His clear brown +eyes examined Margaret's face attentively while he held her hand in +his. + +'So you are little Margery,' he said at last, with a very friendly +smile. 'Do you remember me at all, my dear? I suppose I have changed +almost more than you have.' + +Margaret remembered him very well indeed as Mr. Foxwell, who used +always to bring her certain particularly delicious chocolate wafers +whenever he came to see her father in Oxford. She sat down beside him +and looked at his face--clean-shaven, kindly, and energetic--the face +of a clever lawyer and yet of a keen sportsman, a type you will hardly +find out of England. + +Lady Maud left the two alone after a few minutes, and Margaret found +herself talking of her childhood and her old home, as if nothing very +much worth mentioning had happened in her life during the last ten or +a dozen years. While she answered her new friend's questions and +asked others of him she unconsciously looked about the room. The +writing-table was not far from her, and she saw on it two photographs +in plain ebony frames; one was of her father, the other was a likeness +of Lady Maud. Little by little she understood that her father had been +Lord Creedmore's best friend from their schoolboy days till his death. +Yet although they had constantly exchanged short visits, the one +living in Oxford and the other chiefly in town, their wives had hardly +known each other, and their children had never met. + +'Take him all in all,' said the old gentleman gravely, 'Donne was the +finest fellow I ever knew, and the only real friend I ever had.' + +His eyes turned to the photograph on the table with a far-away manly +regret that went to Margaret's heart. Her father had been a reticent +man, and as there was no reason why he should have talked much about +his absent friend Foxwell, it was not surprising that Margaret should +never have known how close the tie was that bound them. But now, +coming unawares upon the recollection of that friendship in the man +who had survived, she felt herself drawn to him as if he were of +her own blood, and she thought she understood why she had liked his +daughter so much at first sight. + +They talked for more than half an hour, and Margaret did not even +notice that he had not once alluded to her profession, and that she +had so far forgotten herself for the time as not to miss the usual +platitudes about her marvellous voice and her astoundingly successful +career. + +'I hope you'll come and stop with us in Derbyshire in September,' +he said at last. 'I'm quite ashamed to ask you there, for we are +dreadfully dull people; but it would give us a great deal of +pleasure.' + +'You are very kind indeed,' Margaret said. 'I should be delighted to +come.' + +'Some of our neighbours might interest you,' said Lord Creedmore. +'There's Mr. Van Torp, for instance, the American millionaire. His +land joins mine.' + +'Really?' + +Margaret wondered if she should ever again go anywhere without hearing +of Mr. Van Torp. + +'Yes. He bought Oxley Paddox some time ago and promptly re-christened +it Torp Towers. But he's not a bad fellow. Maud likes him, though Lady +Creedmore calls him names. He has such a nice little girl--at least, +it's not exactly his child, I believe,' his lordship ran on rather +hurriedly; 'but he's adopted her, I understand--at least, I fancy so. +At all events she was born deaf, poor little thing; but he has had her +taught to speak and to understand from the lips. Awfully pretty child! +Maud delights in her. Nice governess, too--I forget her name; but +she's a faithful sort of woman. It's a dreadfully hard position, don't +you know, to be a governess if you're young and good-looking, and +though Van Torp is rather a decent sort, I never feel quite sure--Maud +likes him immensely, it's true, and that is a good sign; but Maud is +utterly mad about a lot of things, and besides, she's singularly well +able to take care of herself.' + +'Yes,' said Margaret; but she thought of the story Logotheti had told +her on the previous evening. 'I know Mr. Van Torp, and the little girl +and Miss More,' she said after a moment. 'We came over in the same +steamer.' + +She thought it was only fair to say that she had met the people of +whom he had been speaking. There was no reason why Lord Creedmore +should be surprised by this, and he only nodded and smiled pleasantly. + +'All the better. I shall set Maud on you to drag you down to +Derbyshire in September,' he said. 'Women never have anything to do in +September. Let me see--you're an actress, aren't you, my dear?' + +Margaret laughed. It was positively delightful to feel that he had +never heard of her theatrical career. + +'No; I'm a singer,' she said. 'My stage name is Cordova.' + +'Oh yes, yes,' answered Lord Creedmore, very vaguely. 'It's the same +thing--you cannot possibly have anything to do in September, can you?' + +'We shall see. I hope not, this year.' + +'If it's not very indiscreet of me, as an old friend, you know, do you +manage to make a living by the stage?' + +'Oh--fair!' Margaret almost laughed again. + +Lady Maud returned at this juncture, and Margaret rose to go, feeling +that she had stayed long enough. + +'Margery has half promised to come to us in September,' said Lord +Creedmore to his daughter, 'You don't mind if I call you Margery, do +you?' he asked, turning to Margaret. 'I cannot call you Miss Donne +since you really remember the chocolate wafers! You shall have some as +soon as I can go to see you!' + +Margaret loved the name she had been called by as a child. Mrs. +Rushmore had severely eschewed diminutives. + +'Margery,' repeated Lady Maud thoughtfully. 'I like the name awfully +well. Do you mind calling me Maud? We ought to have known each other +when we were in pinafores!' + +In this way it happened that Margaret found herself unexpectedly +on something like intimate terms with her father's friend and the +latter's favourite child less than twenty-four hours after meeting +Lady Maud, and this was how she was asked to their place in the +country for the month of September. But that seemed very far away. + +Lady Maud took Margaret home, as she had brought her, without making +her wait more than three minutes for a train, without exposing her to +a draught, and without letting her get wet, all of which would seem +easy enough to an old Londoner, but was marvellous in the eyes of the +young Primadonna, and conveyed to her an idea of freedom that was +quite new to her. She remembered that she used to be proud of her +independence when she first went into Paris from Versailles alone for +her singing lessons; but that trip, contrasted with the one from her +own house to Lord Creedmore's on the Surrey side, was like going out +for an hour's sail in a pleasure-boat on a summer's afternoon compared +with working a sea-going vessel safely through an intricate and +crowded channel at night. + +Margaret noticed, too, that although Lady Maud was a very striking +figure, she was treated with respect in places where the singer knew +instinctively that if she herself had been alone she would have been +afraid that men would speak to her. She knew very well how to treat +them if they did, and was able to take care of herself if she chose +to travel alone; but she ran the risk of being annoyed where the +beautiful thoroughbred was in no danger at all. That was the +difference. + +Lady Maud left her at her own door and went off on foot, though the +hansom that had brought them from the Baker Street Station was still +lurking near. + +Margaret had told Logotheti to come and see her late in the afternoon, +and as she entered the hall she was surprised to hear voices upstairs. +She asked the servant who was waiting. + +With infinite difficulty in the matter of pronunciation the man +informed her that the party consisted of Monsieur Logotheti, Herr +Schreiermeyer, Signor Stromboli, the Signorina Baci-Roventi, and +Fräulein Ottilie Braun. The four professionals had come at the very +moment when Logotheti had gained admittance on the ground that he had +an appointment, which was true, and they had refused to be sent away. +In fact, unless he had called the police the poor footman could not +have kept them out. The Signorina Baci-Roventi alone, black-browed, +muscular, and five feet ten in her shoes, would have been almost a +match for him alone; but she was backed by Signor Pompeo Stromboli, +who weighed fifteen stone in his fur coat, was as broad as he was +long, and had been seen to run off the stage with Madame Bonanni +in his arms while he yelled a high G that could have been heard in +Westminster if the doors had been open. Before the onslaught of such +terrific foreigners a superior London footman could only protest with +dignity and hold the door open for them to pass. Braver men than +he had quailed before Schreiermeyer's stony eye, and gentle little +Fräulein Ottilie slipped in like a swallow in the track of a storm. + +Margaret felt suddenly inclined to shut herself up in her room +and send word that she had a headache and could not see them. But +Schreiermeyer was there. He would telephone for three doctors, and +would refuse to leave the house till they signed an assurance that she +was perfectly well and able to begin rehearsing the _Elisir d'Amore_ +the next morning. That was what Schreiermeyer would do, and when she +next met him he would tell her that he would have 'no nonsense, no +stupid stuff,' and that she had signed an engagement and must sing or +pay. + +She had never shammed an illness, either, and she did not mean to +begin now. It was only that for two blessed hours and more, with her +dead father's best friend and Maud, she had felt like her old self +again, and had dreamt that she was with her own people. She had even +disliked the prospect of seeing Logotheti after that, and she felt a +much stronger repugnance for her theatrical comrades. She went to her +own room before meeting them, and she sighed as she stood before the +tall looking-glass for a moment after taking off her coat and hat. In +pulling out the hat-pins her hair had almost come down, and Alphonsine +proposed to do it over again, but Margaret was impatient. + +'Give me something--a veil, or anything,' she said impatiently. 'They +are waiting for me.' + +The maid instantly produced from a near drawer a peach-coloured veil +embroidered with green and gold. It was a rather vivid modern Turkish +one given her by Logotheti, and she wrapped it quickly over her +disordered hair, like a sort of turban, tucking one end in, and +left the room almost without glancing at the glass again. She was +discontented with herself now for having dreamt of ever again being +anything but what she was--a professional singer. + +The little party greeted her noisily as she entered the music-room. +Her comrades had not seen her since she had left them in New York, and +the consequence was that Signorina Baci-Roventi kissed her on both +cheeks with dramatic force, and she kissed Fräulein Ottilie on both +cheeks, and Pompeo Stromboli offered himself for a like favour and had +to be fought off, while Schreiermeyer looked on gravely, very much as +a keeper at the Zoo watches the gambols of the animals in his charge; +but Logotheti shook hands very quietly, well perceiving that his +chance of pleasing her just then lay in being profoundly respectful +while the professionals were overpoweringly familiar. His +almond-shaped eyes asked her how in the world she could stand it all, +and she felt uncomfortable at the thought that she was used to it. + +Besides, these good people really liked her. The only members of the +profession who hated her were the other lyric sopranos. Schreiermeyer, +rapacious and glittering, had a photograph of her hideously enamelled +in colours inside the cover of his watch, and the facsimile of her +autograph was engraved across the lid of his silver cigarette-case. +Pompeo Stromboli carried some of her hair in a locket which he wore on +his chain between two amulets against the Evil Eye. Fräulein Ottilie +treasured a little water-colour sketch of her as Juliet on which +Margaret had written a few friendly words, and the Baci-Roventi +actually went to the length of asking her advice about the high notes +the contralto has to sing in such operas as _Semiramide_. It would be +hard to imagine a more sincere proof of affection and admiration than +this. + +Margaret knew that the greeting was genuine and that she ought to be +pleased, but at the first moment the noise and the kissing and the +rough promiscuity of it all disgusted her. + +Then she saw that all had brought her little presents, which were +arranged side by side on the piano, and she suddenly remembered that +it was her birthday. They were small things without value, intended +to make her laugh. Stromboli had sent to Italy for a Neapolitan clay +figure of a shepherd, cleverly modelled and painted, and vaguely +resembling himself--he had been a Calabrian goatherd. The contralto, +who came from Bologna, the city of sausages, gave Margaret a tiny pig +made of silver with holes in his back, in which were stuck a number of +quill toothpicks. + +'You will think of me when you use them at table,' she said, +charmingly unconscious of English prejudices. + +Schreiermeyer presented her with a bronze statuette of Shylock +whetting his knife upon his thigh. + +'It will encourage you to sign our next agreement,' he observed +with stony calm. 'It is the symbol of business. We are all symbolic +nowadays.' + +Fräulein Ottilie Braun had wrought a remarkable little specimen of +German sentiment. She had made a little blue pin-cushion and had +embroidered some little flowers on it in brown silk. Margaret had no +difficulty in looking pleased, but she also looked slightly puzzled. + +'They are forget-me-nots,' said the Fräulein, 'but because my name is +Braun I made them brown. You see? So you will remember your little +Braun forget-me-not!' + +Margaret laughed at the primitively simple little jest, but she was +touched too, and somehow she felt that her eyes were not quite dry +as she kissed the good little woman again. But Logotheti could not +understand at all, and thought it all extremely silly. He did not like +Margaret's improvised turban, either, though he recognised the veil as +one he had given her. The headdress was not classic, and he did not +think it becoming to the Victory of Samothrace. + +He also had remembered her birthday and he had a small offering in +his pocket, but he could not give it to her before the others. +Schreiermeyer would probably insist on looking at it and would guess +its value, whereas Logotheti was sure that Margaret would not. He +would give it to her when they were alone, and would tell her that it +was nothing but a seal for her writing-case, a common green stone of +some kind with a little Greek head on it; and she would look at it and +think it pretty, and take it, because it did not look very valuable to +her unpractised eye. But the 'common green stone' was a great emerald, +and the 'little Greek head' was an intaglio of Anacreon, cut some two +thousand and odd hundred years ago by an art that is lost; and the +setting had been made and chiselled for Maria de' Medici when she +married Henry the Fourth of France. Logotheti liked to give Margaret +things vastly more rare than she guessed them to be. + +Margaret offered her visitors tea, and she and Logotheti took theirs +while the others looked on or devoured the cake and bread and butter. + +'Tea?' repeated Signor Stromboli. 'I am well. Why should I take tea? +The tea is for to perspire when I have a cold.' + +The Signorina Baci-Roventi laughed at him. + +'Do you not know that the English drink tea before dinner to give +themselves an appetite?' she asked. 'It is because they drink tea that +they eat so much.' + +'All the more,' answered Stromboli. 'Do you not see that I am fat? Why +should I eat more? Am I to turn into a monument of Victor Emanuel?' + +'You eat too much bread,' said Schreiermeyer in a resentful tone. + +'It is my vice,' said the tenor, taking up four thin slices of bread +and butter together and popping them all into his mouth without the +least difficulty. 'When I see bread, I eat it. I eat all there is.' + +'We see you do,' returned Schreiermeyer bitterly. + +'I cannot help it. Why do they bring bread? They are in league to make +me fat. The waiters know me. I go into the Carlton; the head-waiter +whispers; a waiter brings a basket of bread; I eat it all. I go into +Boisin's, or Henry's; the head-waiter whispers; it is a basket of +bread; while I eat a few eggs, a chicken, a salad, a tart or two, some +fruit, cheese, the bread is all gone. I am the tomb of all the bread +in the world. So I get fat. There,' he concluded gravely, 'it is as I +tell you. I have eaten all.' + +And in fact, while talking, he had punctuated each sentence with a +tiny slice or two of thin bread and butter, and everybody laughed, +except Schreiermeyer, as the huge singer gravely held up the empty +glass dish and showed it. + +'What do you expect of me?' he asked. 'It is a vice, and I am not +Saint Anthony, to resist temptation.' + +'Perhaps,' suggested Fräulein Ottilie timidly, 'if you exercised a +little strength of character--' + +'Exercise?' roared Stromboli, not understanding her, for they spoke +a jargon of Italian, German, and English. 'Exercise? The more I +exercise, the more I eat! Ha, ha, ha! Exercise, indeed! You talk like +crazy!' + +'You will end on wheels,' said Schreiermeyer with cold contempt. 'You +will stand on a little truck which will be moved about the stage from +below. You will be lifted to Juliet's balcony by a hydraulic crane. +But you shall pay for the machinery. Oh yes, oh yes! I will have it +in the contract! You shall be weighed. So much flesh to move, so much +money.' + +'Shylock!' suggested Logotheti, glancing at the statuette and +laughing. + +'Yes, Shylock and his five hundred pounds of flesh,' answered +Schreiermeyer, with a faint smile that disappeared again at once. + +'But I meant character--' began Fräulein Ottilie, trying to go back +and get in a word. + +'Character!' cried the Baci-Roventi with a deep note that made the +open piano vibrate. 'His stomach is his heart, and his character is +his appetite!' + +She bent her heavy brows and fixed her gleaming black eyes on him with +a tragic expression. + +'"Let them cant about decorum who have characters to lose,"' quoted +Logotheti softly. + +This delicate banter went on for twenty minutes, very much to +Schreiermeyer's inward satisfaction, for it proved that at least four +members of his company were on good terms with him and with each +other; for when they had a grudge against him, real or imaginary, they +became sullen and silent in his presence, and eyed him with the coldly +ferocious expression of china dogs. + +At last they all rose and went away in a body, leaving Margaret with +Logotheti. + +'I had quite forgotten that it was my birthday,' she said, when they +were gone. + +'I've brought you a little seal,' he answered, holding out the +intaglio. + +She took it and looked at it. + +'How pretty!' she exclaimed. 'It's awfully kind of you to have +remembered to-day, and I wanted a seal very much.' + +'It's a silly little thing, just a head on some sort of green stone. +But I tried it on sealing-wax, and the impression is not so bad. I +shall be very happy if it's of any use, for I'm always puzzling my +brain to find something you may like.' + +'Thanks very much. It's the thought I care for.' She laid the seal on +the table beside her empty cup. 'And now that we are alone,' she went +on, 'please tell me.' + +'What?' + +'How you found out what you told me at dinner last night.' + +She leant back in the chair, raising her arms and joining her hands +above her head against the high top of the chair, and stretching +herself a little. The attitude threw the curving lines of her figure +into high relief, and was careless enough, but the tone in which she +spoke was almost one of command, and there was a sort of expectant +resentfulness in her eyes as they watched his face while she waited +for his answer. She believed that he had paid to have her watched by +some one who had bribed her servants. + +'I did not find out anything,' he said quietly. 'I received an +anonymous letter from New York giving me all the details of the scene. +The letter was written with the evident intention of injuring Mr. Van +Torp. Whoever wrote it must have heard what you said to each other, +and perhaps he was watching you through the keyhole. It is barely +possible that by some accident he overheard the scene through the +local telephone, if there was one in the room. Should you care to see +that part of the letter which concerns you? It is not very delicately +worded!' + +Margaret's expression had changed; she had dropped her hands and was +leaning forward, listening with interest. + +'No,' she said, 'I don't care to see the letter, but who in the world +can have written it? You say it was meant to injure Mr. Van Torp--not +me.' + +'Yes. There is nothing against you in it. On the contrary, the writer +calls attention to the fact that there never was a word breathed +against your reputation, in order to prove what an utter brute Van +Torp must be.' + +'Tell me,' Margaret said, 'was that story about Lady Maud in the same +letter?' + +'Oh dear, no! That is supposed to have happened the other day, but I +got the letter last winter.' + +'When?' + +'In January, I think.' + +'He came to see me soon after New Year's Day,' said Margaret.' I wish +I knew who told--I really don't believe it was my maid.' + +'I took the letter to one of those men who tell character by +handwriting,' answered Logotheti. 'I don't know whether you believe in +that, but I do a little. I got rather a queer result, considering that +I only showed half-a-dozen lines, which could not give any idea of the +contents.' + +'What did the man say?' + +'He said the writer appeared to be on the verge of insanity, if not +actually mad; that he was naturally of an accurate mind, with ordinary +business capacities, such as a clerk might have, but that he had +received a much better education than most clerks get, and must at one +time have done intellectual work. His madness, the man said, would +probably take some violent form.' + +'There's nothing very definite about all that,' Margaret observed. +'Why in the world should the creature have written to you, of all +people, to destroy Mr. Van Torp's character?' + +'The interview with you was only an incident,' answered Logotheti. +'There were other things, all tending to show that he is not a safe +person to deal with.' + +'Why should you ever deal with him?' + +Logotheti smiled. + +'There are about a hundred and fifty men in different countries who +are regarded as the organs of the world's financial body. The very big +ones are the vital organs. Van Torp has grown so much of late that he +is probably one of them. Some people are good enough to think that I'm +another. The blood of the financial body--call it gold, or credit, or +anything you like--circulates through all the organs, and if one of +the great vital ones gets out of order the whole body is likely to +suffer. Suppose that Van Torp wished to do something with the Nickel +Trust in Paris, and that I had private information to the effect that +he was not a man to be trusted, and that I believed this information, +don't you see that I should naturally warn my friends against him, and +that our joint weight would be an effective obstacle in his way?' + +'Yes, I see that. But, dear me! do you mean to say that all financiers +must be strictly virtuous, like little woolly white lambs?' + +Margaret laughed carelessly. If Lushington had heard her, his teeth +would have been set on edge, but Logotheti did not notice the shade of +expression and tone. + +'I repeat that the account of the interview with you was a mere +incident, thrown in to show that Van Torp occasionally loses his head +and behaves like a madman.' + +'I don't want to see the letter,' said Margaret, 'but what sort of +accusations did it contain? Were they all of the same kind?' + +'No. There was one other thing--something about a little girl called +Ida, who is supposed to be the daughter of that old Alvah Moon who +robbed your mother. You can guess the sort of thing the letter said +without my telling you.' + +Margaret leaned forward and poked the small wood fire with a pair of +unnecessarily elaborate gilt tongs, and she nodded, for she remembered +how Lord Creedmore had mentioned the child that afternoon. He had +hesitated a little, and had then gone on speaking rather hurriedly. +She watched the sparks fly upward each time she touched the log, and +she nodded slowly. + +'What are you thinking of?' asked Logotheti. + +But she did not answer for nearly half a minute. She was reflecting on +a singular little fact which made itself clear to her just then. She +was certainly not a child; she was not even a very young girl, at +twenty-four; she had never been prudish, and she did not affect the +pre-Serpentine innocence of Eve before the fall. Yet it was suddenly +apparent to her that because she was a singer men treated her as if +she were a married woman, and would have done so if she had been +even five years younger. Talking to her as Margaret Donne, in Mrs. +Rushmore's house, two years earlier, Logotheti would not have +approached such a subject as little Ida Moon's possible relation to +Mr. Van Torp, because the Greek had been partly brought up in England +and had been taught what one might and might not say to a 'nice +English girl.' Margaret now reflected that since the day she had set +foot upon the stage of the Opera she had apparently ceased to be a +'nice English girl' in the eyes of men of the world. The profession of +singing in public, then, presupposed that the singer was no longer the +more or less imaginary young girl, the hothouse flower of the social +garden, whose perfect bloom the merest breath of worldly knowledge +must blight for ever. Margaret might smile at the myth, but she could +not ignore the fact that she was already as much detached from it in +men's eyes as if she had entered the married state. The mere fact of +realising that the hothouse blossom was part of the social legend +proved the change in herself. + +'So that is the secret about the little girl,' she said at last. Then +she started a little, as if she had made a discovery. 'Good heavens!' +she exclaimed, poking the fire sharply. 'He cannot be as bad as +that--even he!' + +'What do you mean?' asked Logotheti, surprised. + +'No--really--it's too awful,' Margaret said slowly, to herself. +'Besides,' she added, 'one has no right to believe an anonymous +letter.' + +'The writer was well informed about you, at least,' observed +Logotheti. 'You say that the details are true.' + +'Absolutely. That makes the other thing all the more dreadful.' + +'It's not such a frightful crime, after all,' Logotheti answered with +a little surprise. 'Long before he fell in love with you he may have +liked some one else! Such things may happen in every man's life.' + +'That one thing--yes, no doubt. But you either don't know, or you +don't realise just what all the rest has been, up to the death of that +poor girl in the theatre in New York.' + +'He was engaged to her, was he not?' + +'Yes.' + +'I forget who she was.' + +'His partner's daughter. She was called Ida Bamberger.' + +'Ida? Like the little girl?' + +'Yes. Bamberger divorced his wife, and she married Senator Moon. Don't +you see?' + +'And the girls were half-sisters--and--?' Logotheti stopped and +stared. + +'Yes.' Margaret nodded slowly again and poked the fire. + +'Good heavens!' The Greek knew something of the world's wickedness, +but his jaw dropped. 'Oedipus!' he ejaculated. + +'It cannot be true,' Margaret said, quite in earnest. 'I detest him, +but I cannot believe that of him.' + +For in her mind all that she knew and that Griggs had told her, and +that Logotheti did not know yet, rose up in orderly logic, and joined +what was now in her mind, completing the whole hideous tale of +wickedness that had ended in the death of Ida Bamberger, who had +been murdered, perhaps, in desperation to avert a crime even more +monstrous. The dying girl's faint voice came back to Margaret across +the ocean. + +'He did it--' + +And there was the stain on Paul Griggs' hand; and there was little +Ida's face on the steamer, when she had looked up and had seen Van +Torp's lips moving, and had understood what he was saying to himself, +and had dragged Margaret away in terror. And not least, there was the +indescribable fear of him which Margaret felt when he was near her for +a few minutes. + +On the other side, what was there to be said for him? Miss More, +quiet, good, conscientious Miss More, devoting her life to the child, +said that he was one of the kindest men living. There was Lady Maud, +with her clear eyes, her fearless ways, and her knowledge of the world +and men, and she said that Van Torp was kind, and good to people in +trouble and true to his friends. Lord Creedmore, the intimate friend +of Margaret's father, a barrister half his life, and as keen as a +hawk, said that Mr. Van Torp was a very decent sort of man, and he +evidently allowed his daughter to like the American. It was true that +a scandalous tale about Lady Maud and the millionaire was already +going from mouth to mouth, but Margaret did not believe it. If she +had known that the facts were accurately told, whatever their meaning +might be, she would have taken them for further evidence against the +accused. As for Miss More, she was guided by her duty to her employer, +or her affection for little Ida, and she seemed to be of the +charitable sort, who think no evil; but after what Lord Creedmore had +said, Margaret had no doubt but that it was Mr. Van Torp who provided +for the child, and if she was his daughter, the reason for Senator +Moon's neglect of her was patent. + +Then Margaret thought of Isidore Bamberger, the hard-working man of +business who was Van Torp's right hand and figure-head, as Griggs had +said, and who had divorced the beautiful, half-crazy mother of the two +Idas because Van Torp had stolen her from him--Van Torp, his partner, +and once his trusted friend. She remembered the other things Griggs +had told her: how old Bamberger must surely have discovered that his +daughter had been murdered, and that he meant to keep it a secret till +he caught the murderer. Even now the detectives might be on the right +scent, and if he whose child had been killed, and whose wife had been +stolen from him by the man he had once trusted, learnt the whole truth +at last, he would not be easily appeased. + +'You have had some singular offers of marriage,' said Logotheti in a +tone of reflection. 'You will probably marry a beggar some day--a +nice beggar, who has ruined himself like a gentleman, but a beggar +nevertheless!' + +'I don't know,' Margaret said carelessly. 'Of one thing I am sure. I +shall not marry Mr. Van Torp.' + +Logotheti laughed softly. + +'Remember the French proverb,' he said. '"Say not to the fountain, I +will not drink of thy water."' + +'Proverbs,' returned Margaret, 'are what Schreiermeyer calls stupid +stuff. Fancy marrying that monster!' + +'Yes,' assented Logotheti, 'fancy!' + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Three weeks later, when the days were lengthening quickly and London +was beginning to show its better side to the cross-grained people who +abuse its climate, the gas was lighted again in the dingy rooms in +Hare Court. No one but the old woman who came to sweep had visited +them since Mr. Van Torp had gone into the country in March, after Lady +Maud had been to see him on the evening of his arrival. + +As then, the fire was laid in the grate, but the man in black who sat +in the shabby arm-chair had not put a match to the shavings, and the +bright copper kettle on the movable hob shone coldly in the raw glare +from the incandescent gaslight. The room was chilly, and the man had +not taken off his black overcoat or his hat, which had a broad band +on it. His black gloves lay on the table beside him. He wore patent +leather boots with black cloth tops, and he turned in his toes as he +sat. His aquiline features were naturally of the melancholic type, and +as he stared at the fireplace his expression was profoundly sad. He +did not move for a long time, but suddenly he trembled, as a man does +who feels the warning chill in a malarious country when the sun goes +down, and two large bright tears ran down his lean dark cheeks and +were quickly lost in his grizzled beard. Either he did not feel them, +or he would not take the trouble to dry them, for he sat quite still +and kept his eyes on the grate. + +Outside it was quite dark and the air was thick, so that the +chimney-pots on the opposite roof were hardly visible against the +gloomy sky. It was the time of year when spring seems very near in +broad daylight, but as far away as in January when the sun goes down. + +Mr. Isidore Bamberger was waiting for a visitor, as his partner Mr. +Van Torp had waited in the same place a month earlier, but he made no +preparations for a cheerful meeting, and the cheap japanned tea-caddy, +with the brown teapot and the chipped cups and saucers, stood +undisturbed in the old-fashioned cupboard in the corner, while the +lonely man sat before the cold fireplace and let the tears trickle +down his cheeks as they would. + +At the double stroke of the spring door-bell, twice repeated, his +expression changed as if he had been waked from a dream. He dried his +cheeks roughly with the back of his hand, and his very heavy black +eyebrows were drawn down and together, as if the tension of the man's +whole nature had been relaxed and was now suddenly restored. The look +of sadness hardened to an expression that was melancholy still, but +grim and unforgiving, and the grizzled beard, clipped rather close at +the sides, betrayed the angles of the strong jaw as he set his teeth +and rose to let in his visitor. He was round-shouldered and slightly +bow-legged when he stood up; he was heavily and clumsily built, but he +was evidently strong. + +He went out into the dark entry and opened the door, and a moment +later he came back with Mr. Feist, the man with the unhealthy +complexion whom Margaret had seen at the Turkish Embassy. Isidore +Bamberger sat down in the easy-chair again without ceremony, leaving +his guest to bring up a straight-backed chair for himself. + +Mr. Feist was evidently in a very nervous condition. His hand shook +perceptibly as he mopped his forehead after sitting down, and he moved +his chair uneasily twice because the incandescent light irritated his +eyes. He did not wait for Bamberger to question him, however. + +'It's all right,' he said, 'but he doesn't care to take steps till +after this season is over. He says the same thing will happen again to +a dead certainty, and that the more evidence he has the surer he'll be +of the decree. I think he's afraid Van Torp has some explanation up +his sleeve that will swing things the other way.' + +'Didn't he catch her here?' asked the elder man, evidently annoyed. +'Didn't he find the money on this table in an envelope addressed +to her? Didn't he have two witnesses with him? Or is all that an +invention?' + +'It happened just so. But he's afraid there's some explanation--' + +'Feist,' said Isidore Bamberger slowly, 'find out what explanation the +man's afraid of, pretty quick, or I'll get somebody who will. It's my +belief that he's just a common coward, who takes money from his wife +and doesn't care how she gets it. I suppose she refused to pay one +day, so he strengthened his position by catching her; but he doesn't +want to divorce the goose that lays the golden egg as long as he's +short of cash. That's about the measure of it, you may depend.' + +'She may be a goose,' answered Feist, 'but she's a wild one, and +she'll lead us a chase too. She's up to all sorts of games, I've +ascertained. She goes out of the house at all hours and comes home +when she's ready, and it isn't to meet your friend either, for he's +not been in London again since he landed.' + +'Then who else is it?' asked Bamberger. + +Feist smiled in a sickly way. + +'Don't know,' he said. 'Can't find out.' + +'I don't like people who don't know and can't find out,' answered the +other. 'I'm in a hurry, I tell you. I'm employing you, and paying you +a good salary, and taking a great deal of trouble to have you pushed +with letters of introduction where you can see her, and now you come +here and tell me you don't know and you can't find out. It won't do, +Feist. You're no better than you used to be when you were my secretary +last year. You're a pretty bright young fellow when you don't drink, +but when you do you're about as useful as a painted clock--and even a +painted clock is right twice in twenty-four hours. It's more than you +are. The only good thing about you is that you can hold your tongue, +drunk or sober. I admit that.' + +Having relieved himself of this plain opinion Isidore Bamberger waited +to hear what Feist had to say, keeping his eyes fixed on the unhealthy +face. + +'I've not been drinking lately, anyhow,' he answered, 'and I'll tell +you one thing, Mr. Bamberger, and that is, that I'm just as anxious as +you can be to see this thing through, every bit.' + +'Well, then, don't waste time! I don't care a cent about the divorce, +except that it will bring the whole affair into publicity. As soon as +all the papers are down on him, I'll start in on the real thing. I +shall be ready by that time. I want public opinion on both sides of +the ocean to run strong against him, as it ought to, and it's just +that it should. If I don't manage that, he may get off in the end in +spite of your evidence.' + +'Look here, Mr. Bamberger,' said Feist, waking up, 'if you want my +evidence, don't talk of dropping me as you did just now, or you won't +get it, do you understand? You've paid me the compliment of telling me +that I can hold my tongue. All right. But it won't suit you if I hold +my tongue in the witness-box, will it? That's all, Mr. Bamberger. I've +nothing more to say about that.' + +There was a sudden vehemence in the young man's tone which portrayed +that in spite of his broken nerves he could still be violent. But +Isidore Bamberger was not the man to be brow-beaten by any one he +employed. He almost smiled when Feist stopped speaking. + +'That's all right,' he said half good-naturedly and half +contemptuously. 'We understand each other. That's all right.' + +'I hope it is,' Feist answered in a dogged way. 'I only wanted you to +know.' + +'Well, I do, since you've told me. But you needn't get excited like +that. It's just as well you gave up studying medicine and took to +business, Feist, for you haven't got what they call a pleasant bedside +manner.' + +Mr. Feist had once been a medical student, but had given up the +profession on inheriting a sum of money with which he at once began to +speculate. After various vicissitudes he had become Mr. Bamberger's +private secretary, and had held that position some time in spite of +his one failing, because he had certain qualities which made him +invaluable to his employer until his nerves began to give away. One of +those qualities was undoubtedly his power of holding his tongue +even when under the influence of drink; another was his really +extraordinary memory for details, and especially for letters he had +written under dictation, and for conversations he had heard. He was +skilful, too, in many ways when in full possession of his faculties; +but though Isidore Bamberger used him, he despised him profoundly, +as he despised every man who preferred present indulgence to future +profit. + +Feist lit a cigarette and blew a vast cloud of smoke round him, but +made no answer to his employer's last observation. + +'Now this is what I want you to do,' said the latter. 'Go to this +Count Leven and tell him it's a cash transaction or nothing, and that +he runs no risk. Find out what he'll really take, but don't come +talking to me about five thousand pounds or anything of that kind, for +that's ridiculous. Tell him that if proceedings are not begun by the +first of May his wife won't get any more money from Van Torp, and he +won't get any more from his wife. Use any other argument that strikes +you. That's your business, because that's what I pay you for. What I +want is the result, and that's justice and no more, and I don't care +anything about the means. Find them and I'll pay. If you can't find +them I'll pay somebody who can, and if nobody can I'll go to the end +without. Do you understand?' + +'Oh, I understand right enough,' answered Feist, with his bad smile.' +If I can hit on the right scheme I won't ask you anything extra +for it, Mr. Bamberger! By the bye, I wrote you I met Cordova, the +Primadonna, at the Turkish Embassy, didn't I? She hates him as much +as the other woman likes him, yet she and the other have struck up a +friendship. I daresay I shall get something out of that too.' + +'Why does Cordova hate him?' asked Bamberger. + +'Don't quite know. Thought perhaps you might.' + +'No.' + +'He was attentive to her last winter,' Feist said. 'That's all I know +for certain. He's a brutal sort of man, and maybe he offended her +somehow.' + +'Well,' returned Isidore Bamberger, 'maybe; but singers aren't often +offended by men who have money. At least, I've always understood so, +though I don't know much about that side of life myself.' + +'It would be just one thing more to break his character if Cordova +would say something against him,' suggested Feist. 'Her popularity is +something tremendous, and people always believe a woman who says that +a man has insulted her. In those things the bare word of a pretty lady +who's no better than she should be is worth more than an honest man's +character for thirty years.' + +'That's so,' said Bamberger, looking at him attentively. 'That's quite +true. Whatever you are, Feist, you're no fool. We may as well have the +pretty lady's bare word, anyway.' + +'If you approve, I'm nearly sure I can get it,' Feist answered. 'At +least, I can get a statement which she won't deny if it's published +in the right way. I can furnish the materials for an article on her +that's sure to please her--born lady, never a word against her, highly +connected, unassailable private life, such a contrast to several other +celebrities on the stage, immensely charitable, half American, half +English--every bit of that all helps, you see--and then an anecdote or +two thrown in, and just the bare facts about her having had to escape +in a hurry from a prominent millionaire in a New York hotel--fairly +ran for her life and turned the key against him. Give his name if you +like. If he brings action for libel, you can subpoena Cordova herself. +She'll swear to it if it's true, and then you can unmask your big guns +and let him have it hot.' + +'No doubt, no doubt. But how do you propose to find out if it is +true?' + +'Well, I'll see; but it will answer almost as well if it's not true,' +said Feist cynically. 'People always believe those things.' + +'It's only a detail,' said Bamberger, 'but it's worth something, +and if we can make this man Leven begin a suit against his wife, +everything that's against Van Torp will be against her too. That's not +justice, Feist, but it's fact. A woman gets considerably less pity for +making mistakes with a blackguard than for liking an honest man too +much, Feist.' + +Mr. Bamberger, who had divorced his own wife, delivered these opinions +thoughtfully, and, though she had made no defence, he might be +supposed to know what he was talking about. + +Presently he dismissed his visitor with final injunctions to lose no +time, and to 'find out' if Lady Maud was interested in any one besides +Van Torp, and if not, what was at the root of her eccentric hours. + +Mr. Feist went away, apparently prepared to obey his employer with +all the energy he possessed. He went down the dimly-lighted stairs +quickly, but he glanced nervously upwards, as if he fancied that +Isidore Bamberger might have silently opened the door again to look +over the banister and watch him from above. In the dark entry below he +paused a moment, and took a satisfactory pull at a stout flask before +going out into the yellowish gloom that had settled on Hare Court. + +When he was in the narrow alley he stopped again and laughed, without +making any sound, so heartily that he had to stand still till the fit +passed; and the expression of his unhealthy face just then would have +disturbed even Mr. Bamberger, who knew him well. + +But Mr. Bamberger was sitting in the easy-chair before the fireplace, +and his eyes were fixed on the bright point at which the shiny copper +kettle reflected the gaslight. His head had fallen slightly forward, +so that his bearded chin was out of sight below the collar of his +overcoat, leaving his eagle nose and piercing eyes above it. He was +like a bird of prey looking down over the edge of its nest. He had not +taken off his hat for Mr. Feist, and it was pushed back from his bony +forehead now, giving his face a look that would have been half comic +if it had not been almost terrifying: a tall hat set on a skull, a +little back or on one side, produces just such an effect. + +There was no moisture in the keen eyes now. In the bright spot on the +copper kettle they saw the vision of the end towards which he was +striving with all his strength, and all his heart, and all his wealth. +It was a grim little picture, and the chief figure in it was a +thick-set man who had a queer cap drawn down over his face and his +hands tied; and the eyes that saw it were sure that under the cap +there were the stony features of a man who had stolen his friend's +wife and killed his friend's daughter, and was going to die for what +he had done. + +Then Isidore Bamberger's right hand disappeared inside the breast of +his coat and closed lovingly upon a full pocket-book; but there was +only a little money in it, only a few banknotes folded flat against +a thick package of sheets of notepaper all covered with clear, close +writing, some in ink and some in pencil; and if what was written there +was all true, it was enough to hang Mr. Rufus Van Torp. + +There were other matters, too, not written there, but carefully +entered in the memory of the injured man. There was the story of his +marriage with a beautiful, penniless girl, not of his own faith, whom +he had taken in the face of strong opposition from his family. She +had been an exquisite creature, fair and ethereal, as degenerates +sometimes are; she had cynically married him for his money, deceiving +him easily enough, for he was willing to be blinded; but differences +had soon arisen between them, and had turned to open quarrelling, and +Mr. Van Torp had taken it upon himself to defend her and to reconcile +them, using the unlimited power his position gave him over his partner +to force the latter to submit to his wife's temper and caprice, as the +only alternative to ruin. Her friendship for Van Torp grew stronger, +till they spent many hours of every day together, while her husband +saw little of her, though he was never altogether estranged from her +so long as they lived under one roof. + +But the time came at last when Bamberger had power too, and Van Torp +could no longer hold him in check with a threat that had become vain; +for he was more than indispensable, he was a part of the Nickel Trust, +he was the figure-head of the ship, and could not be discarded at +will, to be replaced by another. + +As soon as he was sure of this and felt free to act, Isidore Bamberger +divorced his wife, in a State where slight grounds are sufficient. For +the sake of the Nickel Trust Van Torp's name was not mentioned. Mrs. +Bamberger made no defence, the affair was settled almost privately, +and Bamberger was convinced that she would soon marry Van Torp. +Instead, six weeks had not passed before she married Senator Moon, +a man whom her husband had supposed she scarcely knew, and to +Bamberger's amazement Van Torp's temper was not at all disturbed by +the marriage. He acted as if he had expected it, and though he hardly +ever saw her after that time, he exchanged letters with her during +nearly two years. + +Bamberger's little daughter Ida had never been happy with her +beautiful mother, who had alternately spoilt her and vented her temper +on her, according to the caprice of the moment. At the time of the +divorce the child had been only ten years old; and as Bamberger was +very kind to her and was of an even disposition, though never very +cheerful, she had grown up to be extremely fond of him. She never +guessed that he did not love her in return, for though he was cynical +enough in matters of business, he was just according to his lights, +and he would not let her know that everything about her recalled her +mother, from her hair to her tone of voice, her growing caprices, and +her silly fits of temper. He could not believe in the affection of a +daughter who constantly reminded him of the hell in which he had +lived for years. If what Van Torp told Lady Maud of his own pretended +engagement to Ida was true, it was explicable only on that ground, so +far as her father was concerned. Bamberger felt no affection for +his daughter, and saw no reason why she should not be used as an +instrument, with her own consent, for consolidating the position of +the Nickel Trust. + +As for the former Mrs. Bamberger, afterwards Mrs. Moon, she had gone +to Europe in the autumn, not many months after her marriage, leaving +the Senator in Washington, and had returned after nearly a year's +absence, bringing her husband a fine little girl, whom she had +christened Ida, like her first child, without consulting him. It soon +became apparent that the baby was totally deaf; and not very long +after this discovery, Mrs. Moon began to show signs of not being quite +sane. Three years later she was altogether out of her mind, and as +soon as this was clear the child was sent to the East to be taught. +The rest has already been told. Bamberger, of course, had never seen +little Ida, and had perhaps never heard of her existence, and Senator +Moon did not see her again before he died. + +Bamberger had not loved his own daughter in her life, but since her +tragic death she had grown dear to him in memory, and he reproached +himself unjustly with having been cold and unkind to her. Below the +surface of his money-loving nature there was still the deep and +unsatisfied sentiment to which his wife had first appealed, and by +playing on which she had deceived him into marrying her. Her treatment +of him had not killed it, and the memory of his fair young daughter +now stirred it again. He accused himself of having misunderstood her. +What had been unreal and superficial in her mother had perhaps been +true and deep in her. He knew that she had loved him; he knew it now, +and it was the recollection of that one being who had been devoted to +him for himself, since he had been a grown man, that sometimes brought +the tears from his eyes when he was alone. It would have been a +comfort, now, to have loved her in return while she lived, and to have +trusted in her love then, instead of having been tormented by the +belief that she was as false as her mother had been. + +But he had been disappointed of his heart's desire; for, strange as it +may seem to those who have not known such men as Isidore Bamberger, +his nature was profoundly domestic, and the ideal of his youth had +been to grow old in his own home, with a loving wife at his side, +surrounded by children and grandchildren who loved both himself and +her. Next to that, he had desired wealth and the power money gives; +but that had been first, until the hope of it was gone. Looking back +now, he was sure that it had all been destroyed from root to branch, +the hope and the possibility, and even the memory that might have +still comforted him, by Rufus Van Torp, upon whom he prayed that he +might live to be revenged. He sought no secret vengeance, either, no +pitfall of ruin dug in the dark for the man's untimely destruction; +all was to be in broad daylight, by the evidence of facts, under the +verdict of justice, and at the hands of the law itself. + +It had not been very hard to get what he needed, for his former +secretary, Mr. Feist, had worked with as much industry and +intelligence as if the case had been his own, and in spite of the +vice that was killing him had shown a wonderful power of holding his +tongue. It is quite certain that up to the day when Feist called on +his employer in Hare Court, Mr. Van Torp believed himself perfectly +safe. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +A fortnight later Count Leven informed his wife that he was going home +on a short leave, but that she might stay in London if she pleased. An +aunt of his had died in Warsaw, he said, leaving him a small property, +and in spite of the disturbed state of his own country it was +necessary that he should go and take possession of the land without +delay. + +Lady Maud did not believe a word of what he said, until it became +apparent that he had the cash necessary for his journey without +borrowing of her, as he frequently tried to do, with varying success. +She smiled calmly as she bade him good-bye and wished him a pleasant +journey; he made a magnificent show of kissing her hand at parting, +and waved his hat to the window when he was outside the house, before +getting into the four-wheeler, on the roof of which his voluminous +luggage made a rather unsafe pyramid. She was not at the window, and +he knew it; but other people might be watching him from theirs, and +the servant stood at the open door. It was always worth while, in +Count Leven's opinion, to make an 'effect' if one got a chance. + +Three days later Lady Maud received a document from the Russian +Embassy informing her that her husband had brought an action to obtain +a divorce from her in the Ecclesiastical Court of the Patriarch of +Constantinople, on the ground of her undue intimacy with Rufus Van +Torp of New York, as proved by the attested depositions of detectives. +She was further informed that unless she appeared in person or by +proxy before the Patriarch of Constantinople within one month of the +date of the present notice, to defend herself against the charges made +by her husband, judgment would go by default, and the divorce would be +pronounced. + +At first Lady Maud imagined this extraordinary document to be a stupid +practical joke, invented by some half-fledged cousin to tease her. +She had a good many cousins, among whom were several beardless +undergraduates and callow subalterns in smart regiments, who would +think it no end of fun to scare 'Cousin Maud.' There was no mistaking +the official paper on which the document was written, and it bore +the seal of the Chancery of the Russian Embassy; but in Lady Maud's +opinion the mention of the Patriarch of Constantinople stamped it as +an egregious hoax. + +On reflection, however, she decided that it must have been perpetrated +by some one in the Embassy for the express purpose of annoying her, +since no outsider could have got at the seal, even if he could have +obtained possession of the paper and envelope. As soon as this view +presented itself, she determined to ascertain the truth directly, and +to bring down the ambassadorial wrath on the offender. + +Accordingly she took the paper to the Russian clerk who was in charge +of the Chancery, and inquired who had dared to concoct such a paper +and to send it to her. + +To her stupefaction, the man smiled politely and informed her that the +document was genuine. What had the Patriarch to do with it? That was +very simple. Had she not been married to a Russian subject by the +Greek rite in Paris? Certainly. Very well. All marriages of Russian +subjects out of their own country took place under the authority of +the Patriarch of Constantinople, and all suits for divorcing persons +thus married came under his jurisdiction. That was all. It was such a +simple matter that every Russian knew all about it. The clerk asked +if he could be of service to her. He had been stationed in +Constantinople, and knew just what to do; and, moreover, he had a +friend at the Chancery there, who would take charge of the case if the +Countess desired it. + +Lady Maud thanked him coldly, replaced the document in its envelope, +and left the Embassy with the intention of never setting foot in it +again. + +She understood why Leven had suddenly lost an aunt of whom she had +never heard, and had got out of the way on pretence of an imaginary +inheritance. The dates showed plainly that the move had been prepared +before he left, and that he had started when the notice of the suit +was about to be sent to her. The only explanation that occurred to her +was that her husband had found some very rich woman who was willing to +marry him if he could free himself; and this seemed likely enough. + +She hesitated as to how she should act. Her first impulse was to go +to her father, who was a lawyer and would give her good advice, but a +moment's thought showed her that it would be a mistake to go to him. +Being no longer immobilised by a sprained ankle, Lord Creedmore would +probably leave England instantly in pursuit of Leven himself, and no +one could tell what the consequences might be if he caught him; they +would certainly be violent, and they might be disastrous. + +Then Lady Maud thought of telegraphing to Mr. Van Torp to come to town +to see her about an urgent matter; but she decided against that course +too. Whatever her relations were with the American financier this was +not the moment to call attention to them. She would write to him, and +in order to see him conveniently she would suggest to her father to +have a week-end house party in the country, and to ask his neighbour +over from Oxley Paddox. Nobody but Mr. Van Torp and the post-office +called the place Torp Towers. + +She had taken a hansom to the Embassy, but she walked back to Charles +Street because she was angry, and she considered nothing so good for a +rage as a stiff walk. By the time she reached her own door she was as +cool as ever, and her clear eyes looked upon the wicked world with +their accustomed calm. + +As she laid her hand on the door-bell, a smart brougham drove up +quickly and stopped close to the pavement, and as she turned her head +Margaret was letting herself out, before the footman could get round +from the other side to open the door of the carriage. + +'May I come in?' asked the singer anxiously, and Lady Maud saw that +she seemed much disturbed, and had a newspaper in her hand. 'I'm so +glad I just caught you,' Margaret added, as the door opened. + +They went in together. The house was very small and narrow, and Lady +Maud led the way into a little sitting-room on the right of the hall, +and shut the door. + +'Is it true?' Margaret asked as soon as they were alone. + +'What?' + +'About your divorce--' + +Lady Maud smiled rather contemptuously. + +'Is it already in the papers?' she asked, glancing at the one Margaret +had brought. 'I only heard of it myself an hour ago!' + +'Then it's really true! There's a horrid article about it--' + +Margaret was evidently much more disturbed than her friend, who sat +down in a careless attitude and smiled at her. + +'It had to come some day. And besides,' added Lady Maud, 'I don't +care!' + +'There's something about me too,' answered Margaret, 'and I cannot +help caring.' + +'About you?' + +'Me and Mr. Van Torp--the article is written by some one who hates +him--that's clear!--and you know I don't like him; but that's no +reason why I should be dragged in.' + +She was rather incoherent, and Lady Maud took the paper from her hand +quietly, and found the article at once. It was as 'horrid' as the +Primadonna said it was. No names were given in full, but there could +not be the slightest mistake about the persons referred to, who were +all clearly labelled by bits of characteristic description. It was all +in the ponderously airy form of one of those more or less true stories +of which some modern weeklies seem to have an inexhaustible supply, +but it was a particularly vicious specimen of its class so far as +Mr. Van Torp was concerned. His life was torn up by the roots and +mercilessly pulled to pieces, and he was shown to the public as a +Leicester Square Lovelace or a Bowery Don Juan. His baleful career was +traced from his supposed affair with Mrs. Isidore Bamberger and her +divorce to the scene at Margaret's hotel in New York, and from that +to the occasion of his being caught with Lady Maud in Hare Court by a +justly angry husband; and there was, moreover, a pretty plain allusion +to little Ida Moon. + +Lady Maud read the article quickly, but without betraying any emotion. +When she had finished she raised her eyebrows a very little, and gave +the paper back to Margaret. + +'It is rather nasty,' she observed quietly, as if she were speaking of +the weather. + +'It's utterly disgusting,' Margaret answered with emphasis. 'What +shall you do?' + +'I really don't know. Why should I do anything? Your position is +different, for you can write to the papers and deny all that concerns +you if you like--though I'm sure I don't know why you should care. +It's not to your discredit.' + +'I could not very well deny it,' said the Primadonna thoughtfully. +Almost before the words had left her lips she was sorry she had +spoken. + +'Does it happen to be true?' asked Lady Maud, with an encouraging +smile. + +'Well, since you ask me--yes.' Margaret felt uncomfortable. + +'Oh, I thought it might be,' answered Lady Maud. 'With all his good +qualities he has a very rough side. The story about me is perfectly +true too.' + +Margaret was amazed at her friend's quiet cynicism. + +'Not that about the--the envelope on the table--' + +She stopped short. + +'Oh yes! There were four thousand one hundred pounds in it. My husband +counted the notes.' + +The singer leaned back in her chair and stared in unconcealed +surprise, wondering how in the world she could have been so completely +mistaken in her judgment of a friend who had seemed to her the best +type of an honest and fearless Englishwoman. Margaret Donne had not +been brought up in the gay world; she had, however, seen some aspects +of it since she had been a successful singer, and she did not +exaggerate its virtues; but somehow Lady Maud had seemed to be above +it, while living in it, and Margaret would have put her hand into the +fire for the daughter of her father's old friend, who now acknowledged +without a blush that she had taken four thousand pounds from Rufus Van +Torp. + +'I suppose it would go against me even in an English court,' said Lady +Maud in a tone of reflection. 'It looks so badly to take money, you +know, doesn't it? But if I must be divorced, it really strikes me +as delightfully original to have it done by the Patriarch of +Constantinople! Doesn't it, my dear?' + +'It's not usual, certainly,' said Margaret gravely. + +She was puzzled by the other's attitude, and somewhat horrified. + +'I suppose you think I'm a very odd sort of person,' said Lady Maud, +'because I don't mind so much as most women might. You see, I never +really cared for Leven, though if I had not thought I had a fancy for +him I wouldn't have married him. My people were quite against it. The +truth is, I couldn't have the husband I wanted, and as I did not mean +to break my heart about it, I married, as so many girls do. That's my +little story! It's not long, is it?' + +She laughed, but she very rarely did that, even when she was amused, +and now Margaret's quick ear detected here and there in the sweet +ripple a note that did not ring quite like the rest. The intonation +was not false or artificial, but only sad and regretful, as genuine +laughter should not be. Margaret looked at her, still profoundly +mystified, and still drawn to her by natural sympathy, though +horrified almost to disgust at what seemed her brutal cynicism. + +'May I ask one question? We've grown to be such good friends that +perhaps you won't mind.' + +Lady Maud nodded. + +'Of course,' she said. 'Ask me anything you please. I'll answer if I +can.' + +'You said that you could not marry the man you liked. Was he--Mr. Van +Torp?' + +Lady Maud was not prepared for the question. + +'Mr. Van Torp?' she repeated slowly. 'Oh dear no! Certainly not! What +an extraordinary idea!' She gazed into Margaret's eyes with a look of +inquiry, until the truth suddenly dawned upon her. 'Oh, I see!' she +cried. 'How awfully funny!' + +There was no minor note of sadness or regret in her rippling laughter +now. It was so exquisitely true and musical that the great soprano +listened to it with keen delight, and wondered whether she herself +could produce a sound half so delicious. + +'No, my dear,' said Lady Maud, as her mirth subsided. 'I never was in +love with Mr. Van Torp. But it really is awfully funny that you should +have thought so! No wonder you looked grave when I told you that I was +really found in his rooms! We are the greatest friends, and no man was +ever kinder to a woman than he has been to me for the last two years. +But that's all. Did you really think the money was meant for me? That +wasn't quite nice of you, was it?' + +The bright smile was still on her face as she spoke the last words, +for her nature was far too big to be really hurt; but the little +rebuke went home sharply, and Margaret felt unreasonably ashamed of +herself, considering that Lady Maud had not taken the slightest pains +to explain the truth to her. + +'I'm so sorry,' she said contritely. 'I'm dreadfully sorry. It was +abominably stupid of me!' + +'Oh no. It was quite natural. This is not a pretty world, and there's +no reason why you should think me better than lots of other women. And +besides, I don't care!' + +'But surely you won't let your husband get a divorce for such a reason +as that without making a defence?' + +'Before the Patriarch of Constantinople?' Lady Maud evidently thought +the idea very amusing. 'It sounds like a comic opera,' she added. 'Why +should I defend myself? I shall be glad to be free; and as for the +story, the people who like me will not believe any harm of me, and the +people who don't like me may believe what they please. But I'm very +glad you showed me that article, disgusting as it is.' + +'I was beginning to be sorry I had brought it.' + +'No. You did me a service, for I had no idea that any one was going to +take advantage of my divorce to make a cowardly attack on my friend--I +mean Mr. Van Torp. I shall certainly not make any defence before the +Patriarch, but I shall make a statement which will go to the right +people, saying that I met Mr. Van Torp in a lawyer's chambers in +the Temple, that is, in a place of business, and about a matter of +business, and that there was no secret about it, because my husband's +servant called the cab that took me there, and gave the cabman the +address. I often do go out without telling any one, and I let myself +in with a latch-key when I come home, but on that particular occasion +I did neither. Will you say that if you hear me talked about?' + +'Of course I will.' + +Nevertheless, Margaret thought that Lady Maud might have given her a +little information about the 'matter of business' which had +involved such a large sum of money, and had produced such important +consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Mr. Van Torp was walking slowly down the Elm Walk in the park at Oxley +Paddox. The ancient trees were not in full leaf yet, but there were +myriads of tiny green feather points all over the rough brown branches +and the smoother twigs, and their soft colour tinted the luminous +spring air. High overhead all sorts and conditions of little birds +were chirping and trilling and chattering together and by turns, and +on the ground the sparrows were excessively busy and talkative, while +the squirrels made wild dashes across the open, and stopped suddenly +to sit bolt upright and look about them, and then dashed on again. + +Little Ida walked beside the millionaire in silence, trustfully +holding one of his hands, and as she watched the sparrows she tried +to make out what sort of sound they could be making when they hopped +forward and opened their bills so wide that she could distinctly see +their little tongues. Mr. Van Torp's other hand held a newspaper, and +he was reading the article about himself which Margaret had shown to +Lady Maud. He did not take that particular paper, but a marked copy +had been sent to him, and in due course had been ironed and laid on +the breakfast-table with those that came regularly. The article was +marked in red pencil. + +He read it slowly with a perfectly blank expression, as if it +concerned some one he did not know. Once only, when he came upon +the allusion to the little girl, his eyes left the page and glanced +quietly down at the large red felt hat with its knot of ribbands +that moved along beside him, and hid all the child's face except the +delicate chin and the corner of the pathetic little mouth. She did not +know that he looked down at her, for she was intent on the sparrows, +and he went back to the article and read to the end. + +Then, in order to fold the paper, he gently let go of Ida's hand, and +she looked up into his face. He did not speak, but his lips moved +a little as he doubled the sheet to put it into his pocket; and +instantly the child's expression changed, and she looked hurt and +frightened, and stretched up her hand quickly to cover his mouth, as +if to hide the words his lips were silently forming. + +'Please, please!' she said, in her slightly monotonous voice. 'You +promised me you wouldn't any more!' + +'Quite right, my dear,' answered Mr. Van Torp, smiling, 'and I +apologise. You must make me pay a forfeit every time I do it. What +shall the forfeit be? Chocolates?' + +She watched his lips, and understood as well as if she had heard. + +'No,' she answered demurely. 'You mustn't laugh. When I've done +anything wicked and am sorry, I say the little prayer Miss More taught +me. Perhaps you'd better learn it too.' + +'If you said it for me,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely, 'it would be +more likely to work.' + +'Oh no! That wouldn't do at all! You must say it for yourself. I'll +teach it to you if you like. Shall I?' + +'What must I say?' asked the financier. + +'Well, it's made up for me, you see, and besides, I've shortened it a +wee bit. What I say is: "Dear God, please forgive me this time, and +make me never want to do it again. Amen." Can you remember that, do +you think?' + +'I think I could,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'Please forgive me and make me +never do it again.' + +'Never want to do it again,' corrected little Ida with emphasis. 'You +must try not even to want to say dreadful things. And then you must +say "Amen." That's important.' + +'Amen,' repeated the millionaire. + +At this juncture the discordant toot of an approaching motor-car was +heard above the singing of the birds. Mr. Van Torp turned his +head quickly in the direction of the sound, and at the same time +instinctively led the little girl towards one side of the road. She +apparently understood, for she asked no questions. There was a turn in +the drive a couple of hundred yards away, where the Elm Walk ended, +and an instant later an enormous white motor-car whizzed into sight, +rushed furiously towards the two, and was brought to a standstill in +an uncommonly short time, close beside them. An active man, in the +usual driver's disguise of the modern motorist, jumped down, and at +the same instant pushed his goggles up over the visor of his cap +and loosened the collar of his wide coat, displaying the face of +Constantino Logotheti. + +'Oh, it's you, is it?' Mr. Van Torp asked the wholly superfluous +question in a displeased tone. 'How did you get in? I've given +particular orders to let in no automobiles.' + +'I always get in everywhere,' answered Logotheti coolly. 'May I see +you alone for a few minutes?' + +'If it's business, you'd better see Mr. Bamberger,' said Van Torp. +'I came here for a rest. Mr. Bamberger has come over for a few days. +You'll find him at his chambers in Hare Court.' + +'No,' returned Logotheti, 'it's a private matter. I shall not keep you +long.' + +'Then run us up to the house in your new go-cart.' + +Mr. Van Torp lifted little Ida into the motor as if she had been a +rather fragile china doll instead of a girl nine years old and quite +able to get up alone, and before she could sit down he was beside her. +Logotheti jumped up beside the chauffeur and the machine ran up the +drive at breakneck speed. Two minutes later they all got out more than +a mile farther on, at the door of the big old house. Ida ran away to +find Miss More; the two men entered together, and went into the study. + +The room had been built in the time of Edward Sixth, had been +decorated afresh under Charles the Second, the furniture was of the +time of Queen Anne, and the carpet was a modern Turkish one, woven +in colours as fresh as paint to fit the room, and as thick as a down +quilt: it was the sort of carpet which has come into existence with +the modern hotel. + +'Well?' Mr. Van Torp uttered the monosyllable as he sat down in his +own chair and pointed to a much less comfortable one, which Logotheti +took. + +'There's an article about you,' said the latter, producing a paper. + +'I've read it,' answered Mr. Van Torp in a tone of stony indifference. + +'I thought that was likely. Do you take the paper?' + +'No. Do you?' + +'No, it was sent to me,' Logotheti answered. 'Did you happen to glance +at the address on the wrapper of the one that came to you?' + +'My valet opens all the papers and irons them.' + +Mr. Van Torp looked very bored as he said this, and he stared stonily +at the pink and green waistcoat which his visitor's unfastened coat +exposed to view. Hundreds of little gold beads were sewn upon it at +the intersections of the pattern. It was a marvellous creation. + +'I had seen the handwriting on the one addressed to me before,' +Logotheti said. + +'Oh, you had, had you?' + +Mr. Van Torp asked the question in a dull tone without the slightest +apparent interest in the answer. + +'Yes,' Logotheti replied, not paying any attention to his host's +indifference. 'I received an anonymous letter last winter, and the +writing of the address was the same.' + +'It was, was it?' + +The millionaire's tone did not change in the least, and he continued +to admire the waistcoat. His manner might have disconcerted a person +of less assurance than the Greek, but in the matter of nerves the two +financiers were well matched. + +'Yes,' Logotheti answered, 'and the anonymous letter was about you, +and contained some of the stories that are printed in this article.' + +'Oh, it did, did it?' + +'Yes. There was an account of your interview with the Primadonna at a +hotel in New York. I remember that particularly well.' + +'Oh, you do, do you?' + +'Yes. The identity of the handwriting and the similarity of the +wording make it look as if the article and the letter had been written +by the same person.' + +'Well, suppose they were--I don't see anything funny about that.' + +Thereupon Mr. Van Torp turned at last from the contemplation of the +waistcoat and looked out of the bay-window at the distant trees, as if +he were excessively weary of Logotheti's talk. + +'It occurred to me,' said the latter, 'that you might like to stop any +further allusions to Miss Donne, and that if you happened to recognize +the handwriting you might be able to do so effectually.' + +'There's nothing against Madame Cordova in the article,' answered Mr. +Van Torp, and his aggressive blue eyes turned sharply to his visitor's +almond-shaped brown ones. 'You can't say there's a word against her.' + +'There may be in the next one,' suggested Logotheti, meeting the look +without emotion. 'When people send anonymous letters about broadcast +to injure men like you and me, they are not likely to stick at such a +matter as a woman's reputation.' + +'Well--maybe not.' Mr. Van Torp turned his sharp eyes elsewhere. 'You +seem to take quite an interest in Madame Cordova, Mr. Logotheti,' he +observed, in an indifferent tone. + +'I knew her before she went on the stage, and I think I may call +myself a friend of hers. At all events, I wish to spare her any +annoyance from the papers if I can, and if you have any regard for her +you will help me, I'm sure.' + +'I have the highest regard for Madame Cordova,' said Mr. Van Torp, and +there was a perceptible change in his tone; 'but after this, I guess +the best way I can show it is to keep out of her track. That's about +all there is to do. You don't suppose I'm going to bring an action +against that paper, do you?' + +'Hardly!' Logotheti smiled. + +'Well, then, what do you expect me to do, Mr. Logotheti?' + +Again the eyes of the two men met. + +'I'll tell you,' answered the Greek. 'The story about your visit to +Miss Donne in New York is perfectly true.' + +'You're pretty frank,' observed the American. + +'Yes, I am. Very good. The man who wrote the letter and the article +knows you, and that probably means that you have known him, though you +may never have taken any notice of him. He hates you, for some reason, +and means to injure you if he can. Just take the trouble to find out +who he is and suppress him, will you? If you don't, he will throw more +mud at honest women. He is probably some underling whose feelings you +have hurt, or who has lost money by you, or both.' + +'There's something in that,' answered Mr. Van Torp, showing a little +more interest. 'Do you happen to have any of his writing about you? +I'll look at it.' + +Logotheti took a letter and a torn piece of brown paper from his +pocket and handed both to his companion. + +'Read the letter, if you like,' he said. 'The handwriting seems to be +the same as that on the wrapper.' + +Mr. Van Torp first compared the address, and then proceeded to read +the anonymous letter. Logotheti watched his face quietly, but it did +not change in the least. When he had finished, he folded the sheet, +replaced it in the envelope, and returned it with the bit of paper. + +'Much obliged,' he said, and he looked out of the window again and was +silent. + +Logotheti leaned back in his chair as he put the papers into his +pocket again, and presently, as Mr. Van Torp did not seem inclined to +say anything more, he rose to go. The American did not move, and still +looked out of the window. + +'You originally belonged to the East, Mr. Logotheti, didn't you?' he +asked suddenly. + +'Yes. I'm a Greek and a Turkish subject.' + +'Do you happen to know the Patriarch of Constantinople?' + +Logotheti stared in surprise, taken off his guard for once. + +'Very well indeed,' he answered after an instant. 'He is my uncle.' + +'Why, now, that's quite interesting!' observed Mr. Van Torp, rising +deliberately and thrusting his hands into his pockets. + +Logotheti, who knew nothing about the details of Lady Maud's pending +divorce, could not imagine what the American was driving at, and +waited for more. Mr. Van Torp began to walk up and down, with his +rather clumsy gait, digging his heels into vivid depths of the new +Smyrna carpet at every step. + +'I wasn't going to tell you,' he said at last, 'but I may just as +well. Most of the accusations in that letter are lies. I didn't blow +up the subway. I know it was done on purpose, of course, but I had +nothing to do with it, and any man who says I had, takes me for a +fool, which you'll probably allow I'm not. You're a man of business, +Mr. Logotheti. There had been a fall in Nickel, and for weeks before +the explosion I'd been making a considerable personal sacrifice to +steady things. Now you know as well as I do that all big accidents +are bad for the market when it's shaky. Do you suppose I'd have +deliberately produced one just then? Besides, I'm not a criminal. I +didn't blow up the subway any more than I blew up the Maine to bring +on the Cuban war! The man's a fool.' + +'I quite agree with you,' said the Greek, listening with interest. + +'Then there's another thing. That about poor Mrs. Moon, who's gone +out of her mind. It's nonsense to say I was the reason of Bamberger's +divorcing his wife. In the first place, there are the records of the +divorce, and my name was never mentioned. I was her friend, that's +all, and Bamberger resented it--he's a resentful sort of man anyway. +He thought she'd marry me as soon as he got the divorce. Well, she +didn't. She married old Alvah Moon, who was the only man she ever +cared for. The Lord knows how it was, but that wicked old scarecrow +made all the women love him, to his dying day. I had a high regard for +Mrs. Bamberger, and I suppose she was right to marry him if she liked +him. Well, she married him in too much of a hurry, and the child that +was born abroad was Bamberger's and not his, and when he found it out +he sent the girl East and would never see her again, and didn't leave +her a cent when he died. That's the truth about that, Mr. Logotheti. I +tell you because you've got that letter in your pocket, and I'd rather +have your good word than your bad word in business any day.' + +'Thank you,' answered Logotheti. 'I'm glad to know the facts in the +case, though I never could see what a man's private life can have to +do with his reputation in the money market!' + +'Well, it has, in some countries. Different kinds of cats have +different kinds of ways. There's one thing more, but it's not in the +letter, it's in the article. That's about Countess Leven, and it's the +worst lie of the lot, for there's not a better woman than she is from +here to China. I'm not at liberty to tell you anything of the matter +she's interested in and on which she consults me. But her father is +my next neighbour here, and I seem to be welcome at his house; he's a +pretty sensible man, and that makes for her, it seems to me. As for +that husband of hers, we've a good name in America for men like him. +We'd call him a skunk over there. I suppose the English word is +polecat, but it doesn't say as much. I don't think there's anything +else I want to tell you.' + +'You spoke of my uncle, the Patriarch,' observed Logotheti. + +'Did I? Yes. Well, what sort of a gentleman is he, anyway?' + +The question seemed rather vague to the Greek. + +'How do you mean?' he inquired, buttoning his coat over the wonderful +waistcoat. + +'Is he a friendly kind of a person, I mean? Obliging, if you take him +the right way? That's what I mean. Or does he get on his ear right +away?' + +'I should say,' answered Logotheti, without a smile, 'that he gets on +his ear right away--if that means the opposite of being friendly and +obliging. But I may be prejudiced, for he does not approve of me.' + +'Why not, Mr. Logotheti?' + +'My uncle says I'm a pagan, and worship idols.' + +'Maybe he means the Golden Calf,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely. + +Logotheti laughed. + +'The other deity in business is the Brazen Serpent, I believe,' he +retorted. + +'The two would look pretty well out there on my lawn,' answered Mr. +Van Torp, his hard face relaxing a little. + +'To return to the point. Can I be of any use to you with the +Patriarch? We are not on bad terms, though he does think me a heathen. +Is there anything I can do?' + +'Thank you, not at present. Much obliged. I only wanted to know.' + +Logotheti's curiosity was destined to remain unsatisfied. He refused +Mr. Van Torp's not very pressing invitation to stay to luncheon, given +at the very moment when he was getting into his motor, and a few +seconds later he was tearing down the avenue. + +Mr. Van Torp stood on the steps till he was out of sight and then came +down himself and strolled slowly away towards the trees again, his +hands behind him and his eyes constantly bent upon the road, three +paces ahead. + +He was not always quite truthful. Scruples were not continually +uppermost in his mind. For instance, what he had told Lady Maud about +his engagement to poor Miss Bamberger did not quite agree with what he +had said to Margaret on the steamer. + +In certain markets in New York, three kinds of eggs are offered for +sale, namely, Eggs, Fresh Eggs, and Strictly Fresh Eggs. I have seen +the advertisement. Similarly in Mr. Van Torp's opinion there were +three sorts of stories, to wit, Stories, True Stories, and Strictly +True Stories. Clearly, each account of his engagement must have +belonged to one of these classes, as well as the general statement he +had made to Logotheti about the charges brought against him in the +anonymous letter. The reason why he had made that statement was plain +enough; he meant it to be repeated to Margaret because he really +wished her to think well of him. Moreover, he had recognised the +handwriting at once as that of Mr. Feist, Isidore Bamberger's former +secretary, who knew a good many things and might turn out a dangerous +enemy. + +But Logotheti, who knew something of men, and had dealt with some +very accomplished experts in fraud from New York and London to +Constantinople, had his doubts about the truth of what he had heard, +and understood at once why the usually reticent American had talked +so much about himself. Van Torp, he was sure, was in love with the +singer; that was his weak side, and in whatever affected her he might +behave like a brute or a baby, but would certainly act with something +like rudimentary simplicity in either case. In Logotheti's opinion +Northern and English-speaking men might be as profound as Persians in +matters of money, and sometimes were, but where women were concerned +they were generally little better than sentimental children, unless +they were mere animals. Not one in a thousand cared for the society +of women, or even of one particular woman, for its own sake, for the +companionship, and the exchange of ideas about things of which women +know how to think. To the better sort, that is, to the sentimental +ones, a woman always seemed what she was not, a goddess, a saint, or +a sort of glorified sister; to the rest, she was an instrument of +amusement and pleasure, more or less necessary and more or less +purchasable. Perhaps an Englishman or an American, judging Greeks from +what he could learn about them in ordinary intercourse, would get +about as near the truth as Logotheti did. In his main conclusion the +latter was probably right; Mr. Van Torp's affections might be of such +exuberant nature as would admit of being divided between two or three +objects at the same time, or they might not. But when he spoke of +having the 'highest regard' for Madame Cordova, without denying the +facts about the interview in which he had asked her to marry him and +had lost his head because she refused, he was at least admitting that +he was in love with her, or had been at that time. + +Mr. Van Torp also confessed that he had entertained a 'high regard' +for the beautiful Mrs. Bamberger, now unhappily insane. It was +noticeable that he had not used the same expression in speaking of +Lady Maud. Nevertheless, as in the Bamberger affair, he appeared as +the chief cause of trouble between husband and wife. Logotheti was +considered 'dangerous' even in Paris, and his experiences had not +been dull; but, so far, he had found his way through life without +inadvertently stepping upon any of those concealed traps through which +the gay and unwary of both sexes are so often dropped into the divorce +court, to the surprise of everybody. It seemed the more strange to +him that Rufus Van Torp, only a few years his senior, should now find +himself in that position for the second time. Yet Van Torp was not +a ladies' man; he was hard-featured, rough of speech, and clumsy of +figure, and it was impossible to believe that any woman could think +him good-looking or be carried away by his talk. The case of Mrs. +Bamberger could be explained; she might have had beauty, but she +could have had little else that would have appealed to such a man as +Logotheti. But there was Lady Maud, an acknowledged beauty in London, +thoroughbred, aristocratic, not easily shocked perhaps, but easily +disgusted, like most women of her class; and there was no doubt but +that her husband had found her under extremely strange circumstances, +in the act of receiving from Van Torp a large sum of money for which +she altogether declined to account. Van Torp had not denied that story +either, so it was probably true. Yet Logotheti, whom so many women +thought irresistible, had felt instinctively that she was one of those +who would smile serenely upon the most skilful and persistent besieger +from the security of an impregnable fortress of virtue. Logotheti did +not naturally feel unqualified respect for many women, but since he +had known Lady Maud it had never occurred to him that any one could +take the smallest liberty with her. On the other hand, though he was +genuinely in love with Margaret and desired nothing so much as to +marry her, he had never been in the least afraid of her, and he had +deliberately attempted to carry her off against her will; and if she +had looked upon his conduct then as anything more serious than a mad +prank, she had certainly forgiven it very soon. + +The only reason for his flying visit to Derbyshire had been his desire +to keep Margaret's name out of an impending scandal in which he +foresaw that Mr. Van Torp and Lady Maud were to be the central +figures, and he believed that he had done something to bring about +that result, if he had started the millionaire on the right scent. He +judged Van Torp to be a good hater and a man of many resources, who +would not now be satisfied till he had the anonymous writer of the +letter and the article in his power. Logotheti had no means of +guessing who the culprit was, and did not care to know. + +He reached town late in the afternoon, having covered something like +three hundred miles since early morning. About seven o'clock he +stopped at Margaret's door, in the hope of finding her at home and of +being asked to dine alone with her, but as he got out of his hansom +and sent it away he heard the door shut and he found himself face to +face with Paul Griggs. + +'Miss Donne is out,' said the author, as they shook hands. 'She's been +spending the day with the Creedmores, and when I rang she had just +telephoned that she would not be back for dinner!' + +'What a bore!' exclaimed Logotheti. + +The two men walked slowly along the pavement together, and for some +time neither spoke. Logotheti had nothing to do, or believed so +because he was disappointed in not finding Margaret in. The elder man +looked preoccupied, and the Greek was the first to speak. + +'I suppose you've seen that shameful article about Van Torp,' he said. + +'Yes. Somebody sent me a marked copy of the paper. Do you know whether +Miss Donne has seen it?' + +'Yes. She got a marked copy too. So did I. What do you think of it?' + +'Just what you do, I fancy. Have you any idea who wrote it?' + +'Probably some underling in the Nickel Trust whom Van Torp has +offended without knowing it, or who has lost money by him.' + +Griggs glanced at his companion's face, for the hypothesis struck him +as being tenable. + +'Unless it is some enemy of Countess Leven's,' he suggested. 'Her +husband is really going to divorce her, as the article says.' + +'I suppose she will defend herself,' said Logotheti. + +'If she has a chance.' + +'What do you mean?' + +'Do you happen to know what sort of man the present Patriarch of +Constantinople is?' + +Logotheti's jaw dropped, and he slackened his pace. + +'What in the world--' he began, but did not finish the sentence. +'That's the second time to-day I've been asked about him.' + +'That's very natural,' said Griggs calmly. 'You're one of the very few +men in town who are likely to know him.' + +'Of course I know him,' answered Logotheti, still mystified. 'He's my +uncle.' + +'Really? That's very lucky!' + +'Look here, Griggs, is this some silly joke?' + +'A joke? Certainly not. Lady Maud's husband can only get a divorce +through the Patriarch because he married her out of Russia. You know +about that law, don't you?' + +Logotheti understood at last. + +'No,' he said, 'I never heard of it. But if that is the case I may +be able to do something--not that I'm considered orthodox at the +Patriarchate! The old gentleman has been told that I'm trying to +revive the worship of the Greek gods and have built a temple to +Aphrodite Xenia in the Place de la Concorde!' + +'You're quite capable of it,' observed Griggs. + +'Oh, quite! Only, I've not done it yet. I'll see what I can do. Are +you much interested in the matter?' + +'Only on general principles, because I believe Lady Maud is perfectly +straight, and it is a shame that such a creature as Leven should be +allowed to divorce an honest Englishwoman. By the bye--speaking of her +reminds me of that dinner at the Turkish Embassy--do you remember a +disagreeable-looking man who sat next to me, one Feist, a countryman +of mine?' + +'Rather! I wondered how he came there.' + +'He had a letter of introduction from the Turkish Minister in +Washington. He is full of good letters of introduction.' + +'I should think they would need to be good,' observed Logotheti. +'With that face of his he would need an introduction to a Port Said +gambling-hell before they would let him in.' + +'I agree with you. But he is well provided, as I say, and he goes +everywhere. Some one has put him down at the Mutton Chop. You never go +there, do you?' + +'I'm not asked,' laughed Logotheti. 'And as for becoming a member, +they say it's impossible.' + +'It takes ten or fifteen years,' Griggs answered, 'and then you won't +be elected unless every one likes you. But you may be put down as +a visitor there just as at any other club. This fellow Feist, for +instance--we had trouble with him last night--or rather this morning, +for it was two o'clock. He has been dropping in often of late, towards +midnight. At first he was more or less amusing with his stories, for +he has a wonderful memory. You know the sort of funny man who rattles +on as if he were wound up for the evening, and afterwards you cannot +remember a word he has said. It's all very well for a while, but you +soon get sick of it. Besides, this particular specimen drinks like a +whale.' + +'He looks as if he did.' + +'Last night he had been talking a good deal, and most of the men who +had been there had gone off. You know there's only one room at the +Mutton Chop, with a long table, and if a man takes the floor there's +no escape. I had come in about one o'clock to get something to eat, +and Feist poured out a steady stream of stories as usual, though only +one or two listened to him. Suddenly his eyes looked queer, and he +stammered, and rolled off his chair, and lay in a heap, either dead +drunk or in a fit, I don't know which.' + +'And I suppose you carried him downstairs,' said Logotheti, for Griggs +was known to be stronger than other men, though no longer young. + +'I did,' Griggs answered. 'That's usually my share of the proceedings. +The last person I carried--let me see--I think it must have been that +poor girl who died at the Opera in New York. We had found Feist's +address in the visitors' book, and we sent him home in a hansom. I +wonder whether he got there!' + +'I should think the member who put him down would be rather annoyed,' +observed Logotheti. + +'Yes. It's the first time anything of that sort ever happened at the +Mutton Chop, and I fancy it will be the last. I don't think we shall +see Mr. Feist again.' + +'I took a particular dislike to his face,' Logotheti said. 'I remember +thinking of him when I went home that night, and wondering who he was +and what he was about.' + +'At first I took him for a detective,' said Griggs. 'But detectives +don't drink.' + +'What made you think he might be one?' + +'He has a very clever way of leading the conversation to a point and +then asking an unexpected question.' + +'Perhaps he is an amateur,' suggested Logotheti. 'He may be a spy. Is +Feist an American name?' + +'You will find all sorts of names in America. They prove nothing in +the way of nationality, unless they are English, Dutch, or French, and +even then they don't prove much. I'm an American myself, and I feel +sure that Feist either is one or has spent many years in the country, +in which case he is probably naturalised. As for his being a spy, I +don't think I ever came across one in England.' + +'They come here to rest in time of peace, or to escape hanging in +other countries in time of war,' said the Greek. 'His being at the +Turkish Embassy, of all places in the world, is rather in favour of +the idea. Do you happen to remember the name of his hotel?' + +'Are you going to call on him?' Griggs asked with a smile. + +'Perhaps. He begins to interest me. Is it indiscreet to ask what sort +of questions he put to you?' + +'He's stopping at the Carlton--if the cabby took him there! We gave +the man half-a-crown for the job, and took his number, so I suppose +it was all right. As for the questions he asked me, that's another +matter.' + +Logotheti glanced quickly at his companion's rather grim face, and was +silent for a few moments. He judged that Mr. Feist's inquiries must +have concerned a woman, since Griggs was so reticent, and it required +no great ingenuity to connect that probability with one or both of the +ladies who had been at the dinner where Griggs and Feist had first +met. + +'I think I shall go and ask for Mr. Feist,' he said presently. 'I +shall say that I heard he was ill and wanted to know if I could do +anything for him.' + +'I've no doubt he'll be much touched by your kindness!' said Griggs. +'But please don't mention the Mutton Chop Club, if you really see +him.' + +'Oh no! Besides, I shall let him do the talking.' + +'Then take care that you don't let him talk you to death!' + +Logotheti smiled as he hailed a passing hansom; he nodded to his +companion, told the man to go to the Carlton, and drove away, leaving +Griggs to continue his walk alone. + +The elderly man of letters had not talked about Mr. Feist with any +special intention, and was very far from thinking that what he had +said would lead to any important result. He liked the Greek, because +he liked most Orientals, under certain important reservations and at a +certain distance, and he had lived amongst them long enough not to be +surprised at anything they did. Logotheti had been disappointed in not +finding the Primadonna at home, and he was not inclined to put up with +the usual round of an evening in London during the early part of the +season as a substitute for what he had lost. He was the more put out, +because, when he had last seen Margaret, three or four days earlier, +she had told him that if he came on that evening at about seven +o'clock he would probably find her alone. Having nothing that looked +at all amusing to occupy him, he was just in the mood to do anything +unusual that presented itself. + +Griggs guessed at most of these things, and as he walked along he +vaguely pictured to himself the interview that was likely to take +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Opinion was strongly against Mr. Van Torp. A millionaire is almost +as good a mark at which to throw mud as a woman of the world whose +reputation has never before been attacked, and when the two can be +pilloried together it is hardly to be expected that ordinary people +should abstain from pelting them and calling them bad names. + +Lady Maud, indeed, was protected to some extent by her father and +brothers, and by many loyal friends. It is happily still doubtful how +far one may go in printing lies about an honest woman without getting +into trouble with the law, and when the lady's father is not only a +peer, but has previously been a barrister of reputation and a popular +and hard-working member of the House of Commons during a long time, +it is generally safer to use guarded language; the advisability of +moderation also increases directly as the number and size of the +lady's brothers, and inversely as their patience. Therefore, on the +whole, Lady Maud was much better treated by the society columns than +Margaret at first expected. + +On the other hand, they vented their spleen and sharpened their +English on the American financier, who had no relations and scarcely +any friends to stand by him, and was, moreover, in a foreign country, +which always seems to be regarded as an aggravating circumstance when +a man gets into any sort of trouble. Isidore Bamberger and Mr. Feist +had roused and let loose upon him a whole pack of hungry reporters and +paragraph writers on both sides of the Atlantic. + +The papers did not at first print his name except in connection with +the divorce of Lady Maud. But this was a landmark, the smallest +reference to which made all other allusions to him quite clear. It +was easy to speak of Mr. Van Torp as the central figure in a _cause +célèbre_: newspapers love the French language the more as they +understand it the less; just as the gentle amateur in literature tries +to hide his cloven hoof under the thin elegance of italics. + +Particular stress was laid upon the millionaire's dreadful hypocrisy. +He taught in the Sunday Schools at Nickelville, the big village which +had sprung up at his will and which was the headquarters of his +sanctimonious wickedness. He was compared to Solomon, not for his +wisdom, but on account of his domestic arrangements. He was indeed a +father to his flock. It was a touching sight to see the little ones +gathered round the knees of this great and good man, and to note +how an unconscious and affectionate imitation reflected his face +in theirs. It was true that there was another side to this truly +patriarchal picture. In a city of the Far West, wrote an eloquent +paragraph writer, a pale face, once divinely beautiful, was often seen +at the barred window of a madhouse, and eyes that had once looked too +tenderly into those of the Nickelville Solomon stared wildly at +the palm-trees in the asylum grounds. This paragraph was rich in +sentiment. + +There were a good many mentions of the explosion in New York, too, and +hints, dark, but uncommonly straight, that the great Sunday School +teacher had been the author and stage-manager of an awful comedy +designed expressly to injure a firm of contractors against whom he had +a standing grudge. In proof of the assertion, the story went on to say +that he had written four hours before the 'accident' happened to give +warning of it to the young lady whom he was about to marry. She was +a neurasthenic young lady, and in spite of the warning she died very +suddenly at the theatre from shock immediately after the explosion, +and his note was found on her dressing-table when she was brought home +dead. Clearly, if the explosion had not been his work, and if he had +been informed of it beforehand, he would have warned the police and +the Department of Public Works at the same time. The young lady's +untimely death had not prevented him from sailing for Europe three or +four days later, and on the trip he had actually occupied alone the +same 'thousand dollar suite' which he had previously engaged for +himself and his bride. From this detail the public might form some +idea of the Nickelville magnate's heartless character. In fact, if +one-half of what was written, telegraphed, and printed about Rufus Van +Torp on both sides of the Atlantic during the next fortnight was to be +believed, he had no character at all. + +To all this he answered nothing, and he did not take the trouble to +allude to the matter in the few letters he wrote to his acquaintances. +Day after day numbers of marked papers were carefully ironed and laid +on the breakfast-table, after having been read and commented on in the +servants' hall. The butler began to look askance at him, Mrs. Dubbs, +the housekeeper, talked gloomily of giving warning, and the footmen +gossiped with the stable hands; but the men all decided that it was +not derogatory to their dignity to remain in the service of a master +who was soon to be exhibited in the divorce court beside such a 'real +lady' as Lord Creedmore's daughter; the housemaids agreed in this +view, and the housekeeper consulted Miss More. For Mrs. Dubbs was an +imposing person, morally and physically, and had a character to lose; +and though the place was a very good one for her old age, because the +master only spent six weeks or two months at Oxley Paddox each year, +and never found fault, yet Mrs. Dubbs was not going to have her name +associated with that of a gentleman who blew up underground works and +took Solomon's view of the domestic affections. She came of very good +people in the north; one of her brothers was a minister, and the other +was an assistant steward on a large Scotch estate. + +Miss More's quiet serenity was not at all disturbed by what was +happening, for it could hardly be supposed that she was ignorant of +the general attack on Mr. Van Torp, though he did not leave the papers +lying about, where little Ida's quick eyes might fall on a marked +passage. The housekeeper waited for an occasion when Mr. Van Torp +had taken the child for a drive, as he often did, and Miss More was +established in her favourite corner of the garden, just out of sight +of the house. Mrs. Dubbs first exposed the situation, then expressed +a strong opinion as to her own respectability, and finally asked Miss +More's advice. + +Miss More listened attentively, and waited till her large and sleek +interlocutor had absolutely nothing more to say. Then she spoke. + +'Mrs. Dubbs,' she said, 'do you consider me a respectable young +woman?' + +'Oh, Miss More!' cried the housekeeper. 'You! Indeed, I'd put my hand +into the fire for you any day!' + +'And I'm an American, and I've known Mr. Van Torp several years, +though this is the first time you have seen me here. Do you think I +would let the child stay an hour under his roof, or stay here myself, +if I believed one word of all those wicked stories the papers are +publishing? Look at me, please. Do you think I would?' + +It was quite impossible to look at Miss More's quiet healthy face and +clear eyes and to believe she would. There are some women of whom +one is sure at a glance that they are perfectly trustworthy in every +imaginable way, and above even the suspicion of countenancing any +wrong. + +'No,' answered Mrs. Dubbs, with honest conviction, 'I don't, indeed.' + +'I think, then,' said Miss More, 'that if I feel I can stay here, you +are safe in staying too. I do not believe any of these slanders, and +I am quite sure that Mr. Van Torp is one of the kindest men in the +world.' + +'I feel as if you must be right, Miss More,' replied the housekeeper. +'But they do say dreadful things about him, indeed, and he doesn't +deny a word of it, as he ought to, in my humble opinion, though it's +not my business to judge, of course, but I'll say this, Miss More, and +that is, that if the butler's character was publicly attacked in the +papers, in the way Mr. Van Torp's is, and if I were Mr. Van Torp, +which of course I'm not, I'd say "Crookes, you may be all right, but +if you're going to be butler here any longer, it's your duty to defend +yourself against these attacks upon you in the papers, Crookes, +because as a Christian man you must not hide your light under a +bushel, Crookes, but let it shine abroad." That's what I'd say, Miss +More, and I should like to know if you don't think I should be right.' + +'If the English and American press united to attack the butler's +character,' answered Miss More without a smile, 'I think you would +be quite right, Mrs. Dubbs. But as regards Mr. Van Torp's present +position, I am sure he is the best judge of what he ought to do.' + +These words of wisdom, and Miss More's truthful eyes, greatly +reassured the housekeeper, who afterwards upbraided the servants for +paying any attention to such wicked falsehoods; and Mr. Crookes, the +butler, wrote to his aged mother, who was anxious about his situation, +to say that Mr. Van Torp must be either a real gentleman or a very +hardened criminal indeed, because it was only forgers and real +gentlemen who could act so precious cool; but that, on the whole, he, +Crookes, and the housekeeper, who was a highly respectable person and +the sister of a minister, as he wished his mother to remember, had +made up their minds that Mr. V.T. was Al, copper-bottomed--Mrs. +Crookes was the widow of a seafaring man, and lived at Liverpool, +and had heard Lloyd's rating quoted all her life--and that they, the +writer and Mrs. Dubbs, meant to see him through his troubles, though +he was a little trying at his meals, for he would have butter on +the table at his dinner, and he wanted two and three courses served +together, and drank milk at his luncheon, like no Christian gentleman +did that Mr. Crookes had ever seen. + +The financier might have been amused if he could have read this +letter, which contained no allusion to the material attractions +of Torp Towers as a situation; for like a good many American +millionaires, Mr. Van Torp had a blind spot on his financial retina. +He could deal daringly and surely with vast sums, or he could screw +twice the normal quantity of work out of an underpaid clerk; but the +household arithmetic that lies between the two was entirely beyond his +comprehension. He 'didn't want to be bothered,' he said; he maintained +that he 'could make more money in ten minutes than he could save in a +year by checking the housekeeper's accounts'; he 'could live on coffee +and pie,' but if he chose to hire the chef of the Cafe Anglais to cook +for him at five thousand dollars a year he 'didn't want to know the +price of a truffled pheasant or a chaudfroid of ortolans.' That was +his way, and it was good enough for him. What was the use of having +made money if you were to be bothered? And besides, he concluded, 'it +was none of anybody's blank blank business what he did.' + +Mr. Van Torp did not hesitate to borrow similes from another world +when his rather limited command of refined language was unequal to the +occasion. + +But at the present juncture, though his face did not change, and +though he slept as soundly and had as good an appetite as usual, no +words with which he was acquainted could express his feelings at all. +He had, indeed, consigned the writer of the first article to perdition +with some satisfaction; but after his interview with Logotheti, +when he had understood that a general attack upon him had begun, he +gathered his strength in silence and studied the position with all the +concentration of earnest thought which his exceptional nature could +command. + +He had recognised Feist's handwriting, and he remembered the man as +his partner's former secretary. Feist might have written the letter +to Logotheti and the first article, but Van Torp did not believe +him capable of raising a general hue and cry on both sides of the +Atlantic. It undoubtedly happened sometimes that when a fire had been +smouldering long unseen a single spark sufficed to start the blaze, +but Mr. Van Torp was too well informed as to public opinion about him +to have been in ignorance of any general feeling against him, if it +had existed; and the present attack was of too personal a nature to +have been devised by financial rivals. Besides, the Nickel Trust had +recently absorbed all its competitors to such an extent that it had no +rivals at all, and the dangers that threatened it lay on the one hand +in the growing strength of the Labour Party in its great movement +against capital, and on the other in its position with regard to +recent American legislation about Trusts. From the beginning Mr. Van +Torp had been certain that the campaign of defamation had not been +begun by the Unions, and by its nature it could have no connection +with the legal aspect of his position. It was therefore clear that +war had been declared upon him by one or more individuals on purely +personal grounds, and that Mr. Feist was but the chief instrument in +the hands of an unknown enemy. + +But at first sight it did not look as if his assailant were Isidore +Bamberger. The violent attack on him might not affect the credit of +the Nickel Trust, but it was certainly not likely to improve it and +Mr. Van Torp believed that if his partner had a grudge against him, +any attempt at revenge would be made in a shape that would not affect +the Trust's finances. Bamberger was a resentful sort of man, but on +the other hand he was a man of business, and his fortune depended on +that of his great partner. + +Mr. Van Torp walked every morning in the park, thinking over these +things, and little Ida tripped along beside him watching the squirrels +and the birds, and not saying much; but now and then, when she felt +the gentle pressure of his hand on hers, which usually meant that he +was going to speak to her, she looked up to watch his lips, and they +did not move; only his eyes met hers, and the faint smile that came +into his face then was not at all like the one which most people saw +there. So she smiled back, happily, and looked at the squirrels again, +sure that a rabbit would soon make a dash over the open and cross the +road, and hoping for the rare delight of seeing a hare. And the tame +red and fallow deer looked at her suspiciously from a distance, as if +she might turn into a motor-car. In those morning walks she did not +again see his lips forming words that frightened her, and she began to +be quite sure that he had stopped swearing to himself because she had +spoken to him so seriously. + +Once he looked at her so long and with so much earnestness that she +asked him what he was thinking of, and he gently pushed back the +broad-brimmed hat she wore, so as to see her forehead and beautiful +golden hair. + +'You are growing very like your mother,' he said, after a little +while. + +They had stopped in the broad drive, and little Ida gazed gravely up +at him for a moment. Then she put up her arms. + +'I think I want to give you a kiss, Mr. Van Torp,' she said with the +utmost gravity. 'You're so good to me.' + +Mr. Van Torp stooped, and she put her arms round his short neck and +kissed the hard, flat cheek once, and he kissed hers rather awkwardly. + +'Thank you, my dear,' he said, in an odd voice, as he straightened +himself. + +He took her hand again to walk on, and the great iron mouth was drawn +a little to one side, and it looked as if the lips might have trembled +if they had not been so tightly shut. Perhaps Mr. Van Torp had never +kissed a child before. + +She was very happy and contented, for she had spent most of her life +in a New England village alone with Miss More, and the great English +country-house was full of wonder and mystery for her, and the park was +certainly the Earthly Paradise. She had hardly ever been with other +children and was rather afraid of them, because they did not always +understand what she said, as most grown people did; so she was not at +all lonely now. On the contrary, she felt that her small existence +was ever so much fuller than before, since she now loved two people +instead of only one, and the two people seemed to agree so well +together. In America she had only seen Mr. Van Torp at intervals, when +he had appeared at the cottage near Boston, the bearer of toys and +chocolates and other good things, and she had not been told till after +she had landed in Liverpool that she was to be taken to stop with him +in the country while he remained in England. Till then he had always +called her 'Miss Ida,' in an absurdly formal way, but ever since she +had arrived at Oxley Paddox he had dropped the 'Miss,' and had never +failed to spend two or three hours alone with her every day. Though +his manner had not changed much, and he treated her with a sort of +queer formality, much as he would have behaved if she had been twenty +years old instead of nine, she had been growing more and more sure +that he loved her and would give her anything in the world she asked +for, though there was really nothing she wanted; and in return she +grew gratefully fond of him by quick degrees, till her affection +expressed itself in her solemn proposal to 'give him a kiss.' + +Not long after that Mr. Van Torp found amongst his letters one from +Lady Maud, of which the envelope was stamped with the address of her +father's country place, 'Craythew.' He read the contents carefully, +and made a note in his pocket-book before tearing the sheet and the +envelope into a number of small bits. + +There was nothing very compromising in the note, but Mr. Van Torp +certainly did not know that his butler regularly offered first and +second prizes in the servants' hall, every Saturday night, for the +'best-put-together letters' of the week--to those of his satellites, +in other words, who had been most successful in piecing together +scraps from the master's wastepaper basket. In houses where the +post-bag has a patent lock, of which the master keeps the key, this +diversion has been found a good substitute for the more thrilling +entertainment of steaming the letters and reading them before taking +them upstairs. If Mrs. Dubbs was aware of Mr. Crookes' weekly +distribution of rewards she took no notice of it; but as she rarely +condescended to visit the lower regions, and only occasionally asked +Mr. Crookes to dine in her own sitting-room, she may be allowed the +benefit of the doubt; and, besides, she was a very superior person. + +On the day after he had received Lady Maud's note, Mr. Van Torp rode +out by himself. No one, judging from his looks, would have taken him +for a good rider. He rode seldom, too, never talked of horses, and was +never seen at a race. When he rode he did not even take the trouble to +put on gaiters, and, after he had bought Oxley Paddox, the first time +that his horse was brought to the door, by a groom who had never seen +him, the latter could have sworn that the millionaire had never been +on a horse before and was foolishly determined to break his neck. On +that occasion Mr. Van Torp came down the steps, with a big cigar in +his mouth, in his ordinary clothes, without so much as a pair of +straps to keep his trousers down, or a bit of a stick in his hand. The +animal was a rather ill-tempered black that had arrived from Yorkshire +two days previously in charge of a boy who gave him a bad character. +As Mr. Van Torp descended the steps with his clumsy gait, the horse +laid his ears well back for a moment and looked as if he meant to +kick anything within reach. Mr. Van Torp looked at him in a dull way, +puffed his cigar, and made one remark in the form of a query. + +'He ain't a lamb, is he?' + +'No, sir,' answered the groom with sympathetic alacrity, 'and if I was +you, sir, I wouldn't--' + +But the groom's good advice was checked by an unexpected phenomenon. +Mr. Van Torp was suddenly up, and the black was plunging wildly as +was only to be expected; what was more extraordinary was that Mr. Van +Torp's expression showed no change whatever, the very big cigar was +stuck in his mouth at precisely the same angle as before, and he +appeared to be glued to the saddle. He sat perfectly erect, with his +legs perpendicularly straight, and his hands low and quiet. + +The next moment the black bolted down the drive, but Mr. Van Torp did +not seem the least disturbed, and the astonished groom, his mouth wide +open and his arms hanging down, saw that the rider gave the beast his +head for a couple of hundred yards, and then actually stopped him +short, bringing him almost to the ground on his haunches. + +'My Gawd, 'e's a cowboy!' exclaimed the groom, who was a Cockney, +and had seen a Wild West show and recognised the real thing. 'And +me thinkin' 'e was goin' to break his precious neck and wastin' my +bloomin' sympathy on 'im!' + +Since that first day Mr. Van Torp had not ridden more than a score of +times in two years. He preferred driving, because it was less trouble, +and partly because he could take little Ida with him. It was therefore +always a noticeable event in the monotonous existence at Torp Towers +when he ordered a horse to be saddled, as he did on the day after he +had got Lady Maud's note from Craythew. + +He rode across the hilly country at a leisurely pace, first by lanes +and afterwards over a broad moor, till he entered a small beech wood +by a bridle-path not wide enough for two to ride together, and lined +with rhododendrons, lilacs, and laburnum. A quarter of a mile from +the entrance a pretty glade widened to an open lawn, in the middle +of which stood a ruin, consisting of the choir and chancel arch of a +chapel. Mr. Van Torp drew rein before it, threw his right leg over the +pommel before him, and remained sitting sideways on the saddle, for +the very good reason that he did not see anything to sit on if he got +down, and that it was of no use to waste energy in standing. His horse +might have resented such behaviour on the part of any one else, but +accepted the western rider's eccentricities quite calmly and proceeded +to crop the damp young grass at his feet. + +Mr. Van Torp had come to meet Lady Maud. The place was lonely and +conveniently situated, being about half-way between Oxley Paddox and +Craythew, on Mr. Van Torp's land, which was so thoroughly protected +against trespassers and reporters by wire fences and special watchmen +that there was little danger of any one getting within the guarded +boundary. On the side towards Craythew there was a gate with a patent +lock, to which Lady Maud had a key. + +Mr. Van Torp was at the meeting-place at least a quarter of an hour +before the appointed time. His horse only moved a short step every now +and then, eating his way slowly across the grass, and his rider sat +sideways, resting his elbows on his knees and staring at nothing +particular, with that perfectly wooden expression of his which +indicated profound thought. + +But his senses were acutely awake, and he caught the distant sound of +hoofs on the soft woodland path just a second before his horse lifted +his head and pricked his ears. Mr. Van Torp did not slip to the +ground, however, and he hardly changed his position. Half a dozen +young pheasants hurled themselves noisily out of the wood on the other +side of the ruin, and scattered again as they saw him, to perch on +the higher boughs of the trees not far off instead of settling on +the sward. A moment later Lady Maud appeared, on a lanky and elderly +thoroughbred that had been her own long before her marriage. Her +old-fashioned habit was evidently of the same period too; it had been +made before the modern age of skirted coats, and fitted her figure in +a way that would have excited open disapproval and secret admiration +in Rotten Row. But she never rode in town, so that it did not matter; +and, besides, Lady Maud did not care. + +Mr. Van Torp raised his hat in a very un-English way, and at the same +time, apparently out of respect for his friend, he went so far as to +change his seat a little by laying his right knee over the pommel and +sticking his left foot into the stirrup, so that he sat like a woman. +Lady Maud drew up on his off side and they shook hands. + +'You look rather comfortable,' she said, and the happy ripple was in +her voice. + +'Why, yes. There's nothing else to sit on, and the grass is wet. Do +you want to get off?' + +'I thought we might make some tea presently,' answered Lady Maud. +'I've brought my basket.' + +'Now I call that quite sweet!' Mr. Van Torp seemed very much pleased, +and he looked down at the shabby little brown basket hanging at her +saddle. + +He slipped to the ground, and she did the same before he could go +round to help her. The old thoroughbred nosed her hand as if expecting +something good, and she produced a lump of sugar from the tea-basket +and gave it to him. + +Mr. Van Torp pulled a big carrot from the pocket of his tweed jacket +and let his horse bite it off by inches. Then he took the basket from +Lady Maud and the two went towards the ruin. + +'We can sit on the Earl,' said Lady Maud, advancing towards a low tomb +on which was sculptured a recumbent figure in armour. 'The horses +won't run away from such nice grass.' + +So the two installed themselves on each side of the stone knight's +armed feet, which helped to support the tea-basket, and Lady Maud took +out her spirit-lamp and a saucepan that just held two cups, and a tin +bottle full of water, and all the other things, arranging them neatly +in order. + +'How practical women are!' exclaimed Mr. Van Torp, looking on. 'Now I +would never have thought of that.' + +But he was really wondering whether she expected him to speak first of +the grave matters that brought them together in that lonely place. + +'I've got some bread and butter,' she said, opening a small +sandwich-box, 'and there is a lemon instead of cream.' + +'Your arrangements beat Hare Court hollow,' observed the millionaire. +'Do you remember the cracked cups and the weevilly biscuits?' + +'Yes, and how sorry you were when you had burnt the little beasts! Now +light the spirit-lamp, please, and then we can talk.' + +Everything being arranged to her satisfaction, Lady Maud looked up at +her companion. + +'Are you going to do anything about it?' she asked. + +'Will it do any good if I do? That's the question.' + +'Good? What is good in that sense?' She looked at him a moment, but +as he did not answer she went on. 'I cannot bear to see you abused in +print like this, day after day, when I know the truth, or most of it.' + +'It doesn't matter about me. I'm used to it. What does your father +say?' + +'He says that when a man is attacked as you are, it's his duty to +defend himself.' + +'Oh, he does, does he?' + +Lady Maud smiled, but shook her head in a reproachful way. + +'You promised me that you would never give me your business answer, +you know!' + +'I'm sorry,' said Mr. Van Torp, in a tone of contrition. 'Well, you +see, I forgot you weren't a man. I won't do it again. So your father +thinks I'd better come out flat-footed with a statement to the press. +Now, I'll tell you. I'd do so, if I didn't feel sure that all this +circus about me isn't the real thing yet. It's been got up with an +object, and until I can make out what's coming I think I'd best keep +still. Whoever's at the root of this is counting on my losing my +temper and hitting out, and saying things, and then the real attack +will come from an unexpected quarter. Do you see that? Under the +circumstances, almost any man in my position would get interviewed and +talk back, wouldn't he?' + +'I fancy so,' answered Lady Maud. + +'Exactly. If I did that, I might be raising against another man's +straight flush, don't you see? A good way in a fight is never to do +what everybody else would do. But I've got a scheme for getting behind +the other man, whoever he is, and I've almost concluded to try it.' + +'Will you tell me what it is?' + +'Don't I always tell you most things?' + +Lady Maud smiled at the reservation implied in 'most.' + +'After all you have done for me, I should have no right to complain if +you never told me anything,' she answered. 'Do as you think best. You +know that I trust you.' + +'That's right, and I appreciate it,' answered the millionaire. 'In +the first place, you're not going to be divorced. I suppose that's +settled.' + +Lady Maud opened her clear eyes in surprise. + +'You didn't know that, did you?' asked Mr. Van Torp, enjoying her +astonishment. + +'Certainly not, and I can hardly believe it,' she answered. + +'Look here, Maud,' said her companion, bending his heavy brows in a +way very unusual with him, 'do you seriously think I'd let you be +divorced on my account? That I'd allow any human being to play tricks +with your good name by coupling it with mine in any sort of way? If +I were the kind of man about whom you had a right to think that, I +wouldn't deserve your friendship.' + +It was not often that Rufus Van Torp allowed his face to show feeling, +but the look she saw in his rough-hewn features for a moment almost +frightened her. There was something Titanic in it. + +'No, Rufus--no!' she cried, earnestly. 'You know how I have believed +in you and trusted you! It's only that I don't see how--' + +'That's a detail,' answered the American. 'The "how" don't matter +when a man's in earnest.' The look was gone again, for her words had +appeased him instantly. 'Well,' he went on, in his ordinary tone, +'you can take it for granted that the divorce will come to nothing. +There'll be a clear statement in all the best papers next week, saying +that your husband's suit for a divorce has been dismissed with costs +because there is not the slightest evidence of any kind against you. +It will be stated that you came to my partner's chambers in Hare Court +on a matter of pure business, to receive certain money, which was due +to you from me in the way of business, for which you gave me the usual +business acknowledgment. So that's that! I had a wire yesterday to say +it's as good as settled. The water's boiling.' + +The steam was lifting the lid of the small saucepan, which stood +securely on the spirit-lamp between the marble knight's greaved shins. +But Lady Maud took no notice of it. + +'It's like you,' said she. 'I cannot find anything else to say!' + +'It doesn't matter about saying anything,' returned Mr. Van Torp. 'The +water's boiling.' + +'Will you blow out the lamp?' As she spoke she dropped a battered +silver tea-ball into the water, and moved it about by its little +chain. + +Mr. Van Torp took off his hat, and bent down sideways till his flat +cheek rested on the knight's stone shin, and he blew out the flame +with one well-aimed puff. Lady Maud did not look at the top of his +head, nor steal a furtive glance at the strong muscles and sinews of +his solid neck. She did nothing of the kind. She bobbed the tea-ball +up and down in the saucepan by its chain, and watched how the hot +water turned brown. + +'But I did not give you a "business acknowledgment," as you call it,' +she said thoughtfully. 'It's not quite truthful to say I did, you +know.' + +'Does that bother you? All right.' + +He produced his well-worn pocket-book, found a scrap of white paper +amongst the contents, and laid it on the leather. Then he took his +pencil and wrote a few words. + +'Received of R. Van Torp £4100 to balance of account.' + +He held out the pencil, and laid the pocket-book on his palm for her +to write. She read the words with out moving. + +'"To balance of account"--what does that mean?' + +'It means that it's a business transaction. At the time you couldn't +make any further claim against me. That's all it means.' + +He put the pencil to the paper again, and wrote the date of the +meeting in Hare Court. + +'There! If you sign your name to that, it just means that you had no +further claim against me on that day. You hadn't, anyway, so you may +just as well sign!' + +He held out the paper, and Lady Maud took it with a smile and wrote +her signature. + +'Thank you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'Now you're quite comfortable, I +suppose, for you can't deny that you have given me the usual business +acknowledgment. The other part of it is that I don't care to keep that +kind of receipt long, so I just strike a match and burn it.' He did +so, and watched the flimsy scrap turn black on the stone knight's +knee, till the gentle breeze blew the ashes away. 'So there!' he +concluded. 'If you were called upon to swear in evidence that you +signed a proper receipt for the money, you couldn't deny it, could +you? A receipt's good if given at any time after the money has been +paid. What's the matter? Why do you look as if you doubted it? What is +truth, anyhow? It's the agreement of the facts with the statement of +them, isn't it? Well, I don't see but the statement coincides with the +facts all right now.' + +While he had been talking Lady Maud had poured out the tea, and had +cut some thin slices from the lemon, glancing at him incredulously now +and then, but smiling in spite of herself. + +'That's all sophistry,' she said, as she handed him his cup. + +'Thanks,' he answered, taking it from her. 'Look here! Can you deny +that you have given me a formal dated receipt for four thousand one +hundred pounds?' + +'No--' + +'Well, then, what can't be denied is the truth; and if I choose to +publish the truth about you, I don't suppose you can find fault with +it.' + +'No, but--' + +'Excuse me for interrupting, but there is no "but." What's good in law +is good enough for me, and the Attorney-General and all his angels +couldn't get behind that receipt now, if they tried till they were +black in the face.' + +Mr. Van Torp's similes were not always elegant. + +'Tip-top tea,' he remarked, as Lady Maud did not attempt to say +anything more. 'That was a bright idea of yours, bringing the lemon, +too.' + +He took several small sips in quick succession, evidently appreciating +the quality of the tea as a connoisseur. + +'I don't know how you have managed to do it,' said Lady Maud at last. +'As you say, the "how" does not matter very much. Perhaps it's just as +well that I should not know how you got at the Patriarch. I couldn't +be more grateful if I knew the whole story.' + +'There's no particular story about it. When I found he was the man to +be seen, I sent a man to see him. That's all.' + +'It sounds very simple,' said Lady Maud, whose acquaintance with +American slang was limited, even after she had known Mr. Van Torp +intimately for two years. 'You were going to tell me more. You said +you had a plan for catching the real person who is responsible for +this attack on you.' + +'Well, I have a sort of an idea, but I'm not quite sure how the land +lays. By the bye,' he said quickly, correcting himself, 'isn't that +one of the things I say wrong? You told me I ought to say how the land +"lies," didn't you? I always forget.' + +Lady Maud laughed as she looked at him, for she was quite sure that he +had only taken up his own mistake in order to turn the subject from +the plan of which he did not mean to speak. + +'You know that I'm not in the least curious,' she said, 'so don't +waste any cleverness in putting me off! I only wish to know whether I +can help you to carry out your plan. I had an idea too. I thought of +getting my father to have a week-end party at Craythew, to which you +would be asked, by way of showing people that he knows all about our +friendship, and approves of it in spite of what my husband has been +trying to do. Would that suit you? Would it help you or not?' + +'It might come in nicely after the news about the divorce appears,' +answered Mr. Van Torp approvingly. 'It would be just the same if I +went over to dinner every day, and didn't sleep in the house, wouldn't +it?' + +'I'm not sure,' Lady Maud said. 'I don't think it would, quite. It +might seem odd that you should dine with us every day, whereas if you +stop with us people cannot but see that my father wants you.' + +'How about Lady Creedmore?' + +'My mother is on the continent. Why in the world do you not want to +come?' + +'Oh, I don't know,' answered Mr. Van Torp vaguely. 'Just like that, +I suppose. I was thinking. But it'll be all right, and I'll come any +way, and please tell your father that I highly appreciate the kind +invitation. When is it to be?' + +'Come on Thursday next week and stay till Tuesday. Then you will be +there when the first people come and till the last have left. That +will look even better.' + +'Maybe they'll say you take boarders,' observed Mr. Van Torp +facetiously. 'That other piece belongs to you.' + +While talking they had finished their tea, and only one slice of bread +and butter was left in the sandwich-box. + +'No,' answered Lady Maud, 'it's yours. I took the first.' + +'Let's go shares,' suggested the millionaire. + +'There's no knife.' + +'Break it.' + +Lady Maud doubled the slice with conscientious accuracy, gently +pulled the pieces apart at the crease, and held out one half to her +companion. He took it as naturally as if they had been children, and +they ate their respective shares in silence. As a matter of fact Mr. +Van Torp had been unconsciously and instinctively more interested in +the accuracy of the division than in the very beautiful white fingers +that performed it. + +'Who are the other people going to be?' he asked when he had finished +eating, and Lady Maud was beginning to put the tea-things back into +the basket. + +'That depends on whom we can get. Everybody is awfully busy just now, +you know. The usual sort of set, I suppose. You know the kind of +people who come to us--you've met lots of them. I thought of asking +Miss Donne if she is free. You know her, don't you?' + +'Why, yes, I do. You've read those articles about our interview in New +York, I suppose.' + +Lady Maud, who had been extremely occupied with her own affairs of +late, had almost forgotten the story, and was now afraid that she had +made a mistake, but she caught at the most evident means of setting it +right. + +'Yes, of course. All the better, if you are seen stopping in the same +house. People will see that it's all right.' + +'Well, maybe they would. I'd rather, if it'll do her any good. But +perhaps she doesn't want to meet me. She wasn't over-anxious to talk +to me on the steamer, I noticed, and I didn't bother her much. She's a +lovely woman!' + +Lady Maud looked at him, and her beautiful mouth twitched as if she +wanted to laugh. + +'Miss Donne doesn't think you're a "lovely" man at all,' she said. + +'No,' answered Mr. Van Torp, in a tone of child-like and almost +sheepish regret, 'she doesn't, and I suppose she's right. I didn't +know how to take her, or she wouldn't have been so angry.' + +'When? Did you really ask her to marry you?' Lady Maud was smiling +now. + +'Why, yes, I did. Why shouldn't I? I guess it wasn't very well done, +though, and I was a fool to try and take her hand after she'd said +no.' + +'Oh, you tried to take her hand?' + +'Yes, and the next thing I knew she'd rushed out of the room and +bolted the door, as if I was a dangerous lunatic and she'd just found +it out. That's what happened--just that. It wasn't my fault if I was +in earnest, I suppose.' + +'And just after that you were engaged to poor Miss Bamberger,' said +Lady Maud in a tone of reflection. + +'Yes,' answered Mr. Van Torp slowly. 'Nothing mattered much just then, +and the engagement was the business side. I told you about all that in +Hare Court.' + +'You're a singular mixture of several people all in one! I shall never +quite understand you.' + +'Maybe not. But if you don't, nobody else is likely to, and I mean to +be frank to you every time. I suppose you think I'm heartless. +Perhaps I am. I don't know. You have to know about the business side +sometimes; I wish you didn't, for it's not the side of myself I like +best.' + +The aggressive blue eyes softened a little as he spoke, and there was +a touch of deep regret in his harsh voice. + +'No,' answered Lady Maud, 'I don't like it either. But you are not +heartless. Don't say that of yourself, please--please don't! You +cannot fancy how it would hurt me to think that your helping me was +only a rich man's caprice, that because a few thousand pounds are +nothing to you it amused you to throw the money away on me and my +ideas, and that you would just as soon put it on a horse, or play with +it at Monte Carlo!' + +'Well, you needn't worry,' observed Mr. Van Torp, smiling in a +reassuring way. 'I'm not given to throwing away money. In fact, the +other people think I'm too much inclined to take it. And why shouldn't +I? People who don't know how to take care of money shouldn't have it. +They do harm with it. It is right to take it from them since they +can't keep it and haven't the sense to spend it properly. However, +that's the business side of me, and we won't talk about it, unless you +like.' + +'I don't "like"!' Lady Maud smiled too. + +'Precisely. You're not the business side, and you can have anything +you like to ask for. Anything I've got, I mean.' + +The beautiful hands were packing the tea-things. + +'Anything in reason,' suggested Lady Maud, looking into the shabby +basket. + +'I'm not talking about reason,' answered Mr. Van Torp, gouging his +waistcoat pockets with his thick thumbs, and looking at the top of her +old grey felt hat as she bent her head. 'I don't suppose I've done +much good in my life, but maybe you'll do some for me, because you +understand those things and I don't. Anyhow, you mean to, and I want +you to, and that constitutes intention in both parties, which is the +main thing in law. If it happens to give you pleasure, so much the +better. That's why I say you can have anything you like. It's an +unlimited order.' + +'Thank you,' said Lady Maud, still busy with the things. 'I know you +are in earnest, and if I needed more money I would ask for it. But +I want to make sure that it is really the right way--so many people +would not think it was, you know, and only time can prove that I'm +not mistaken. There!' She had finished packing the basket, and she +fastened the lid regretfully. 'I'm afraid we must be going. It was +awfully good of you to come!' + +'Wasn't it? I'll be just as good again the day after to-morrow, if +you'll ask me!' + +'Will you?' rippled the sweet voice pleasantly. 'Then come at the same +time, unless it rains really hard. I'm not afraid of a shower, you +know, and the arch makes a very fair shelter here. I never catch cold, +either.' + +She rose, taking up the basket in one hand and shaking down the folds +of her old habit with the other. + +'All the same, I'd bring a jacket next time if I were you,' said her +companion, exactly as her mother might have made the suggestion, and +scarcely bestowing a glance on her almost too visibly perfect figure. + +The old thoroughbred raised his head as they crossed the sward, and +made two or three steps towards her of his own accord. Her foot rested +a moment on Mr. Van Torp's solid hand, and she was in the saddle. The +black was at first less disposed to be docile, but soon yielded at the +sight of another carrot. Mr. Van Torp did not take the trouble to +put his foot into the stirrup, but vaulted from the ground with no +apparent effort. Lady Maud smiled approvingly, but not as a woman +who loves a man and feels pride in him when he does anything very +difficult. It merely pleased and amused her to see with what ease and +indifference the rather heavily-built American did a thing which many +a good English rider, gentleman or groom, would have found it hard to +do at all. But Mr. Van Torp had ridden and driven cattle in California +for his living before he had been twenty. + +He wheeled and came to her side, and held out his hand. + +'Day after to-morrow, at the same time,' he said as she took it. +'Good-bye!' + +'Good-bye, and don't forget Thursday!' + +They parted and rode away in opposite directions, and neither turned, +even once, to look back at the other. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The _Elisir d'Amore_ was received with enthusiasm, but the tenor +had it all his own way, as Lushington had foretold, and when Pompeo +Stromboli sang 'Una furtiva lacrima' the incomparable Cordova was for +once eclipsed in the eyes of a hitherto faithful public. Covent Garden +surrendered unconditionally. Metaphorically speaking, it rolled over +on its back, with its four paws in the air, like a small dog that has +got the worst of a fight and throws himself on the bigger dog's mercy. + +Margaret was applauded, but as a matter of course. There was no +electric thrill in the clapping of hands; she got the formal applause +which is regularly given to the sovereign, but not the enthusiasm +which is bestowed spontaneously on the conqueror. When she buttered +her face and got the paint off, she was a little pale, and her +eyes were not kind. It was the first time that she had not carried +everything before her since she had begun her astonishing career, and +in her first disappointment she had not philosophy enough to console +herself with the consideration that it would have been infinitely +worse to be thrown into the shade by another lyric soprano, instead +of by the most popular lyric tenor on the stage. She was also +uncomfortably aware that Lushington had predicted what had happened, +and she was informed that he had not even taken the trouble to come +to the first performance of the opera. Logotheti, who knew everything +about his old rival, had told her that Lushington was in Paris that +week, and was going on to see his mother in Provence. + +The Primadonna was put out with herself and with everybody, after the +manner of great artists when a performance has not gone exactly as +they had hoped. The critics said the next morning that the Señorita da +Cordova had been in good voice and had sung with excellent taste and +judgment, but that was all: as if any decent soprano might not do as +well! They wrote as if she might have been expected to show neither +judgment nor taste, and as if she were threatened with a cold. Then +they went on to praise Pompeo Stromboli with the very words they +usually applied to her. His voice was full, rich, tender, vibrating, +flexible, soft, powerful, stirring, natural, cultivated, superb, +phenomenal, and perfectly fresh. The critics had a severe attack of +'adjectivitis.' + +Paul Griggs had first applied the name to that inflammation of +language to which many young writers are subject when cutting their +literary milk-teeth, and from which musical critics are never quite +immune. Margaret could no longer help reading what was written about +her; that was one of the signs of the change that had come over her, +and she disliked it, and sometimes despised herself for it, though +she was quite unable to resist the impulse. The appetite for flattery +which comes of living on it may be innocent, but it is never harmless. +Dante consigned the flatterers to Inferno, and more particularly to a +very nasty place there: it is true that there were no musical critics +in his day; but he does not say much about the flattered, perhaps +because they suffer enough when they find out the truth, or lose the +gift for which they have been over-praised. + +The Primadonna was in a detestably uncomfortable state of mind on the +day after the performance of the revived opera. Her dual nature was +hopelessly mixed; Cordova was in a rage with Stromboli, Schreiermeyer, +Baci-Roventi, and the whole company, not to mention Signor Bambinelli +the conductor, the whole orchestra, and the dead composer of the +_Elisir d'Amore_; but Margaret Donne was ashamed of herself for +caring, and for being spoilt, and for bearing poor Lushington a grudge +because he had foretold a result that was only to be expected with +such a tenor as Stromboli; she despised herself for wickedly wishing +that the latter had cracked on the final high note and had made +himself ridiculous. But he had not cracked at all; in imagination she +could hear the note still, tremendous, round, and persistently drawn +out, as if it came out of a tenor trombone and had all the world's +lungs behind it. + +In her mortification Cordova was ready to give up lyric opera and +study Wagner, in order to annihilate Pompeo Stromboli, who did not +even venture _Lohengrin_. Schreiermeyer had unkindly told him that if +he arrayed his figure in polished armour he would look like a silver +teapot; and Stromboli was very sensitive to ridicule. Even if he had +possessed a dramatic voice, he could never have bounded about the +stage in pink tights and the exiguous skin of an unknown wild animal +as Siegfried, and in the flower scene of _Parsifal_ he would have +looked like Falstaff in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. But Cordova +could have made herself into a stately Brunhilde, a wild and lovely +Kundry, or a fair and fateful Isolde, with the very least amount of +artificial aid that theatrical illusion admits. + +Margaret Donne, disgusted with Cordova, said that her voice was about +as well adapted for one of those parts as a sick girl's might be for +giving orders at sea in a storm. Cordova could not deny this, and fell +back upon the idea of having an opera written for her, expressly to +show off her voice, with a _crescendo_ trill in every scene and a high +D at the end; and Margaret Donne, who loved music for its own sake, +was more disgusted than ever, and took up a book in order to get rid +of her professional self, and tried so hard to read that she almost +gave herself a headache. + +Pompeo Stromboli was really the most sweet-tempered creature in the +world, and called during the afternoon with the idea of apologising +for having eclipsed her, but was told that she was resting and would +see no one. Fräulein Ottilie Braun also came, and Margaret would +probably have seen her, but had not given any special orders, so the +kindly little person trotted off, and Margaret knew nothing of her +coming; and the day wore on quickly; and when she wanted to go out, it +at once began to rain furiously; and, at last, in sheer impatience at +everything, she telephoned to Logotheti, asking him to come and dine +alone with her if he felt that he could put up with her temper, which, +she explained, was atrocious. She heard the Greek laugh gaily at the +other end of the wire. + +'Will you come?' she asked, impatient that anybody should be in a good +humour when she was not. + +'I'll come now, if you'll let me,' he answered readily. + +'No. Come to dinner at half-past eight.' She waited a moment and then +went on. 'I've sent down word that I'm not at home for any one, and I +don't like to make you the only exception.' + +'Oh, I see,' answered Logotheti's voice. 'But I've always wanted to be +the only exception. I say, does half-past eight mean a quarter past +nine?' + +'No. It means a quarter past eight, if you like. Good-bye!' + +She cut off the communication abruptly, being a little afraid that if +she let him go on chattering any longer she might yield and allow him +to come at once. In her solitude she was intensely bored by her own +bad temper, and was nearer to making him the 'only exception' than she +had often been of late. She said to herself that he always amused her, +but in her heart she was conscious that he was the only man in the +world who knew how to flatter her back into a good temper, and would +take the trouble to do so. It was better than nothing to look forward +to a pleasant evening, and she went back to her novel and her cup of +tea already half reconciled with life. + +It rained almost without stopping. At times it poured, which really +does not happen often in much-abused London; but even heavy rain +is not so depressing in spring as it is in winter, and when the +Primadonna raised her eyes from her book and looked out of the big +window, she was not thinking of the dreariness outside but of what +she should wear in the evening. To tell the truth, she did not often +trouble herself much about that matter when she was not going to sing, +and all singers and actresses who habitually play 'costume parts' are +conscious of looking upon stage-dressing and ordinary dressing from +totally different points of view. By far the larger number of them +have their stage clothes made by a theatrical tailor, and only an +occasional eccentric celebrity goes to Worth or Doucet to be dressed +for a 'Juliet,' a 'Tosca,' or a 'Doña Sol.' + +Margaret looked at the rain and decided that Logotheti should not find +her in a tea-gown, not because it would look too intimate, but because +tea-gowns suggest weariness, the state of being misunderstood, and a +craving for sympathy. A woman who is going to surrender to fate puts +on a tea-gown, but a well-fitting body indicates strength of character +and virtuous firmness. + +I remember a smart elderly Frenchwoman who always bestowed unusual +care on every detail of her dress, visible and invisible, before going +to church. Her niece was in the room one Sunday while she was dressing +for church, and asked why she took so much trouble. + +'My dear,' was the answer, 'Satan is everywhere, and one can never +know what may happen.' + +Margaret was very fond of warm greys, and fawn tints, and dove colour, +and she had lately got a very pretty dress that was exactly to her +taste, and was made of a newly invented thin material of pure silk, +which had no sheen and cast no reflections of light, and was slightly +elastic, so that it fitted as no ordinary silk or velvet ever could. +Alphonsine called the gown a 'legend,' but a celebrated painter who +had lately seen it said it was an 'Indian twilight,' which might mean +anything, as Paul Griggs explained, because there is no twilight to +speak of in India. The dress-maker who had made it called the colour +'fawn's stomach,' which was less poetical, and the fabric, 'veil of +nun in love,' which showed little respect for monastic institutions. +As for the way in which the dress was made, it is folly to rush into +competition with tailors and dress-makers, who know what they are +talking about, and are able to say things which nobody can understand. + +The plain fact is that the Primadonna began to dress early, out of +sheer boredom, had her thick brown hair done in the most becoming way +in spite of its natural waves, which happened to be unfashionable just +then, and she put on the new gown with all the care and consideration +which so noble a creation deserved. + +'Madame is adorable,' observed Alphonsine. 'Madame is a dream. Madame +has only to lift her little finger, and kings will fall into ecstasy +before her.' + +'That would be very amusing,' said Margaret, looking at herself in the +glass, and less angry with the world than she had been. 'I have never +seen a king in ecstasy.' + +'The fault is Madame's,' returned Alphonsine, possibly with truth. + +When Margaret went into the drawing-room Logotheti was already there, +and she felt a thrill of pleasure when his expression changed at sight +of her. It is not easy to affect the pleased surprise which the sudden +appearance of something beautiful brings into the face of a man who is +not expecting anything unusual. + +'Oh, I say!' exclaimed the Greek. 'Let me look at you!' + +And instead of coming forward to take her hand, he stepped back in +order not to lose anything of the wonderful effect by being too near. +Margaret stood still and smiled in the peculiar way which is a woman's +equivalent for a cat's purring. Then, to Logotheti's still greater +delight, she slowly turned herself round, to be admired, like a statue +on a pivoted pedestal, quite regardless of a secret consciousness that +Margaret Donne would not have done such a thing for him, and probably +not for any other man. + +'You're really too utterly stunning!' he cried. + +In moments of enthusiasm he sometimes out-Englished Englishmen. + +'I'm glad you like it,' Margaret said. 'This is the first time I've +worn it.' + +'If you put it on for me, thank you! If not, thank you for putting it +on! I'm not asking, either. I should think you would wear it if you +were alone for the mere pleasure of feeling like a goddess.' + +'You're very nice!' + +She was satisfied, and for a moment she forgot Pompeo Stromboli, the +_Elisir d'Amore_, the public, and the critics. It was particularly +'nice' of him, too, not to insist upon being told that she had put on +the new creation solely for his benefit. Next to not assuming rashly +that a woman means anything of the sort expressly for him, it is wise +of a man to know when she really does, without being told. At least, +so Margaret thought just then; but it is true that she wanted him to +amuse her and was willing to be pleased. + +She executed the graceful swaying movement which only a well-made +woman can make just before sitting down for the first time in a +perfectly new gown. It is a slightly serpentine motion; and as there +is nothing to show that Eve did not meet the Serpent again after she +had taken to clothes, she may have learnt the trick from him. There is +certainly something diabolical about it when it is well done. + +Logotheti's almond-shaped eyes watched her quietly, and he stood +motionless till she was established on her chair. Then he seated +himself at a little distance. + +'I hope I was not rude,' he said, in artful apology, 'but it's not +often that one's breath is taken away by what one sees. Horrid weather +all day, wasn't it? Have you been out at all?' + +'No. I've been moping. I told you that I was in a bad humour, but I +don't want to talk about it now that I feel better. What have you been +doing? Tell me all sorts of amusing things, where you have been, whom +you have seen, and what people said to you.' + +'That might be rather dull,' observed the Greek. + +'I don't believe it. You are always in the thick of everything that's +happening.' + +'We have agreed to-day to lend Russia some more money. But that +doesn't interest you, does it? There's to be a European conference +about the Malay pirates, but there's nothing very funny in that. It +would be more amusing to hear the pirates' view of Europeans. Let me +see. Some one has discovered a conspiracy in Italy against Austria, +and there is another in Austria against the Italians. They are the +same old plots that were discovered six months ago, but people had +forgotten about them, so they are as good as new. Then there is the +sad case of that Greek.' + +'What Greek? I've not heard about that. What has happened to him?' + +'Oh, nothing much. It's only a love-story--the same old thing.' + +'Tell me.' + +'Not now, for we shall have to go to dinner just when I get to +the most thrilling part of it, I'm sure.' Logotheti laughed. 'And +besides,' he added, 'the man isn't dead yet, though he's not expected +to live. I'll tell you about your friend Mr. Feist instead. He has +been very ill too.' + +'I would much rather know about the Greek love-story,' Margaret +objected. 'I never heard of Mr. Feist.' + +She had quite forgotten the man's existence, but Logotheti recalled +to her memory the circumstances under which they had met, and Feist's +unhealthy face with its absurdly youthful look, and what he had +said about having been at the Opera in New York on the night of the +explosion. + +'Why do you tell me all this?' Margaret asked. 'He was a +disgusting-looking man, and I never wish to see him again. Tell me +about the Greek. When we go to dinner you can finish the story in +French. We spoke French the first time we met, at Madame Bonanni's. Do +you remember?' + +'Yes, of course I do. But I was telling you about Mr. Feist--' + +'Dinner is ready,' Margaret said, rising as the servant opened the +door. + +To her surprise the man came forward. He said that just as he was +going to announce dinner Countess Leven had telephoned that she was +dining out, and would afterwards stop on her way to the play in the +hope of seeing Margaret for a moment. She had seemed to be in a hurry, +and had closed the communication before the butler could answer. And +dinner was served, he added. + +Margaret nodded carelessly, and the two went into the dining-room. +Lady Maud could not possibly come before half-past nine, and there was +plenty of time to decide whether she should be admitted or not. + +'Mr. Feist has been very ill,' Logotheti said as they sat down to +table under the pleasant light, 'and I have been taking care of him, +after a fashion.' + +Margaret raised her eyebrows a little, for she was beginning to be +annoyed at his persistency, and was not much pleased at the prospect +of Lady Maud's visit. + +'How very odd!' she said, rather coldly. 'I cannot imagine anything +more disagreeable.' + +'It has been very unpleasant,' Logotheti answered, 'but he seemed to +have no particular friends here, and he was all alone at an hotel, and +really very ill. So I volunteered.' + +'I've no objection to being moderately sorry for a young man who falls +ill at an hotel and has no friends,' Margaret said, 'but are you going +in for nursing? Is that your latest hobby? It's a long way from art, +and even from finance!' + +'Isn't it?' + +'Yes. I'm beginning to be curious!' + +'I thought you would be before long,' Logotheti answered coolly, but +suddenly speaking French. 'One of the most delightful things in life +is to have one's curiosity roused and then satisfied by very slow +degrees!' + +'Not too slow, please. The interest might not last to the end.' + +'Oh yes, it will, for Mr. Feist plays a part in your life.' + +'About as distant as Voltaire's Chinese Mandarin, I fancy,' Margaret +suggested. + +'Nearer than that, though I did not guess it when I went to see him. +In the first place, it was owing to you that I went to see him the +first time.' + +'Nonsense!' + +'Not at all. Everything that happens to me is connected with you in +some way. I came to see you late in the afternoon, on one of your +off-days not long ago, hoping that you would ask me to dine, but you +were across the river at Lord Creedmore's. I met old Griggs at your +door, and as we walked away he told me that Mr. Feist had fallen down +in a fit at a club, the night before, and had been sent home in a cab +to the Carlton. As I had nothing to do, worth doing, I went to see +him. If you had been at home, I should never have gone. That is what I +mean when I say that you were the cause of my going to see him.' + +'In the same way, if you had been killed by a motor-car as you went +away from my door, I should have been the cause of your death!' + +'You will be in any case,' laughed Logotheti, 'but that's a detail! I +found Mr. Feist in a very bad way.' + +'What was the matter with him?' asked Margaret. + +'He was committing suicide,' answered the Greek with the utmost calm. +'If I were in Constantinople I should tell you that this turbot is +extremely good, but as we are in London I suppose it would be very bad +manners to say so, wouldn't it? So I am thinking it.' + +'Take the fish for granted, and tell me more about Mr. Feist!' + +'I found him standing before the glass with a razor in his hand and +quite near his throat. When he saw me he tried to laugh and said he +was just going to shave; I asked him if he generally shaved without +soap and water, and he burst into tears.' + +'That's rather dreadful,' observed Margaret. 'What did you do?' + +'I saved his life, but I don't think he's very grateful yet. Perhaps +he may be by and by. When he stopped sobbing he tried to kill me for +hindering his destruction, but I had got the razor in my pocket, and +his revolver missed fire. That was lucky, for he managed to stick the +muzzle against my chest and pull the trigger just as I got him down. +I wished I had brought old Griggs with me, for they say he can bend a +good horse-shoe double, even now, and the fellow had the strength of +a lunatic in him. It was rather lively for a few seconds, and then he +broke down again, and was as limp as a rag, and trembled with fright, +as if he saw queer things in the room.' + +'You sent for a doctor then?' + +'My own, and we took care of him together that night. You may laugh at +the idea of my having a doctor, as I never was ill in my life. I have +him to dine with me now and then, because he is such good company, and +is the best judge of a statue or a picture I know. The habit of taking +the human body to pieces teaches you a great deal about the shape of +it, you see. In the morning we moved Mr. Feist from the hotel to a +small private hospital where cases of that sort are treated. Of course +he was perfectly helpless, so we packed his belongings and papers.' + +'It was really very kind of you to act the Good Samaritan to +a stranger,' Margaret said, but her tone showed that she was +disappointed at the tame ending of the story. + +'No,' Logotheti answered. 'I was never consciously kind, as you call +it. It's not a Greek characteristic to love one's neighbour as one's +self. Teutons, Anglo-Saxons, Latins, and, most of all, Asiatics, are +charitable, but the old Greeks were not. I don't believe you'll find +an instance of a charitable act in all Greek history, drama, and +biography! If you did find one I should only say that the exception +proves the rule. Charity was left out of us at the beginning, and we +never could understand it, except as a foreign sentiment imported with +Christianity from Asia. We have had every other virtue, including +hospitality. In the _Iliad_ a man declines to kill his enemy on the +ground that their people had dined together, which is going rather +far, but it is not recorded that any ancient Greek, even Socrates +himself, ever felt pity or did an act of spontaneous kindness! I don't +believe any one has said that, but it's perfectly true.' + +'Then why did you take all that trouble for Mr. Feist?' + +'I don't know. People who always know why they do things are great +bores. It was probably a caprice that took me to see him, and then +it did not occur to me to let him cut his throat, so I took away his +razor; and, finally, I telephoned for my doctor, because my misspent +life has brought me into contact with Western civilisation. But when +we began to pack Mr. Feist's papers I became interested in him.' + +'Do you mean to say that you read his letters?' Margaret inquired. + +'Why not? If I had let him kill himself, somebody would have read +them, as he had not taken the trouble to destroy them!' + +'That's a singular point of view.' + +'So was Mr. Feist's, as it turned out. I found enough to convince me +that he is the writer of all those articles about Van Torp, including +the ones in which you are mentioned. The odd thing about it is that I +found a very friendly invitation from Van Torp himself, begging Mr. +Feist to go down to Derbyshire and stop a week with him.' + +Margaret leaned back in her chair and looked at her guest in quiet +surprise. + +'What does that mean?' she asked. 'Is it possible that Mr. Van Torp +has got up this campaign against himself in order to play some trick +on the Stock Exchange?' + +Logotheti smiled and shook his head. + +'That's not the way such things are usually managed,' he answered. 'A +hundred years ago a publisher paid a critic to attack a book in order +to make it succeed, but in finance abuse doesn't contribute to our +success, which is always a question of credit. All these scurrilous +articles have set the public very much against Van Torp, from Paris +to San Francisco, and this man Feist is responsible for them. He is +either insane, or he has some grudge against Van Torp, or else he has +been somebody's instrument, which looks the most probable.' + +'What did you find amongst his papers?' Margaret asked, quite +forgetting her vicarious scruples about reading a sick man's letters. + +'A complete set of the articles that have appeared, all neatly filed, +and a great many notes for more, besides a lot of stuff written in +cypher. It must be a diary, for the days are written out in full and +give the days of the week.' + +'I wonder whether there was anything about the explosion,' said +Margaret thoughtfully. 'He said he was there, did he not?' + +'Yes. Do you remember the day?' + +'It was a Wednesday, I'm sure, and it was after the middle of March. +My maid can tell us, for she writes down the date and the opera in a +little book each time I sing. It's sometimes very convenient. But it's +too late now, of course, and, besides, you could not have read the +cypher.' + +'That's an easy matter,' Logotheti answered. 'All cyphers can be read +by experts, if there is no hurry, except the mechanical ones that are +written through holes in a square plate which you turn round till the +sheet is full. Hardly any one uses those now, because when the square +is raised the letters don't form words, and the cable companies will +only transmit real words in some known language, or groups of figures. +The diary is written hastily, too, not at all as if it were copied +from the sheet on which the perforated plate would have had to be +used, and besides, the plate itself would be amongst his things, for +he could not read his own notes without it.' + +'All that doesn't help us, as you have not the diary, but I should +really be curious to know what he had to say about the accident, since +some of the articles hint that Mr. Van Torp made it happen.' + +'My doctor and I took the liberty of confiscating the papers, and we +set a very good man to work on the cypher at once. So your curiosity +shall be satisfied. I said it should, didn't I? And you are not so +dreadfully bored after all, are you? Do say that I'm very nice!' + +'I won't!' Margaret answered with a little laugh. 'I'll only admit +that I'm not bored! But wasn't it rather a high-handed proceeding to +carry off Mr. Feist like that, and to seize his papers?' + +'Do you call it high-handed to keep a man from cutting his throat?' + +'But the letters--?' + +'I really don't know. I had not time to ask a lawyer's opinion, and so +I had to be satisfied with my doctor's.' + +'Are you going to tell Mr. Van Torp what you've done?' + +'I don't know. Why should I? You may if you like.' + +Logotheti was eating a very large and excellent truffle, and after +each short sentence he cut off a tiny slice and put it into his +mouth. The Primadonna had already finished hers, and watched him +thoughtfully. + +'I'm not likely to see him,' she said. 'At least, I hope not!' + +'My interest in Mr. Feist,' answered Logotheti, 'begins and ends with +what concerns you. Beyond that I don't care a straw what happens to +Mr. Van Torp, or to any one else. To all intents and purposes I have +got the author of the stories locked up, for a man who has consented +to undergo treatment for dipsomania in a private hospital, by the +advice of his friends and under the care of a doctor with a great +reputation, is as really in prison as if he were in gaol. Legally, he +can get out, but in real fact nobody will lift a hand to release him, +because he is shut up for his own good and for the good of the public, +just as much as if he were a criminal. Feist may have friends or +relations in America, and they may come and claim him; but as there +seems to be nobody in London who cares what becomes of him, it pleases +me to keep him in confinement, because I mean to prevent any further +mention of your name in connection with the Van Torp scandals.' + +His eyes rested on Margaret as he spoke, and lingered afterwards, with +a look that did not escape her. She had seen him swayed by passion, +more than once, and almost mad for her, and she had been frightened +though she had dominated him. What she saw in his face now was not +that; it was more like affection, faithful and lasting, and it touched +her English nature much more than any show of passion could. + +'Thank you,' she said quietly. + +They did not talk much more while they finished the short dinner, but +when they were going back to the drawing-room Margaret took his arm, +in foreign fashion, which she had never done before when they were +alone. Then he stood before the mantelpiece and watched her in silence +as she moved about the room; for she was one of those women who always +find half a dozen little things to do as soon as they get back from +dinner, and go from place to place, moving a reading lamp half an inch +farther from the edge of a table, shutting a book that has been left +open on another, tearing up a letter that lies on the writing-desk, +and slightly changing the angle at which a chair stands. It is an odd +little mania, and the more people there are in the room the less the +mistress of the house yields to it, and the more uncomfortable she +feels at being hindered from 'tidying up the room,' as she probably +calls it. + +Logotheti watched Margaret with keen pleasure, as every step and +little movement showed her figure in a slightly different attitude and +light, indiscreetly moulded in the perfection of her matchless gown. +In less than two minutes she had finished her trip round the room and +was standing beside him, her elbows resting on the mantelpiece, while +she moved a beautiful Tanagra a little to one side and then to the +other, trying for the twentieth time how it looked the best. + +'There is no denying it,' Logotheti said at last, with profound +conviction. 'I do not care a straw what becomes of any living creature +but you.' + +She did not turn her head, and her fingers still touched the Tanagra, +but he saw the rare blush spread up the cheek that was turned to him; +and because she stopped moving the statuette about, and looked at it +intently, he guessed that she was not colouring from annoyance at what +he had said. She blushed so very seldom now, that it might mean much +more than in the old days at Versailles. + +'I did not think it would last so long,' she said gently, after a +little while. + +'What faith can one expect of a Greek!' + +He laughed, too wise in woman's ways to be serious too long just then. +But she shook her head and turned to him with the smile he loved. + +'I thought it was something different,' she said. 'I was mistaken. I +believed you had only lost your head for a while, and would soon run +after some one else. That's all.' + +'And the loss is permanent. That's all!' He laughed again as he +repeated her words. 'You thought it was "something different"--do you +know that you are two people in one?' + +She looked a little surprised. + +'Indeed I do!' she answered rather sadly. 'Have you found it out?' + +'Yes. You are Margaret Donne and you are Cordova. I admire Cordova +immensely, I am extremely fond of Margaret, and I'm in love with both. +Oh yes! I'm quite frank about it, and it's very unlucky, for whichever +one of your two selves I meet I'm just as much in love as ever! +Absurd, isn't it?' + +'It's flattering, at all events.' + +'If you ever took it into your handsome head to marry me--please, I'm +only saying "if"--the absurdity would be rather reassuring, wouldn't +it? When a man is in love with two women at the same time, it really +is a little unlikely that he should fall in love with a third!' + +'Mr. Griggs says that marriage is a drama which only succeeds if +people preserve the unities!' + +'Griggs is always trying to coax the Djin back into the bottle, like +the fisherman in the _Arabian Nights_,' answered Logotheti. 'He has +read Kant till he believes that the greatest things in the world can +be squeezed into a formula of ten words, or nailed up amongst the +Categories like a dead owl over a stable door. My intelligence, such +as it is, abhors definitions!' + +'So do I. I never understand them.' + +'Besides, you can only define what you know from past experience +and can reflect upon coolly, and that is not my position, nor yours +either.' + +Margaret nodded, but said nothing and sat down. + +'Do you want to smoke?' she asked. 'You may, if you like. I don't mind +a cigarette.' + +'No, thank you.' + +'But I assure you I don't mind it in the least. It never hurts my +throat.' + +'Thanks, but I really don't want to.' + +'I'm sure you do. Please--' + +'Why do you insist? You know I never smoke when you are in the room.' + +'I don't like to be the object of little sacrifices that make people +uncomfortable.' + +'I'm not uncomfortable, but if you have any big sacrifice to suggest, +I promise to offer it at once.' + +'Unconditionally?' Margaret smiled. 'Anything I ask?' + +'Yes. Do you want my statue?' + +'The Aphrodite? Would you give her to me?' + +'Yes. May I telegraph to have her packed and brought here from Paris?' + +He was already at the writing-table looking for a telegraph form. +Margaret watched his face, for she knew that he valued the wonderful +statue far beyond all his treasures, both for its own sake and because +he had nearly lost his life in carrying it off from Samos, as has been +told elsewhere. + +As Margaret said nothing, he began to write the message. She really +had not had any idea of testing his willingness to part with the thing +he valued most, at her slightest word, and was taken by surprise; +but it was impossible not to be pleased when she saw that he was in +earnest. In her present mood, too, it restored her sense of power, +which had been rudely shaken by the attitude of the public on the +previous evening. + +It took some minutes to compose the message. + +'It's only to save time by having the box ready,' he said, as he rose +with the bit of paper in his hand. 'Of course I shall see the statue +packed myself and come over with it.' + +She saw his face clearly in the light as he came towards her, and +there was no mistaking the unaffected satisfaction it expressed. He +held out the telegram for her to read, but she would not take it, and +she looked up quietly and earnestly as he stood beside her. + +'Do you remember Delorges?' she asked. 'How the lady tossed her glove +amongst the lions and bade him fetch it, if he loved her, and how he +went in and got it--and then threw it in her face? I feel like her.' + +Logotheti looked at her blankly. + +'Do you mean to say you won't take the statue?' he asked in a +disappointed tone. + +'No, indeed! I was taken by surprise when you went to the +writing-table.' + +'You did not believe I was in earnest? Don't you see that I'm +disappointed now?' His voice changed a little. 'Don't you understand +that if the world were mine I should want to give it all to you?' + +'And don't you understand that the wish may be quite as much to me as +the deed? That sounds commonplace, I know. I would say it better if I +could.' + +She folded her hands on her knee, and looked at them thoughtfully +while he sat down beside her. + +'You say it well enough,' he answered after a little pause. 'The +trouble lies there. The wish is all you will ever take. I have +submitted to that; but if you ever change your mind, please remember +that I have not changed mine. For two years I've done everything I can +to make you marry me whether you would or not, and you've forgiven me +for trying to carry you off against your will, and for several other +things, but you are no nearer to caring for me ever so little than you +were the first day we met. You "like" me! That's the worst of it!' + +'I'm not so sure of that,' Margaret answered, raising her eyes for a +moment and then looking at her hands again. + +He turned his head slowly, but there was a startled look in his eyes. + +'Do you feel as if you could hate me a little, for a change?' he +asked. + +'No.' + +'There's only one other thing,' he said in a low voice. + +'Perhaps,' Margaret answered, in an even lower tone than his. 'I'm not +quite sure to-day.' + +Logotheti had known her long, and he now resisted the strong impulse +to reach out and take the hand she would surely have let him hold in +his for a moment. She was not disappointed because he neither +spoke nor moved, nor took any sudden advantage of her rather timid +admission, for his silence made her trust him more than any passionate +speech or impulsive action could have done. + +'I daresay I am wrong to tell you even that much,' she went on +presently, 'but I do so want to play fair. I've always despised women +who cannot make up their minds whether they care for a man or not. But +you have found out my secret; I am two people in one, and there +are days when each makes the other dreadfully uncomfortable! You +understand.' + +'And it's the Cordova that neither likes me nor hates me just at this +moment,' suggested Logotheti. 'Margaret Donne sometimes hates me and +sometimes likes me, and on some days she can be quite indifferent too! +Is that it?' + +'Yes. That's it.' + +'The only question is, which of you is to be mistress of the house,' +said Logotheti, smiling, 'and whether it is to be always the same one, +or if there is to be a perpetual hide-and-seek between them!' + +'Box and Cox,' suggested Margaret, glad of the chance to say something +frivolous just then. + +'I should say Hera and Aphrodite,' answered the Greek, 'if it did not +look like comparing myself to Adonis!' + +'It sounds better than Box and Cox, but I have forgotten my +mythology.' + +'Hera and Aphrodite agreed that each should keep Adonis one-third of +the year, and that he should have the odd four months to himself. Now +that you are the Cordova, if you could come to some such understanding +about me with Miss Donne, it would be very satisfactory. But I am +afraid Margaret does not want even a third of me!' + +Logotheti felt that it was rather ponderous fun, but he was in such an +anxious state that his usually ready wit did not serve him very well. +For the first time since he had known her, Margaret had confessed that +she might possibly fall in love with him; and after what had passed +between them in former days, he knew that the smallest mistake on his +part would now be fatal to the realisation of such a possibility. He +was not afraid of being dull, or of boring her, but he was afraid of +wakening against him the wary watchfulness of that side of her nature +which he called Margaret Donne, as distinguished from Cordova, of the +'English-girl' side, of the potential old maid that is dormant in +every young northern woman until the day she marries, and wakes to +torment her like a biblical devil if she does not. There is no miser +like a reformed spendthrift, and no ascetic will go to such extremes +of self-mortification as a converted libertine; in the same way, there +are no such portentously virginal old maids as those who might have +been the most womanly wives; the opposite is certainly true also, for +the variety 'Hemiparthenos,' studied after nature by Marcel Prévost, +generally makes an utter failure of matrimony, and becomes, in fact, +little better than a half-wife. + +Logotheti took it as a good sign that Margaret laughed at what he +said. He was in the rather absurd position of wishing to leave her +while she was in her present humour, lest anything should disturb it +and destroy his advantage; yet, after what had just passed, it +was next to impossible not to talk of her, or of himself. He had +exceptionally good nerves, he was generally cool to a fault, and he +had the daring that makes great financiers. But what looked like the +most important crisis of his life had presented itself unexpectedly +within a few minutes; a success which he reckoned far beyond all +other successes was almost within his grasp, and he felt that he was +unprepared. For the first time he did not know what to say to a woman. + +Happily for him, Margaret helped him unexpectedly. + +'I shall have to see Lady Maud,' she said, 'and you must either go +when she comes or leave with her. I'm sorry, but you understand, don't +you?' + +'Of course. I'll go a moment after she comes. When am I to see you +again? To-morrow? You are not to sing again this week, are you?' + +'No,' the Primadonna answered vaguely, 'I believe not.' + +She was thinking of something else. She was wondering whether +Logotheti would wish her to give up the stage, if by any possibility +she ever married him, and her thoughts led her on quickly to the +consideration of what that would mean, and to asking herself what sort +of sacrifice it would really mean to her. For the recollection of the +_Elisir d'Amore_ awoke and began to rankle again just then. + +Logotheti did not press her for an answer, but watched her cautiously +while her eyes were turned away from him. At that moment he felt like +a tamer who had just succeeded in making a tiger give its paw for the +first time, and has not the smallest idea whether the creature will do +it again or bite off his head. + +She, on her side, being at the moment altogether the artist, was +thinking that it would be pleasant to enjoy a few more triumphs, to +make the tour of Europe with a company of her own--which is always the +primadonna's dream as it is the actress's--and to leave the stage +at twenty-five in a blaze of glory, rather than to risk one more +performance of the opera she now hated. She knew quite well that +it was not at all an impossibility. To please her, and with the +expectation of marrying her in six months, Logotheti would cheerfully +pay the large forfeit that would be due to Schreiermeyer if she broke +her London engagement at the height of the season, and the Greek +financier would produce all the ready money necessary for getting +together an opera company. The rest would be child's play, she was +sure, and she would make a triumphant progress through the capitals of +Europe which should be remembered for half a century. After that, said +the Primadonna to herself, she would repay her friend all the money he +had lent her, and would then decide at her leisure whether she would +marry him or not. For one moment her cynicism would have surprised +even Schreiermeyer; the next, the Primadonna herself was ashamed of +it, quite independently of what her better self might have thought. + +Besides, it was certainly not for his money that her old inclination +for Logotheti had begun to grow again. She could say so, truly enough, +and when she felt sure of it she turned her eyes to see his face. + +She did not admire him for his looks, either. So far as appearance was +concerned, she preferred Lushington, with his smooth hair and fair +complexion. Logotheti was a handsome and showy Oriental, that was all, +and she knew instinctively that the type must be common in the East. +What attracted her was probably his daring masculineness, which +contrasted so strongly with Lushington's quiet and rather bashful +manliness. The Englishman would die for a cause and make no noise +about it, which would be heroic; but the Greek would run away with a +woman he loved, at the risk of breaking his neck, which was romantic +in the extreme. It is not easy to be a romantic character in the eyes +of a lady who lives on the stage, and by it, and constantly gives +utterance to the most dramatic sentiments at a pitch an octave higher +than any one else; but Logotheti had succeeded. There never was a +woman yet to whom that sort of thing has not appealed once; for one +moment she has felt everything whirling with her as if the centre of +gravity had gone mad, and the Ten Commandments might drop out of the +solid family Bible and get lost. That recollection is probably the +only secret of a virtuously colourless existence, but she hides it, +like a treasure or a crime, until she is an old and widowed woman; +and one day, at last, she tells her grown-up granddaughter, with a +far-away smile, that there was once a man whose eyes and voice stirred +her strongly, and for whom she might have quite lost her head. But she +never saw him again, and that is the end of the little story; and the +tall girl in her first season thinks it rather dull. + +But it was not likely that the chronicle of Cordova's youth should +come to such an abrupt conclusion. The man who moved her now had been +near her too often, the sound of his voice was too easily recalled, +and, since his rival's defection, he was too necessary to her; and, +besides, he was as obstinate as Christopher Columbus. + +'Let me see,' she said thoughtfully. 'There's a rehearsal to-morrow +morning. That means a late luncheon. Come at two o'clock, and if it's +fine we can go for a little walk. Will you?' + +'Of course. Thank you.' + +He had hardly spoken the words when a servant opened the door and Lady +Maud came in. She had not dropped the opera cloak she wore over her +black velvet gown; she was rather pale, and the look in her eyes told +that something was wrong, but her serenity did not seem otherwise +affected. She kissed Margaret and gave her hand to Logotheti. + +'We dined early to go to the play,' she said, 'and as there's a +curtain-raiser, I thought I might as well take a hansom and join them +later.' + +She seated herself beside Margaret on one of those little sofas that +are measured to hold two women when the fashions are moderate, and are +wide enough for a woman and one man, whatever happens. Indeed they +must be, since otherwise no one would tolerate them in a drawing-room. +When two women instal themselves in one, and a man is present, it +means that he is to go away, because they are either going to make +confidences or are going to fight. + +Logotheti thought it would be simpler and more tactful to go at once, +since Lady Maud was in a hurry, having stopped on her way to the play, +presumably in the hope of seeing Margaret alone. To his surprise she +asked him to stay; but as he thought she might be doing this out of +mere civility he said he had an engagement. + +'Will it keep for ten minutes?' asked Lady Maud gravely. + +'Engagements of that sort are very convenient. They will keep any +length of time.' + +Logotheti sat down again, smiling, but he wondered what Lady Maud was +going to say, and why she wished him to remain. + +'It will save a note,' she said, by way of explanation. 'My father +and I want you to come to Craythew for the week-end after this,' she +continued, turning to Margaret. 'We are asking several people, so it +won't be too awfully dull, I hope. Will you come?' + +'With pleasure,' answered the singer. + +'And you too?' Lady Maud looked at Logotheti. + +'Delighted--most kind of you,' he replied, somewhat surprised by the +invitation, for he had never met Lord and Lady Creedmore. 'May I take +you down in my motor?' he spoke to Margaret. 'I think I can do it +under four hours. I'm my own chauffeur, you know.' + +'Yes, I know,' Margaret answered with a rather malicious smile. 'No, +thank you!' + +'Does he often kill?' inquired Lady Maud coolly. + +'I should be more afraid of a runaway,' Margaret said. + +'Get that new German brake,' suggested Lady Maud, not understanding at +all. 'It's quite the best I've seen. Come on Friday, if you can. You +don't mind meeting Mr. Van Torp, do you? He is our neighbour, you +remember.' + +The question was addressed to Margaret, who made a slight movement and +unconsciously glanced at Logotheti before she answered. + +'Not at all,' she said. + +'There's a reason for asking him when there are other people. I'm +not divorced after all--you had not heard? It will be in the _Times_ +to-morrow morning. The Patriarch of Constantinople turns out to be a +very sensible sort of person.' + +'He's my uncle,' observed Logotheti. + +'Is he? But that wouldn't account for it, would it? He refused to +believe what my husband called the evidence, and dismissed the suit. +As the trouble was all about Mr. Van Torp my father wants people to +see him at Craythew. That's the story in a nutshell, and if any of you +like me you'll be nice to him.' + +She leaned back in her corner of the little sofa and looked first at +one and then at the other in an inquiring way, but as if she were +fairly sure of the answer. + +'Every one likes you,' said Logotheti quietly, 'and every one will be +nice to him.' + +'Of course,' chimed in Margaret. + +She could say nothing else, though her intense dislike of the American +millionaire almost destroyed the anticipated pleasure of her visit to +Derbyshire. + +'I thought it just as well to explain,' said Lady Maud. + +She was still pale, and in spite of her perfect outward coolness and +self-reliance her eyes would have betrayed her anxiety if she had not +managed them with the unconscious skill of a woman of the world who +has something very important to hide. Logotheti broke the short +silence that followed her last speech. + +'I think you ought to know something I have been telling Miss Donne,' +he said simply. 'I've found the man who wrote all those articles, and +I've locked him up.' + +Lady Maud leaned forward so suddenly that her loosened opera-cloak +slipped down behind her, leaving her neck and shoulders bare. Her eyes +were wide open in her surprise, the pupils very dark. + +'Where?' she asked breathlessly. 'Where is he? In prison?' + +'In a more convenient and accessible place,' answered the Greek. + +He had known Lady Maud some time, but he had never seen her in the +least disturbed, or surprised, or otherwise moved by anything. It was +true that he had only met her in society. + +He told the story of Mr. Feist, as Margaret had heard it during +dinner, and Lady Maud did not move, even to lean back in her seat +again, till he had finished. She scarcely seemed to breathe, and +Logotheti felt her steady gaze on him, and would have sworn that +through all those minutes she did not even wink. When he ceased +speaking she drew a long breath and sank back to her former attitude; +but he saw that her white neck heaved suddenly again and again, and +her delicate nostrils quivered once or twice. For a little while there +was silence in the room. Then Lady Maud rose to go. + +'I must be going too,' said Logotheti. + +Margaret was a little sorry that she had given him such precise +instructions, but did not contradict herself by asking him to stay +longer. She promised Lady Maud again to be at Craythew on Friday of +the next week if possible, and certainly on Saturday, and Lady Maud +and Logotheti went out together. + +'Get in with me,' she said quietly, as he helped her into her hansom. + +He obeyed, and as he sat down she told the cabman to take her to the +Haymarket Theatre. Logotheti expected her to speak, for he was quite +sure that she had not taken him with her without a purpose; the more +so, as she had not even asked him where he was going. + +Three or four minutes passed before he heard her voice asking him a +question, very low, as if she feared to be overheard. + +'Is there any way of making that man tell the truth against his will? +You have lived in the East, and you must know about such things.' + +Logotheti turned his almond-shaped eyes slowly towards her, but he +could not see her face well, for it was not very light in the broad +West End street. She was white; that was all he could make out. But he +understood what she meant. + +'There is a way,' he answered slowly and almost sternly. 'Why do you +ask?' + +'Mr. Van Torp is going to be accused of murder. That man knows who did +it. Will you help me?' + +It seemed an age before the answer to her whispered question came. + +'Yes.' + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +When Logotheti and his doctor had taken Mr. Feist away from the hotel, +to the no small satisfaction of the management, they had left precise +instructions for forwarding the young man's letters and for informing +his friends, if any appeared, as to his whereabouts. But Logotheti had +not given his own name. + +Sir Jasper Threlfall had chosen for their patient a private +establishment in Ealing, owned and managed by a friend of his, a place +for the treatment of morphia mania, opium-eating, and alcoholism. + +To all intents and purposes, as Logotheti had told Margaret, +Charles Feist might as well have been in gaol. Every one knows how +indispensable it is that persons who consent to be cured of drinking +or taking opium, or whom it is attempted to cure, should be absolutely +isolated, if only to prevent weak and pitying friends from yielding +to their heart-rending entreaties for the favourite drug and bringing +them 'just a little'; for their eloquence is often extraordinary, and +their ingenuity in obtaining what they want is amazing. + +So Mr. Feist was shut up in a pleasant room provided with double doors +and two strongly barred windows that overlooked a pretty garden, +beyond which there was a high brick wall half covered by a bright +creeper, then just beginning to flower. The walls, the doors, the +ceiling, and the floor were sound-proof, and the garden could not in +any way be reached without passing through the house. + +As only male patients were received, the nurses and attendants were +all men; for the treatment needed more firmness and sometimes strength +than gentleness. It was uncompromising, as English methods often are. +Except where life was actually in danger, there was no drink and no +opium for anybody; when absolutely necessary the resident doctor +gave the patient hypodermics or something which he called by an +unpronounceable name, lest the sufferer should afterwards try to buy +it; he smilingly described it as a new vegetable poison, and in fact +it was nothing but dionine, a preparation of opium that differs but +little from ordinary morphia. + +Now Sir Jasper Threlfall was a very great doctor indeed, and his +name commanded respect in London at large and inspired awe in the +hospitals. Even the profession admitted reluctantly that he did +not kill more patients than he cured, which is something for one +fashionable doctor to say of another; for the regular answer to any +inquiry about a rival practitioner is a smile--'a smile more dreadful +than his own dreadful frown'--an indescribable smile, a meaning smile, +a smile that is a libel in itself. + +It had been an act of humanity to take the young man into medical +custody, as it were, and it had been more or less necessary for the +safety of the public, for Logotheti and the doctor had found him in a +really dangerous state, as was amply proved by his attempting to cut +his own throat and then to shoot Logotheti himself. Sir Jasper said he +had nothing especial the matter with him except drink, that when +his nerves had recovered their normal tone his real character would +appear, so that it would then be possible to judge more or less +whether he had will enough to control himself in future. Logotheti +agreed, but it occurred to him that one need not be knighted, and +write a dozen or more mysterious capital letters after one's name, and +live in Harley Street, in order to reach such a simple conclusion; and +as Logotheti was a millionaire, and liked his doctor for his own sake +rather than for his skill, he told him this, and they both laughed +heartily. Almost all doctors, except those in French plays, have some +sense of humour. + +On the third day Isidore Bamberger came to the door of the private +hospital and asked to see Mr. Feist. Not having heard from him, he had +been to the hotel and had there obtained the address. The doorkeeper +was a quiet man who had lost a leg in South Africa, after having been +otherwise severely wounded five times in previous engagements. Mr. +Bamberger, he said, could not see his friend yet. A part of the cure +consisted in complete isolation from friends during the first stages +of the treatment. Sir Jasper Threlfall had been to see Mr. Feist that +morning. He had been twice already. Dr. Bream, the resident physician, +gave the doorkeeper a bulletin every morning at ten for the benefit of +each patient's friend; the notes were written on a card which the man +held in his hand. + +At the great man's name, Mr. Bamberger became thoughtful. A smart +brougham drove up just then and a tall woman, who wore a thick veil, +got out and entered the vestibule where Bamberger was standing by the +open door. The doorkeeper evidently knew her, for he glanced at his +notes and spoke without being questioned. + +'The young gentleman is doing well this week, my lady,' he said. +'Sleeps from three to four hours at a time. Is less excited. Appetite +improving.' + +'Can I see him?' asked a sad and gentle voice through the veil. + +'Not yet, my lady.' + +She sighed as she turned to go out, and Mr. Bamberger thought it +was one of the saddest sighs he had ever heard. He was rather a +soft-hearted man. + +'Is it her son?' he asked, in a respectful sort of way. + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Drink?' inquired Mr. Bamberger in the same tone. + +'Not allowed to give any information except to family or friends, +sir,' answered the man. 'Rule of the house, sir. Very strict.' + +'Quite right, of course. Excuse me for asking. But I must see Mr. +Feist, unless he's out of his mind. It's very important.' + +'Dr. Bream sees visitors himself from ten to twelve, sir, after he's +been his rounds to the patients' rooms. You'll have to get permission +from him.' + +'But it's like a prison!' exclaimed Mr. Bamberger. + +'Yes, sir,' answered the old soldier imperturbably. 'It's just like a +prison. It's meant to be.' + +It was evidently impossible to get anything more out of the man, who +did not pay the slightest attention to the cheerful little noise Mr. +Bamberger made by jingling sovereigns in his waistcoat pocket; there +was nothing to do but to go away, and Mr. Bamberger went out very much +annoyed and perplexed. + +He knew Van Torp well, or believed that he did, and it was like +the man whose genius had created the Nickel Trust to have boldly +sequestrated his enemy's chief instrument, and in such a clever way +as to make it probable that Mr. Feist might be kept in confinement +as long as his captor chose. Doubtless such a high-handed act would +ultimately go against the latter when on his trial, but in the +meantime the chief witness was locked up and could not get out. Sir +Jasper Threlfall would state that his patient was in such a state of +health, owing to the abuse of alcohol, that it was not safe to set +him at liberty, and that in his present condition his mind was so +unsettled by drink that he could not be regarded as a sane witness; +and if Sir Jasper Threlfall said that, it would not be easy to get +Charles Feist out of Dr. Bream's establishment in less than three +months. + +Mr. Bamberger was obliged to admit that his partner, chief, and enemy +had stolen a clever march on him. Being of a practical turn of mind, +however, and not hampered by much faith in mankind, even in the most +eminent, who write the mysterious capital letters after their names, +he wondered to what extent Van Torp owned Sir Jasper, and he went to +see him on pretence of asking advice about his liver. + +The great man gave him two guineas' worth of thumping, auscultating, +and poking in the ribs, and told him rather disagreeably that he +was as healthy as a young crocodile, and had a somewhat similar +constitution. A partner of Mr. Van Torp, the American financier? +Indeed! Sir Jasper had heard the name but had never seen the +millionaire, and asked politely whether he sometimes came to England. +It is not untruthful to ask a question to which one knows the answer. +Mr. Bamberger himself, for instance, who knew that he was perfectly +well, was just going to put down two guineas for having been told so, +in answer to a question. + +'I believe you are treating Mr. Feist,' he said, going more directly +to the point. + +'Mr. Feist?' repeated the great authority vaguely. + +'Yes. Mr. Charles Feist. He's at Dr. Bream's private hospital in West +Kensington.' + +'Ah, yes,' said Sir Jasper. 'Dr. Bream is treating him. He's not a +patient of mine.' + +'I thought I'd ask you what his chances are,' observed Isidore +Bamberger, fixing his sharp eyes on the famous doctor's face. 'He used +to be my private secretary.' + +He might just as well have examined the back of the doctor's head. + +'He's not a patient of mine,' Sir Jasper said. 'I'm only one of the +visiting doctors at Dr. Bream's establishment. I don't go there unless +he sends for me, and I keep no notes of his cases. You will have to +ask him. If I am not mistaken his hours are from ten to twelve. +And now'--Sir Jasper rose--'as I can only congratulate you on your +splendid health--no, I really cannot prescribe anything--literally +nothing--' + +Isidore Bamberger had left three patients in the waiting-room and was +obliged to go away, as his 'splendid health' did not afford him the +slightest pretext for asking more questions. He deposited his two +guineas on the mantelpiece neatly wrapped in a bit of note-paper, +while Sir Jasper examined the handle of the door with a stony gaze, +and he said 'good morning' as he went out. + +'Good morning,' answered Sir Jasper, and as Mr. Bamberger crossed the +threshold the single clanging stroke of the doctor's bell was heard, +summoning the next patient. + +The American man of business was puzzled, for he was a good judge of +humanity, and was sure that when the Englishman said that he had never +seen Van Torp he was telling the literal truth. Mr. Bamberger was +convinced that there had been some agreement between them to make it +impossible for any one to see Feist. He knew the latter well, however, +and had great confidence in his remarkable power of holding his +tongue, even when under the influence of drink. + +When Tiberius had to choose between two men equally well fitted for a +post of importance, he had them both to supper, and chose the one who +was least affected by wine, not at all for the sake of seeing the +match, but on the excellent principle that in an age when heavy +drinking was the rule the man who could swallow the largest quantity +without becoming talkative was the one to be best trusted with a +secret; and the fact that Tiberius himself had the strongest head in +the Empire made him a good judge. + +Bamberger, on the same principle, believed that Charles Feist would +hold his tongue, and he also felt tolerably sure that the former +secretary had no compromising papers in his possession, for his memory +had always been extraordinary. Feist had formerly been able to carry +in his mind a number of letters which Bamberger 'talked off' to him +consecutively without even using shorthand, and could type them +afterwards with unfailing accuracy. It was therefore scarcely likely +that he kept notes of the articles he wrote about Van Torp. + +But his employer did not know that Feist's memory was failing from +drink, and that he no longer trusted his marvellous faculty. Van Torp +had sequestrated him and shut him up, Bamberger believed; but neither +Van Torp nor any one else would get anything out of him. + +And if any one made him talk, what great harm would be done, after +all? It was not to be supposed that such a man as Isidore Bamberger +had trusted only to his own keenness in collecting evidence, or to a +few pencilled notes as a substitute for the principal witness himself, +when an accident might happen at any moment to a man who led such a +life. The case for the prosecution had been quietly prepared during +several months past, and the evidence that was to send Rufus Van Torp +to execution, or to an asylum for the Criminal Insane for life, was in +the safe of Isidore Bamberger's lawyer in New York, unless, at that +very moment, it was already in the hands of the Public Prosecutor. A +couple of cables would do the rest at any time, and in a few hours. +In murder cases, the extradition treaty works as smoothly as the +telegraph itself. The American authorities would apply to the English +Home Secretary, the order would go to Scotland Yard, and Van Torp +would be arrested immediately and taken home by the first steamer, to +be tried in New York. + +Six months earlier he might have pleaded insanity with a possible +chance, but in the present state of feeling the plea would hardly be +admitted. A man who has been held up to public execration in the press +for weeks, and whom no one attempts to defend, is in a bad case if a +well-grounded accusation of murder is brought against him at such a +moment; and Isidore Bamberger firmly believed in the truth of the +charge and in the validity of the evidence. + +He consoled himself with these considerations, and with the reflection +that Feist was actually safer where he was, and less liable to +accident than if he were at large. Mr. Bamberger walked slowly down +Harley Street to Cavendish Square, with his head low between his +shoulders, his hat far back on his head, his eyes on the pavement, and +the shiny toes of his patent leather boots turned well out. His bowed +legs were encased in loose black trousers, and had as many angles as +the forepaws of a Dachshund or a Dandie Dinmont. The peculiarities of +his ungainly gait and figure were even more apparent than usual, and +as he walked he swung his long arms, that ended in large black gloves +which looked as if they were stuffed with sawdust. + +Yet there was something in his face that set him far beyond and above +ridicule, and the passers-by saw it and wondered gravely who and +what this man in black might be, and what great misfortune and still +greater passion had moulded the tragic mark upon his features; and +none of those who looked at him glanced at his heavy, ill-made figure, +or noticed his clumsy walk, or realised that he was most evidently +a typical German Jew, who perhaps kept an antiquity shop in Wardour +Street, and had put on his best coat to call on a rich collector in +the West End. + +Those who saw him only saw his face and went on, feeling that they had +passed near something greater and sadder and stronger than anything in +their own lives could ever be. + +But he went on his way, unconscious of the men and women he met, and +not thinking where he went, crossing Oxford Street and then turning +down Regent Street and following it to Piccadilly and the Haymarket. +Just before he reached the theatre, he slackened his pace and looked +about him, as if he were waking up; and there, in the cross street, +just behind the theatre, he saw a telegraph office. + +He entered, pushed his hat still a little farther back, and wrote a +cable message. It was as short as it could be, for it consisted of one +word only besides the address, and that one word had only two letters: + +'Go.' + +That was all, and there was nothing mysterious about the syllable, +for almost any one would understand that it was used as in starting +a footrace, and meant, 'Begin operations at once!' It was the word +agreed upon between Isidore Bamberger and his lawyer. The latter had +been allowed all the latitude required in such a case, for he had +instructions to lay the evidence before the District Attorney-General +without delay, if anything happened to make immediate action seem +advisable. In any event, he was to do so on receiving the message +which had now been sent. + +The evidence consisted, in the first place, of certain irrefutable +proofs that Miss Bamberger had not died from shock, but had been +killed by a thin and extremely sharp instrument with which she had +been stabbed in the back. Isidore Bamberger's own doctor had satisfied +himself of this, and had signed his statement under oath, and +Bamberger had instantly thought of a certain thin steel letter-opener +which Van Torp always had in his pocket. + +Next came the affidavit of Paul Griggs. The witness knew the Opera +House well. Had been in the stalls on the night in question. Had not +moved from his seat till the performance was over, and had been one of +the last to get out into the corridor. There was a small door in the +corridor on the south side which was generally shut. It opened upon a +passage communicating with the part of the building that is let for +business offices. Witness's attention had been attracted by part of +a red silk dress which lay on the floor outside the door, the latter +being ajar. Suspecting an accident, witness opened door, found Miss +Bamberger, and carried her to manager's room not far off. On reaching +home had found stains of blood on his hands. Had said nothing of this, +because he had seen notice of the lady's death from shock in next +morning's paper. Was nevertheless convinced that blood must have been +on her dress. + +The murder was therefore proved. But the victim had not been robbed +of her jewellery, which demonstrated that, if the crime had not been +committed by a lunatic, the motive for it must have been personal. + +With regard to identity of the murderer, Charles Feist deposed that on +the night in question he had entered the Opera late, having only an +admission to the standing room, that he was close to one of the doors +when the explosion took place and had been one of the first to leave +the house. The emergency lights in the corridors were on a separate +circuit, but had been also momentarily extinguished. They were up +again before those in the house. The crowd had at once become jammed +in the doorways, so that people got out much more slowly than might +have been expected. Many actually fell in the exits and were trampled +on. Then Madame Cordova had begun to sing in the dark, and the panic +had ceased in a few seconds. The witness did not think that more than +three hundred people altogether had got out through the several doors. +He himself had at once made for the main entrance. A few persons +rushed past him in the dark, descending the stairs from the boxes. One +or two fell on the steps. Just as the emergency lights went up again, +witness saw a young lady in a red silk dress fall, but did not see her +face distinctly; he was certain that she had a short string of pearls +round her throat. They gleamed in the light as she fell. She was +instantly lifted to her feet by Mr. Rufus Van Torp, who must have been +following her closely. She seemed to have hurt herself a little, +and he almost carried her down the corridor in the direction of +the carriage lobby on the Thirty-Eighth Street side. The two then +disappeared through a door. The witness would swear to the door, and +he described its position accurately. It seemed to have been left +ajar, but there was no light on the other side of it. The witness did +not know where the door led to. He had often wondered. It was not +for the use of the public. He frequently went to the Opera and was +perfectly familiar with the corridors. It was behind this door that +Paul Griggs had found Miss Bamberger. Questioned as to a possible +motive for the murder, the witness stated that Rufus Van Torp was +known to have shown homicidal tendencies, though otherwise perfectly +sane. In his early youth he had lived four years on a cattle-ranch as +a cow-puncher, and had undoubtedly killed two men during that time. +Witness had been private secretary to his partner, Mr. Isidore +Bamberger, and while so employed Mr. Van Torp had fired a revolver at +him in his private office in a fit of passion about a message witness +was sent to deliver. Two clerks in a neighbouring room had heard the +shot. Believing Mr. Van Torp to be mad, witness had said nothing at +the time, but had left Mr. Bamberger soon afterwards. It was always +said that, several years ago, on board of his steam yacht, Mr. Van +Torp had once violently pulled a friend who was on board out of his +berth at two in the morning, and had dragged him on deck, saying that +he must throw him overboard and drown him, as the only way of saving +his soul. The watch on deck had had great difficulty in overpowering +Mr. Van Torp, who was very strong. With regard to the late Miss +Bamberger the witness thought that Mr. Van Torp had killed her to get +rid of her, because she was in possession of facts that would ruin him +if they were known and because she had threatened to reveal them to +her father. If she had done so, Van Torp would have been completely in +his partner's power. Mr. Bamberger could have made a beggar of him as +the only alternative to penal servitude. Questioned as to the nature +of this information, witness said that it concerned the explosion, +which had been planned by Van Torp for his own purposes. Either in a +moment of expansion, under the influence of the drug he was in the +habit of taking, or else in real anxiety for her safety, he had told +Miss Bamberger that the explosion would take place, warning her to +remain in her home, which was situated on the Riverside Drive, very +far from the scene of the disaster. She had undoubtedly been so +horrified that she had thereupon insisted upon dissolving her +engagement to marry him, and had threatened to inform her father of +the horrible plot. She had never really wished to marry Van Torp, but +had accepted him in deference to her father's wishes. He was known +to be devoting himself at that very time to a well-known primadonna +engaged at the Metropolitan Opera, and Miss Bamberger probably had +some suspicion of this. Witness said the motive seemed sufficient, +considering that the accused had already twice taken human life. His +choice lay between killing her and falling into the power of his +partner. He had injured Mr. Bamberger, as was well known, and Mr. +Bamberger was a resentful man. + +The latter part of Charles Feist's deposition was certainly more in +the nature of an argument than of evidence pure and simple, and it +might not be admitted in court; but Isidore Bamberger had instructed +his lawyer, and the Public Prosecutor would say it all, and more also, +and much better; and public opinion was roused all over the United +States against the Nickel Tyrant, as Van Torp was now called. + +In support of the main point there was a short note to Miss Bamberger +in Van Torp's handwriting, which had afterwards been found on her +dressing-table. It must have arrived before she had gone out to +dinner. It contained a final and urgent entreaty that she would not go +to the Opera, nor leave the house that evening, and was signed with +Van Torp's initials only, but no one who knew his handwriting would be +likely to doubt that the note was genuine. + +There were some other scattered pieces of evidence which fitted the +rest very well. Mr. Van Torp had not been seen at his own house, +nor in any club, nor down town, after he had gone out on Wednesday +afternoon, until the following Friday, when he had returned to make +his final arrangements for sailing the next morning. Bamberger had +employed a first-rate detective, but only one, to find out all that +could be discovered about Van Torp's movements. The millionaire had +been at the house on Riverside Drive early in the afternoon to see +Miss Bamberger, as he had told Margaret on board the steamer, but +Bamberger had not seen his daughter after that till she was brought +home dead, for he had been detained by an important meeting at which +he presided, and knowing that she was dining out to go to the theatre +he had telephoned that he would dine at his club. He himself had tried +to telephone to Van Torp later in the evening but had not been able to +find him, and had not seen him till Friday. + +This was the substance of the evidence which Bamberger's lawyer and +the detective would lay before the District Attorney-General on +receiving the cable. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +When Lady Maud stopped at Margaret's house on her way to the theatre +she had been dining at Princes' with a small party of people, amongst +whom Paul Griggs had found himself, and as there was no formality to +hinder her from choosing her own place she had sat down next to him. +The table was large and round, the sixty or seventy other diners in +the room made a certain amount of noise, so that it was easy to talk +in undertones while the conversation of the others was general. + +The veteran man of letters was an old acquaintance of Lady Maud's; and +as she made no secret of her friendship with Rufus Van Torp, it was +not surprising that Griggs should warn her of the latter's danger. As +he had expected when he left New York, he had received a visit from a +'high-class' detective, who came to find out what he knew about Miss +Bamberger's death. This is a bad world, as we all know, and it is made +so by a good many varieties of bad people. As Mr. Van Torp had said to +Logotheti, 'different kinds of cats have different kinds of ways,' and +the various classes of criminals are pursued by various classes of +detectives. Many are ex-policemen, and make up the pack that hunts +the well-dressed lady shop-lifter, the gentle pickpocket, the agile +burglar, the Paris Apache, and the common murderer of the Bill Sykes +type; they are good dogs in their way, if you do not press them, +though they are rather apt to give tongue. But when they are not +ex-policemen, they are always ex-something else, since there is no +college for detectives, and it is not probable that any young man ever +deliberately began life with the intention of becoming one. Edgar Poe +invented the amateur detective, and modern writers have developed him +till he is a familiar and always striking figure in fiction and on the +stage. Whether he really exists or not does not matter. I have heard a +great living painter ask the question: What has art to do with truth? +But as a matter of fact Paul Griggs, who had seen a vast deal, had +never met an amateur detective; and my own impression is that if one +existed he would instantly turn himself into a professional because it +would be so very profitable. + +The one who called on Griggs in his lodgings wrote 'barrister-at-law' +after his name, and had the right to do so. He had languished in +chambers, briefless and half starving, either because he had no talent +for the bar, or because he had failed to marry a solicitor's daughter. +He himself was inclined to attribute his want of success to the +latter cause. But he had not wasted his time, though he was more than +metaphorically threadbare, and his waist would have made a sensation +at a staymaker's. He had watched and pondered on many curious cases +for years; and one day, when a 'high-class' criminal had baffled the +police and had well-nigh confounded the Attorney-General and proved +himself a saint, the starving barrister had gone quietly to work in +his own way, had discovered the truth, had taken his information to +the prosecution, had been the means of sending the high-class one to +penal servitude, and had covered himself with glory; since when he had +grown sleek and well-liking, if not rich, as a professional detective. + +Griggs had been perfectly frank, and had told without hesitation all +he could remember of the circumstances. In answer to further questions +he said he knew Mr. Van Torp tolerably well, and had not seen him in +the Opera House on the evening of the murder. He did not know whether +the financier's character was violent. If it was, he had never seen +any notable manifestation of temper. Did he know that Mr. Van Torp had +once lived on a ranch, and had killed two men in a shooting +affray? Yes, he had heard so, but the shooting might have been in +self-defence. Did he know anything about the blowing up of the works +of which Van Torp had been accused in the papers? Nothing more than +the public knew. Or anything about the circumstances of Van Torp's +engagement to Miss Bamberger? Nothing whatever. Would he read the +statement and sign his name to it? He would, and he did. + +Griggs thought the young man acted more like an ordinary lawyer than a +detective, and said so with a smile. + +'Oh no,' was the quiet answer. 'In my business it's quite as important +to recognise honesty as it is to detect fraud. That's all.' + +For his own part the man of letters did not care a straw whether Van +Torp had committed the murder or not, but he thought it very unlikely. +On general principles, he thought the law usually found out the truth +in the end, and he was ready to do what he could to help it. He held +his tongue, and told no one about the detective's visit, because he +had no intimate friend in England; partly, too, because he wished to +keep his name out of what was now called 'the Van Torp scandal.' + +He would never have alluded to the matter if he had not accidentally +found himself next to Lady Maud at dinner. She had always liked him +and trusted him, and he liked her and her father. On that evening she +spoke of Van Torp within the first ten minutes, and expressed her +honest indignation at the general attack made on 'the kindest man that +ever lived.' Then Griggs felt that she had a sort of right to know +what was being done to bring against her friend an accusation of +murder, for he believed Van Torp innocent, and was sure that Lady +Maud would warn him; but it was for her sake only that Griggs spoke, +because he pitied her. + +She took it more calmly than he had expected, but she grew a little +paler, and that look came into her eyes which Margaret and Logotheti +saw there an hour afterwards; and presently she asked Griggs if he too +would join the week-end party at Craythew, telling him that Van Torp +would be there. Griggs accepted, after a moment's hesitation. + +She was not quite sure why she had so frankly appealed to Logotheti +for help when they left Margaret's house together, but she was not +disappointed in his answer. He was 'exotic,' as she had said of him; +he was hopelessly in love with Cordova, who disliked Van Torp, and he +could not be expected to take much trouble for any other woman; she +had not the very slightest claim on him. Yet she had asked him to help +her in a way which might be anything but lawful, even supposing that +it did not involve positive cruelty. + +For she had not been married to Leven four years without learning +something of Asiatic practices, and she knew that there were more +means of making a man tell a secret than by persuasion or wily +cross-examination. It was all very well to keep within the bounds of +the law and civilisation, but where the whole existence of her best +friend was at stake, Lady Maud was much too simple, primitive, and +feminine to be hampered by any such artificial considerations, and +she turned naturally to a man who did not seem to be a slave to them +either. She had not quite dared to hope that he would help her, and +his readiness to do so was something of a surprise; but she would have +been astonished if he had been in the least shocked at the implied +suggestion of deliberately torturing Charles Feist till he revealed +the truth about the murder. She only felt a little uncomfortable when +she reflected that Feist might not know it after all, whereas she had +boldly told Logotheti that he did. + +If the Greek had hesitated for a few seconds before giving his answer, +it was not that he was doubtful of his own willingness to do what she +wished, but because he questioned his power to do it. The request +itself appealed to the Oriental's love of excitement and to his taste +for the uncommon in life. If he had not sometimes found occasions for +satisfying both, he could not have lived in Paris and London at all, +but would have gone back to Constantinople, which is the last refuge +of romance in Europe, the last hiding-place of mediaeval adventure, +the last city of which a new Decameron of tales could still be told, +and might still be true. + +Lady Maud had good nerves, and she watched the play with her friends +and talked between the acts, very much as if nothing had happened, +except that she was pale and there was that look in her eyes; but only +Paul Griggs noticed it, because he had a way of watching the small +changes of expression that may mean tragedy, but more often signify +indigestion, or too much strong tea, or a dun's letter, or a tight +shoe, or a bad hand at bridge, or the presence of a bore in the room, +or the flat failure of expected pleasure, or sauce spilt on a new gown +by a rival's butler, or being left out of something small and smart, +or any of those minor aches that are the inheritance of the social +flesh, and drive women perfectly mad while they last. + +But Griggs knew that none of these troubles afflicted Lady Maud, and +when he spoke to her now and then, between the acts, she felt his +sympathy for her in every word and inflection. + +She was glad when the evening was over and she was at home in her +dressing-room, and there was no more effort to be made till the next +day. But even alone, she did not behave or look very differently; she +twisted up her thick brown hair herself, as methodically as ever, and +laid out the black velvet gown on the lounge after shaking it out, +so that it should be creased as little as possible; but when she was +ready to go to bed she put on a dressing-gown and sat down at her +table to write to Rufus Van Torp. + +The letter was begun and she had written half a dozen lines when she +laid down the pen, to unlock a small drawer from which she took an old +blue envelope that had never been sealed, though it was a good deal +the worse for wear. There was a photograph in it, which she laid +before her on the letter; and she looked down at it steadily, resting +her elbows on the table and her forehead and temples in her hands. + +It was a snapshot photograph of a young officer in khaki and puttees, +not very well taken, and badly mounted on a bit of white pasteboard +that might have been cut from a bandbox with a penknife; but it was +all she had, and there could never be another. + +She looked at it a long time. + +'You understand, dear,' she said at last, very low; 'you understand.' + +She put it away again and locked the drawer before she went on with +her letter to Van Torp. It was easy enough to tell him what she had +learned about Feist from Logotheti; it was even possible that he had +found it out for himself, and had not taken the trouble to inform her +of the fact. Apart from the approval that friendship inspires, she had +always admired the cool discernment of events which he showed when +great things were at stake. But it was one thing, she now told him, to +be indifferent to the stupid attacks of the press, it would be quite +another to allow himself to be accused of murder; the time had come +when he must act, and without delay; there was a limit beyond which +indifference became culpable apathy; it was clear enough now, she +said, that all these attacks on him had been made to ruin him in the +estimation of the public on both sides of the Atlantic before striking +the first blow, as he himself had guessed; Griggs was surely not an +alarmist, and Griggs said confidently that Van Torp's enemies meant +business; without doubt, a mass of evidence had been carefully got +together during the past three months, and it was pretty sure that an +attempt would be made before long to arrest him; would he do nothing +to make such an outrage impossible? She had not forgotten, she could +never forget, what she owed him, but on his side he owed something to +her, and to the great friendship that bound them to each other. Who +was this man Feist, and who was behind him? She did not know why she +was so sure that he knew the truth, supposing that there had really +been a murder, but her instinct told her so. + +Lady Maud was not gifted with much power of writing, for she was not +clever at books, or with pen and ink, but she wrote her letter +with deep conviction and striking clearness. The only point of any +importance which she did not mention was that Logotheti had promised +to help her, and she did not write of that because she was not really +sure that he could do anything, though she was convinced that he would +try. She was very anxious. She was horrified when she thought of what +might happen if nothing were done. She entreated Van Torp to answer +that he would take steps to defend himself; and that, if possible, he +would come to town so that they might consult together. + +She finished her letter and went to bed; but her good nerves failed +her for once, and it was a long time before she could get to sleep. +It was absurd, of course, but she remembered every case she had ever +heard of in which innocent men had been convicted of crimes they had +not committed and had suffered for them; and in a hideous instant, +between waking and dozing, she saw Rufus Van Torp hanged before her +eyes. + +The impression was so awful that she started from her pillow with a +cry and turned up the electric lamp. It was not till the light flooded +the room that the image quite faded away and she could let her +head rest on the pillow again, and even then her heart was beating +violently, as it had only beaten once in her life before that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Sir Jasper Threlfall did not know how long it would be before Mr. +Feist could safely be discharged from the establishment in which +Logotheti had so kindly placed him. Dr. Bream said 'it was as bad a +case of chronic alcoholism as he often saw.' What has grammar to do +with the treatment of the nerves? Mr. Feist said he did not want to be +cured of chronic alcoholism, and demanded that he should be let out +at once. Dr. Bream answered that it was against his principles to +discharge a patient half cured. Mr. Feist retorted that it was a +violation of personal liberty to cure a man against his will. The +physician smiled kindly at a view he heard expressed every day, and +which the law shared, though it might not be very ready to support it. +Physically, Mr. Feist was afraid of Dr. Bream, who had played football +for Guy's Hospital and had the complexion of a healthy baby and a +quiet eye. So the patient changed his tone, and whined for something +to calm his agitated nerves. One teaspoonful of whisky was all he +begged for, and he promised not to ask for it to-morrow if he might +have it to-day. The doctor was obdurate about spirits, but felt his +pulse, examined the pupils of his eyes, and promised him a calming +hypodermic in an hour. It was too soon after breakfast, he said. Mr. +Feist only once attempted to use violence, and then two large men came +into the room, as quiet and healthy as the doctor himself, and gently +but firmly put him to bed, tucking him up in such an extraordinary way +that he found it quite impossible to move or to get his hands out; and +Dr. Bream, smiling with exasperating calm, stuck a needle into his +shoulder, after which he presently fell asleep. + +He had been drinking hard for years, so that it was a very bad case; +and besides, he seemed to have something on his mind, which made it +worse. + +Logotheti came to see him now, and took a vast deal of trouble to be +agreeable. At his first visit Feist flew into a rage and accused the +Greek of having kidnapped him and shut him up in a prison, where +he was treated like a lunatic; but to this Logotheti was quite +indifferent; he only shook his head rather sadly, and offered Feist a +very excellent cigarette, such as it was quite impossible to buy, even +in London. After a little hesitation the patient took it, and the +effect was very soothing to his temper. Indeed it was wonderful, for +in less than two minutes his features relaxed, his eyes became quiet, +and he actually apologised for having spoken so rudely. Logotheti had +been kindness itself, he said, had saved his life at the very moment +when he was going to cut his throat, and had been in all respects the +good Samaritan. The cigarette was perfectly delicious. It was about +the best smoke he had enjoyed since he had left the States, he said. +He wished Logotheti to please to understand that he wanted to settle +up for all expenses as soon as possible, and to pay his weekly bills +at Dr. Bream's. There had been twenty or thirty pounds in notes in his +pocket-book, and a letter of credit, but all his things had been taken +away from him. He concluded it was all right, but it seemed rather +strenuous to take his papers too. Perhaps Mr. Logotheti, who was so +kind, would make sure that they were in a safe place, and tell the +doctor to let him see any other friends who called. Then he asked +for another of those wonderful cigarettes, but Logotheti was awfully +sorry--there had only been two, and he had just smoked the other +himself. He showed his empty case. + +'By the way,' he said, 'if the doctor should happen to come in and +notice the smell of the smoke, don't tell him that you had one of +mine. My tobacco is rather strong, and he might think it would do you +harm, you know. I see that you have some light ones there, on the +table. Just let him think that you smoked one of them. I promise to +bring some more to-morrow, and we'll have a couple together.' + +That was what Logotheti said, and it comforted Mr. Feist, who +recognised the opium at once; all that afternoon and through all the +next morning he told himself that he was to have another of those +cigarettes, and perhaps two, at three o'clock in the afternoon, when +Logotheti had said that he would come again. + +Before leaving his own rooms on the following day, the Greek put four +cigarettes into his case, for he had not forgotten his promise; he +took two from a box that lay on the table, and placed them so that +they would be nearest to his own hand when he offered his case, but he +took the other two from a drawer which was always locked, and of which +the key was at one end of his superornate watch-chain, and he placed +them on the other side of the case, conveniently for a friend to take. +All four cigarettes looked exactly alike. + +If any one had pointed out to him that an Englishman would not think +it fair play to drug a man deliberately, Logotheti would have smiled +and would have replied by asking whether it was fair play to accuse an +innocent man of murder, a retort which would only become unanswerable +if it could be proved that Van Torp was suspected unjustly. But to +this objection, again, the Greek would have replied that he had been +brought up in Constantinople, where they did things in that way; +and that, except for the trifling obstacle of the law, there was +no particular reason for not strangling Mr. Feist with the English +equivalent for a bowstring, since he had printed a disagreeable story +about Miss Donne, and was, besides, a very offensive sort of person +in appearance and manner. There had always been a certain directness +about Logotheti's view of man's rights. + +He went to see Mr. Feist every day at three o'clock, in the most kind +way possible, made himself as agreeable as he could, and gave him +cigarettes with a good deal of opium in them. He also presented Feist +with a pretty little asbestos lamp which was constructed to purify +the air, and had a really wonderful capacity for absorbing the rather +peculiar odour of the cigarettes. Dr. Bream always made his round +in the morning, and the men nurses he employed to take care of his +patients either did not notice anything unusual, or supposed that +Logotheti smoked some 'outlandish Turkish stuff,' and, because he was +a privileged person, they said nothing about it. As he had brought +the patient to the establishment to be cured, it was really not to be +supposed that he would supply him with forbidden narcotics. + +Now, to a man who is poisoned with drink and is suddenly deprived of +it, opium is from the beginning as delightful as it is nauseous to +most healthy people when they first taste it; and during the next four +or five days, while Feist appeared to be improving faster than might +have been expected, he was in reality acquiring such a craving for +his daily dose of smoke that it would soon be acute suffering to be +deprived of it; and this was what Logotheti wished. He would have +supplied him with brandy if he had not been sure that the contraband +would be discovered and stopped by the doctor; but opium, in the +hands of one who knows exactly how it is used, is very much harder +to detect, unless the doctor sees the smoker when he is under the +influence of the drug, while the pupils of the eye are unnaturally +contracted and the face is relaxed in that expression of beatitude +which only the great narcotics can produce--the state which Baudelaire +called the Artificial Paradise. + +During these daily visits Logotheti became very confidential; that is +to say, he exercised all his ingenuity in the attempt to make Feist +talk about himself. But he was not very successful. Broken as the man +was, his characteristic reticence was scarcely at all relaxed, and it +was quite impossible to get beyond the barrier. One day Logotheti gave +him a cigarette more than usual, as an experiment, but he went to +sleep almost immediately, sitting up in his chair. The opium, as a +moderate substitute for liquor, temporarily restored the habitual tone +of his system and revived his natural self-control, and Logotheti soon +gave up the idea of extracting any secret from him in a moment of +garrulous expansion. + +There was the other way, which was now prepared, and the Greek had +learned enough about his victim to justify him in using it. The cypher +expert, who had been at work on Feist's diary, had now completed his +key and brought Logotheti the translation. He was a rather shabby +little man, a penman employed to do occasional odd jobs about the +Foreign Office, such as engrossing documents and the like, by which he +earned from eighteenpence to half-a-crown an hour, according to the +style of penmanship required, and he was well known in the criminal +courts as an expert on handwriting in forgery cases. + +He brought his work to Logotheti, who at once asked for the long entry +concerning the night of the explosion. The expert turned to it and +read it aloud. It was a statement of the circumstances to which Feist +was prepared to swear, and which have been summed up in a previous +chapter. Van Torp was not mentioned by name in the diary, but was +referred to as 'he'; the other entries in the journal, however, fully +proved that Van Torp was meant, even if Logotheti had felt any doubt +of it. + +The expert informed him, however, that the entry was not the original +one, which had apparently been much shorter, and had been obliterated +in the ordinary way with a solution of chloride of lime. Here and +there very pale traces of the previous writing were faintly visible, +but there was not enough to give the sense of what was gone. This +proved that the ink had not been long dry when it had been removed, +as the expert explained. It was very hard to destroy old writing so +completely that neither heat nor chemicals would bring it out again. +Therefore Feist must have decided to change the entry soon after he +had made it, and probably on the next day. The expert had not found +any other page which had been similarly treated. The shabby little man +looked at Logotheti, and Logotheti looked at him, and both nodded; and +the Greek paid him generously for his work. + +It was clear that Feist had meant to aid his own memory, and had +rather clumsily tampered with his diary in order to make it agree with +the evidence he intended to give, rather than meaning to produce the +notes in court. What Logotheti meant to find out was what the man +himself really knew and what he had first written down; that, and some +other things. In conversation, Logotheti had asked him to describe the +panic at the theatre, and Cordova's singing in the dark, but Feist's +answers had been anything but interesting. + +'You can't remember much about that kind of thing,' he had said in his +drawling way, 'because there isn't much to remember. There was a crash +and the lights went out, and people fought their way to the doors in +the dark till there was a general squash; then Madame Cordova began +to sing, and that kind of calmed things down till the lights went up +again. That's about all I remember.' + +His recollections did not at all agree with what he had entered in his +diary; but though Logotheti tried a second time two days later, Feist +repeated the same story with absolute verbal accuracy. The Greek asked +him if he had known 'that poor Miss Bamberger who died of shock.' +Feist blew out a cloud of drugged tobacco smoke before he answered, +with one of his disagreeable smiles, that he had known her pretty +well, for he had been her father's private secretary. He explained +that he had given up the place because he had come into some money. +Mr. Bamberger was 'a very pleasant gentleman,' Feist declared, and +poor Miss Bamberger had been a 'superb dresser and a first-class +conversationalist, and was a severe loss to her friends and admirers.' +Though Logotheti, who was only a Greek, did not understand every word +of this panegyric, he perceived that it was intended for the highest +praise. He said he should like to know Mr. Bamberger, and was sorry +that he had not known Miss Bamberger, who had been engaged to marry +Mr. Van Torp, as every one had heard. + +He thought he saw a difference in Feist's expression, but was not sure +of it. The pale, unhealthy, and yet absurdly youthful face was not +naturally mobile, and the almost colourless eyes always had rather a +fixed and staring look. Logotheti was aware of a new meaning in them +rather than of a distinct change. He accordingly went on to say that +he had heard poor Miss Bamberger spoken of as heartless, and he +brought out the word so unexpectedly that Feist looked sharply at him. + +'Well,' he said, 'some people certainly thought so. I daresay she was. +It don't matter much, now she's dead, anyway.' + +'She paid for it, poor girl,' answered Logotheti very deliberately. +'They say she was murdered.' + +The change in Feist's face was now unmistakable. There was a drawing +down of the corners of the mouth, and a lowering of the lids that +meant something, and the unhealthy complexion took a greyish shade. +Logotheti was too wise to watch his intended victim, and leaned back +in a careless attitude, gazing out of the window at the bright creeper +on the opposite wall. + +'I've heard it suggested,' said Mr. Feist rather thickly, out of a +perfect storm of drugged smoke. + +It came out of his ugly nostrils, it blew out of his mouth, it seemed +to issue even from his ears and eyes. + +'I suppose we shall never know the truth,' said Logotheti in an idle +tone, and not seeming to look at his companion. 'Mr. Griggs--do you +remember Mr. Griggs, the author, at the Turkish Embassy, where we +first met? Tall old fellow, sad-looking, bony, hard; you remember him, +don't you?' + +'Why, yes,' drawled Feist, emitting more smoke, 'I know him quite +well.' + +'He found blood on his hands after he had carried her. Had you not +heard that? I wondered whether you saw her that evening. Did you?' + +'I saw her from a distance in the box with her friends,' answered +Feist steadily. + +'Did you see her afterwards?' + +The direct question came suddenly, and the strained look in Feist's +face became more intense. Logotheti fancied he understood very well +what was passing in the young man's mind; he intended to swear in +court that he had seen Van Torp drag the girl to the place where her +body was afterwards found, and if he now denied this, the Greek, who +was probably Van Torp's friend, might appear as a witness and narrate +the present conversation; and though this would not necessarily +invalidate the evidence, it might weaken it in the opinion of the +jury. Feist had of course suspected that Logotheti had some object in +forcing him to undergo a cure, and this suspicion had been confirmed +by the opium cigarettes, which he would have refused after the first +time if he had possessed the strength of mind to do so. + +While Logotheti watched him, three small drops of perspiration +appeared high up on his forehead, just where the parting of his thin +light hair began; for he felt that he must make up his mind what to +say, and several seconds had already elapsed since the question. + +'As a matter of fact,' he said at last, with an evident effort, 'I did +catch sight of Miss Bamberger later.' + +He had been aware of the moisture on his forehead, and had hoped that +Logotheti would not notice it, but the drops now gathered and rolled +down, so that he was obliged to take out his handkerchief. + +'It's getting quite hot,' he said, by way of explanation. + +'Yes,' answered Logotheti, humouring him, 'the room is warm. You must +have been one of the last people who saw Miss Bamberger alive,' he +added. 'Was she trying to get out?' + +'I suppose so.' + +Logotheti pretended to laugh a little. + +'You must have been quite sure when you saw her,' he said. + +Feist was in a very overwrought condition by this time, and Logotheti +reflected that if his nerve did not improve he would make a bad +impression on a jury. + +'Now I'll tell you the truth,' he said rather desperately. + +'By all means!' And Logotheti prepared to hear and remember accurately +the falsehood which would probably follow immediately on such a +statement. + +But he was disappointed. + +'The truth is,' said Feist, 'I don't care much to talk about this +affair at present. I can't explain now, but you'll understand one of +these days, and you'll say I was right.' + +'Oh, I see!' + +Logotheti smiled and held out his case, for Feist had finished the +first cigarette. He refused another, however, to the other's surprise. + +'Thanks,' he said, 'but I guess I won't smoke any more of those. I +believe they get on to my nerves.' + +'Do you really not wish me to bring you any more of them?' asked +Logotheti, affecting a sort of surprised concern. 'Do you think they +hurt you?' + +'I do. That's exactly what I mean. I'm much obliged, all the same, but +I'm going to give them up, just like that.' + +'Very well,' Logotheti answered. 'I promise not to bring any more. I +think you are very wise to make the resolution, if you really think +they hurt you--though I don't see why they should.' + +Like most weak people who make good resolutions, Mr. Feist did not +realise what he was doing. He understood horribly well, forty-eight +hours later, when he was dragging himself at his tormentor's feet, +entreating the charity of half a cigarette, of one teaspoonful of +liquor, of anything, though it were deadly poison, that could rest his +agonised nerves for a single hour, for ten minutes, for an instant, +offering his life and soul for it, parching for it, burning, sweating, +trembling, vibrating with horror, and sick with fear for the want of +it. + +For Logotheti was an Oriental and had lived in Constantinople; and +he knew what opium does, and what a man will do to get it, and that +neither passion of love, nor bond of affection, nor fear of man or +God, nor of death and damnation, will stand against that awful craving +when the poison is within reach. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The society papers printed a paragraph which said that Lord Creedmore +and Countess Leven were going to have a week-end party at Craythew, +and the list of guests included the names of Mr. Van Torp and Señorita +da Cordova, 'Monsieur Konstantinos Logotheti' and Mr. Paul Griggs, +after those of a number of overpoweringly smart people. + +Lady Maud's brothers saw the paragraph, and the one who was in the +Grenadier Guards asked the one who was in the Blues if 'the Governor +was going in for zoology or lion-taming in his old age'; but the +brother in the Blues said it was 'Maud who liked freaks of nature, and +Greeks, and things, because they were so amusing to photograph.' + +At all events, Lady Maud had studiously left out her brothers and +sisters in making up the Craythew party, a larger one than had been +assembled there for many years; it was so large indeed that the +'freaks' would not have been prominent figures at all, even if they +had been such unusual persons as the young man in the Blues imagined +them. + +For though Lord Creedmore was not a rich peer, Craythew was a fine old +place, and could put up at least thirty guests without crowding them +and without causing that most uncomfortable condition of things in +which people run over each other from morning to night during week-end +parties in the season, when there is no hunting or shooting to keep +the men out all day. The house itself was two or three times as big as +Mr. Van Torp's at Oxley Paddox. It had its hall, its long drawing-room +for dancing, its library, its breakfast-room and its morning-room, its +billiard-room, sitting-room, and smoking-room, like many another big +English country house; but it had also a picture gallery, the library +was an historical collection that filled three good-sized rooms, and +it was completed by one which had always been called the study, beyond +which there were two little dwelling-rooms, at the end of the wing, +where the librarian had lived when there had been one. For the old +lord had been a bachelor and a book lover, but the present master of +the house, who was tremendously energetic and practical, took care of +the books himself. Now and then, when the house was almost full, a +guest was lodged in the former librarian's small apartment, and on the +present occasion Paul Griggs was to be put there, on the ground that +he was a man of letters and must be glad to be near books, and +also because he could not be supposed to be afraid of Lady Letitia +Foxwell's ghost, which was believed to have spent the nights in the +library for the last hundred and fifty years, more or less, ever since +the unhappy young girl had hanged herself there in the time of George +the Second, on the eve of her wedding day. + +The ancient house stood more than a mile from the high road, near the +further end of such a park as is rarely to be seen, even in beautiful +Derbyshire, for the Foxwells had always loved their trees, as good +Englishmen should, and had taken care of them. There were ancient oaks +there, descended by less than four tree-generations from Druid times; +all down the long drive the great elms threw their boughs skywards; +there the solemn beeches grew, the gentler ash, and the lime; there +the yews spread out their branches, and here and there the cedar of +Lebanon, patriarch of all trees that bear cones, reared his royal +crown above the rest; in and out, too, amongst the great boulders that +strewed the park, the sharp-leaved holly stood out boldly, and the +exquisite white thorn, all in flower, shot up to three and four times +a man's height; below, the heather grew close and green to blossom in +the summer-time; and in the deeper, lonelier places the blackthorn and +hoe ran wild, and the dog-rose in wild confusion; the alder and the +gorse too, the honeysuckle and ivy, climbed up over rocks and stems; +you might see a laurel now and then, and bilberry bushes by thousands, +and bracken everywhere in an endless profusion of rich, dark-green +lace. + +Squirrels there were, dashing across the open glades and running up +the smooth beeches and chestnut trees, as quick as light, and rabbits, +dodging in and out amongst the ferns, and just showing the snow-white +patch under their little tails as they disappeared, and now and again +the lordly deer stepping daintily and leisurely through the deep fern; +all these lived in the wonderful depths of Craythew Park, and of birds +there was no end. There were game birds and song birds, from the +handsome pheasants to the modest little partridges, the royalists and +the puritans of the woods, from the love-lorn wood-pigeon, cooing in +the tall firs, to the thrush and the blackbird, making long hops as +they quartered the ground for grubs; and the robin, the linnet, and +little Jenny Wren all lived there in riotous plenty of worms and +snails; and nearer to the great house the starlings and jackdaws shot +down in a great hurry from the holes in old trees where they had their +nests, and many of them came rushing from their headquarters in the +ruined tower by the stream to waddle about the open lawns in their +ungainly fashion, vain because they were not like swallows, but could +really walk when they chose, though they did it rather badly. And +where the woods ended they were lined with rhododendrons, and lilacs, +and laburnum. There are even bigger parks in England than Craythew, +but there is none more beautiful, none richer in all sweet and good +things that live, none more musical with song of birds, not one that +more deeply breathes the world's oldest poetry. + +Lady Maud went out on foot that afternoon and met Van Torp in the +drive, half a mile from the house. He came in his motor car with Miss +More and Ida, who was to go back after tea. It was by no means the +first time that they had been at Craythew; the little girl loved +nature, and understood by intuition much that would have escaped a +normal child. It was her greatest delight to come over in the motor +and spend two or three hours in the park, and when none of the family +were in the country she was always free to come and go, with Miss +More, as she pleased. + +Lady Maud kissed her kindly and shook hands with her teacher before +the car went on to leave Mr. Van Torp's things at the house. Then the +two walked slowly along the road, and neither spoke for some time, nor +looked at the other, but both kept their eyes on the ground before +them, as if expecting something. + +Mr. Van Torp's hands were in his pockets, his soft straw hat was +pushed rather far back on his sandy head, and as he walked he breathed +an American tune between his teeth, raising one side of his upper lip +to let the faint sound pass freely without turning itself into a real +whistle. It is rather a Yankee trick, and is particularly offensive to +some people, but Lady Maud did not mind it at all, though she heard it +distinctly. It always meant that Mr. Van Torp was in deep thought, and +she guessed that, just then, he was thinking more about her than of +himself. In his pocket he held in his right hand a small envelope +which he meant to bring out presently and give to her, where nobody +would be likely to see them. + +Presently, when the motor had turned to the left, far up the long +drive, he raised his eyes and looked about him. He had the sight of a +man who has lived in the wilderness, and not only sees, but knows how +to see, which is a very different thing. Having satisfied himself, he +withdrew the envelope and held it out to his companion. + +'I thought you might just as well have some more money,' he said, 'so +I brought you some. I may want to sail any minute. I don't know. Yes, +you'd better take it.' + +Lady Maud had looked up quickly and had hesitated to receive the +envelope, but when he finished speaking she took it quickly and +slipped it into the opening of her long glove, pushing it down till +it lay in the palm of her hand. She fastened the buttons before she +spoke. + +'How thoughtful you always are for me!' + +She unconsciously used the very words with which she had thanked him +in Hare Court the last time he had given her money. The tone told him +how deeply grateful she was. + +'Well,' he said in answer, 'as far as that goes, it's for you +yourself, as much as if I didn't know where it went; and if I'm +obliged to sail suddenly I don't want you to be out of your +reckoning.' + +'You're much too good, Rufus. Do you really mean that you may have to +go back at once, to defend yourself?' + +'No, not exactly that. But business is business, and somebody +responsible has got to be there, since poor old Bamberger has gone +crazy and come abroad to stay--apparently.' + +'Crazy?' + +'Well, he behaves like it, anyway. I'm beginning to be sorry for that +man. I'm in earnest. You mayn't believe it, but I really am. Kind of +unnatural, isn't it, for me to be sorry for people?' + +He looked steadily at Lady Maud for a moment, then smiled faintly, +looked away, and began to blow his little tune through his teeth +again. + +'You were sorry for little Ida,' suggested Lady Maud. + +'That's different. I--I liked her mother a good deal, and when the +child was turned adrift I sort of looked after her. Anybody'd do that, +I expect.' + +'And you're sorry for me, in a way,' said Lady Maud. + +'You're different, too. You're my friend. I suppose you're about the +only one I've got, too. We can't complain of being crowded out of +doors by our friends, either of us, can we? Besides, I shouldn't put +it in that way, or call it being sorry, exactly. It's another kind of +feeling I have. I'd like to undo your life and make it over again for +you, the right way, so that you'd be happy. I can do a great deal, but +all the cursed nickel in the world won't bring back the--' he checked +himself suddenly, shutting his hard lips with an audible clack, and +looking down. 'I beg your pardon, my dear,' he said in a low voice, a +moment later. + +For he had been very near to speaking of the dead, and he felt +instinctively that the rough speech, however kindly meant, would have +pained her, and perhaps had already hurt her a little. But as she +looked down, too, her hand gently touched the sleeve of his coat to +tell him that there was nothing to forgive. + +'He knows,' she said, more softly than sadly. 'Where he is, they know +about us--when we try to do right.' + +'And you haven't only tried,' Van Torp answered quietly, 'you've done +it.' + +'Have I?' It sounded as if she asked the question of herself, or of +some one to whom she appealed in her heart. 'I often wonder,' she +added thoughtfully. + +'You needn't worry,' said her companion, more cheerily than he had yet +spoken. 'Do you want to know why I think you needn't fuss about your +conscience and your soul, and things?' + +He smiled now, and so did she, but more at the words he used than at +the question itself. + +'Yes,' she said. 'I should like to know why.' + +'It's a pretty good sign for a lady's soul when a lot of poor +creatures bless her every minute of their lives for fishing them out +of the mud and landing them in a decent life. Come, isn't it now? You +know it is. That's all. No further argument's necessary. The jury is +satisfied and the verdict is that you needn't fuss. So that's that, +and let's talk about something else.' + +'I'm not so sure,' Lady Maud answered. 'Is it right to bribe people to +do right? Sometimes it has seemed very like that!' + +'I don't set up to be an expert in morality,' retorted Van Torp, 'but +if money, properly used, can prevent murder, I guess that's better +than letting the murder be committed. You must allow that. The +same way with other crimes, isn't it? And so on, down to mere +misdemeanours, till you come to ordinary morality. Now what have you +got to say? If it isn't much better for the people themselves to lead +decent lives just for money's sake, it's certainly much better +for everybody else that they should. That appears to me to be +unanswerable. You didn't start in with the idea of making those poor +things just like you, I suppose. You can't train a cart-horse to win +the Derby. Yet all their nonsense about equality rests on the theory +that you can. You can't make a good judge out of a criminal, no +matter how the criminal repents of his crimes. He's not been born the +intellectual equal of the man who's born to judge him. His mind is +biassed. Perhaps he's a degenerate--everything one isn't oneself is +called degenerate nowadays. It helps things, I suppose. And you can't +expect to collect a lot of poor wretches together and manufacture +first-class Magdalens out of ninety-nine per cent of them, because +you're the one that needs no repentance, can you? I forget whether the +Bible says it was ninety-nine who did or ninety-nine who didn't, +but you'll understand my drift, I daresay. It's logic, if it isn't +Scripture. All right. As long as you can stop the evil, without doing +wrong yourself, you're bringing about a good result. So don't fuss. +See?' + +'Yes, I see!' Lady Maud smiled. 'But it's your money that does it!' + +'That's nothing,' Van Torp said, as if he disliked the subject. + +He changed it effectually by speaking of his own present intentions +and explaining to his friend what he meant to do. + +His point of view seemed to be that Bamberger was quite mad since his +daughter's death, and had built up a sensational but clumsy case, with +the help of the man Feist, whose evidence, as a confirmed dipsomaniac, +would be all but worthless. It was possible, Van Torp said, that Miss +Bamberger had been killed; in fact, Griggs' evidence alone would +almost prove it. But the chances were a thousand to one that she had +been killed by a maniac. Such murders were not so uncommon as Lady +Maud might think. The police in all countries know how many cases +occur which can be explained only on that theory, and how diabolically +ingenious madmen are in covering their tracks. + +Lady Maud believed all he told her, and had perfect faith in his +innocence, but she knew instinctively that he was not telling her all; +and the certainty that he was keeping back something made her nervous. + +In due time the other guests came; each in turn met Mr. Van Torp soon +after arriving, if not at the moment when they entered the house; and +they shook hands with him, and almost all knew why he was there, but +those who did not were soon told by the others. + +The fact of having been asked to a country house for the express +purpose of being shown by ocular demonstration that something is 'all +right' which has been very generally said or thought to be all wrong, +does not generally contribute to the light-heartedness of such +parties. Moreover, the very young element was hardly represented, and +there was a dearth of those sprightly boys and girls who think it the +acme of delicate wit to shut up an aunt in the ice-box and throw the +billiard-table out of the window. Neither Lady Maud nor her father +liked what Mr. Van Torp called a 'circus'; and besides, the modern +youths and maids who delight in practical jokes were not the people +whose good opinion about the millionaire it was desired to obtain, or +to strengthen, as the case might be. The guests, far from being what +Lady Maud's brothers called a menagerie, were for the most part of the +graver sort whose approval weighs in proportion as they are themselves +social heavyweights. There was the Leader of the House, there were +a couple of members of the Cabinet, there was the Master of the +Foxhounds, there was the bishop of the diocese, and there was one of +the big Derbyshire landowners; there was an ex-governor-general +of something, an ex-ambassador to the United States, and a famous +general; there was a Hebrew financier of London, and Logotheti, the +Greek financier from Paris, who were regarded as colleagues of Van +Torp, the American financier; there was the scientific peer who had +dined at the Turkish Embassy with Lady Maud, there was the peer whose +horse had just won the Derby, and there was the peer who knew German +and was looked upon as the coming man in the Upper House. Many had +their wives with them, and some had lost their wives or could not +bring them; but very few were looking for a wife, and there were no +young women looking for husbands, since the Señorita da Cordova was +apparently not to be reckoned with those. + +Now at this stage of my story it would be unpardonable to keep my +readers in suspense, if I may suppose that any of them have a little +curiosity left. Therefore I shall not narrate in detail what happened +on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, seeing that it was just what might +have been expected to happen at a week-end party during the season +when there is nothing in the world to do but to play golf, tennis, or +croquet, or to ride or drive all day, and to work hard at bridge all +the evening; for that is what it has come to. + +Everything went very well till Sunday night, and most of the people +formed a much better opinion of Mr. Van Torp than those who had lately +read about him in the newspapers might have thought possible. The +Cabinet Ministers talked politics with him and found him sound--for +an American; the M.F.H. saw him ride, and felt for him exactly the +sympathy which a Don Cossack, a cowboy, and a Bedouin might feel for +each other if they met on horseback, and which needs no expression in +words; and the three distinguished peers liked him at once, because he +was not at all impressed by their social greatness, but was very +much interested in what they had to say respectively about science, +horse-breeding, and Herr Bebel. The great London financier, and he, +and Monsieur Logotheti exchanged casual remarks which all the men who +were interested in politics referred to mysterious loans that must +affect the armaments of the combined powers and the peace of Europe. + +Mr. Van Torp kept away from the Primadonna, and she watched him +curiously, a good deal surprised to see that most of the others +liked him better than she had expected. She was rather agreeably +disappointed, too, at the reception she herself met with Lord +Creedmore spoke of her only as 'Miss Donne, the daughter of his oldest +friend,' and every one treated her accordingly. No one even mentioned +her profession, and possibly some of the guests did not quite realise +that she was the famous Cordova. Lady Maud never suggested that she +should sing, and Lord Creedmore detested music. The old piano in the +long drawing-room was hardly ever opened. It had been placed there in +Victorian days when 'a little music' was the rule, and since the happy +abolition of that form of terror it had been left where it stood, and +was tuned once a year, in case anybody should want a dance when there +were young people in the house. + +A girl might as well master the Assyrian language in order to compose +hymns to Tiglath-Pileser as learn to play the piano nowadays, but +bridge is played at children's parties; let us not speak ill of the +Bridge that has carried us over. + +Margaret was not out of her element; on the contrary, she at first +had the sensation of finding herself amongst rather grave and not +uncongenial English people, not so very different from those with whom +she had spent her early girlhood at Oxford. It was not strange to her, +but it was no longer familiar, and she missed the surroundings to +which she had grown accustomed. Hitherto, when she had been asked to +join such parties, there had been at least a few of those persons +who are supposed to delight especially in the society of sopranos, +actresses, and lionesses generally; but none of them were at Craythew. +She was suddenly transported back into regions where nobody seemed to +care a straw whether she could sing or not, where nobody flattered +her, and no one suggested that it would be amusing and instructive +to make a trip to Spain together, or that a charming little kiosk +at Therapia was at her disposal whenever she chose to visit the +Bosphorus. + +There was only Logotheti to remind her of her everyday life, +for Griggs did not do so at all; he belonged much more to the +'atmosphere,' and though she knew that he had loved in his youth a +woman who had a beautiful voice, he understood nothing of music and +never talked about it. As for Lady Maud, Margaret saw much less of her +than she had expected; the hostess was manifestly preoccupied, and +was, moreover, obliged to give more of her time to her guests than +would have been necessary if they had been of the younger generation +or if the season had been winter. + +Margaret noticed in herself a new phase of change with regard to +Logotheti, and she did not like it at all: he had become necessary to +her, and yet she was secretly a little ashamed of him. In that temple +of respectability where she found herself, in such 'a cloister of +social pillars' as Logotheti called the party, he was a discordant +figure. She was haunted by a painful doubt that if he had not been a +very important financier some of those quiet middle-aged Englishmen +might have thought him a 'bounder,' because of his ruby pin, his +summer-lightning waistcoats, and his almond-shaped eyes. It was very +unpleasant to be so strongly drawn to a man whom such people probably +thought a trifle 'off.' + +It irritated her to be obliged to admit that the London financier, who +was a professed and professing Hebrew, was in appearance an English +gentleman, whereas Konstantinos Logotheti, with a pedigree of +Christian and not unpersecuted Fanariote ancestors, that went back to +Byzantine times without the least suspicion of any Semitic marriage, +might have been taken for a Jew in Lombard Street, and certainly would +have been thought one in Berlin. A man whose eyes suggested dark +almonds need not cover himself with jewellery and adorn himself +in naming colours, Margaret thought; and she resented his way of +dressing, much more than ever before. Lady Maud had called him exotic, +and Margaret could not forget that. By 'exotic' she was sure that her +friend meant something like vulgar, though Lady Maud said she liked +him. + +But the events that happened at Craythew on Sunday evening threw such +insignificant details as these into the shade, and brought out the +true character of the chief actors, amongst whom Margaret very +unexpectedly found herself. + +It was late in the afternoon after a really cloudless June day, and +she had been for a long ramble in the park with Lord Creedmore, who +had talked to her about her father and the old Oxford days, till all +her present life seemed to be a mere dream; and she could not realise, +as she went up to her room, that she was to go back to London on +the morrow, to the theatre, to rehearsals, to Pompeo Stromboli, +Schreiermeyer, and the public. + +She met Logotheti in the gallery that ran round two sides of the hall, +and they both stopped and leaned over the balustrade to talk a little. + +'It has been very pleasant,' she said thoughtfully. 'I'm sorry it's +over so soon.' + +'Whenever you are inclined to lead this sort of life,' Logotheti +answered with a laugh, 'you need only drop me a line. You shall have +a beautiful old house and a big park and a perfect colonnade of +respectabilities--and I'll promise not to be a bore.' + +Margaret looked at him earnestly for some seconds, and then asked a +very unexpected and frivolous question, because she simply could not +help it. + +'Where did you get that tie?' + +The question was strongly emphasised, for it meant much more to her +just then than he could possibly have guessed; perhaps it meant +something which was affecting her whole life. He laughed carelessly. + +'It's better to dress like Solomon in all his glory than to be taken +for a Levantine gambler,' he answered. 'In the days when I was +simple-minded, a foreigner in a fur coat and an eyeglass once stopped +me in the Boulevard des Italiens and asked if I could give him the +address of any house where a roulette-table was kept! After that I +took to jewels and dress!' + +Margaret wondered why she could not help liking him; and by sheer +force of habit she thought that he would make a very good-looking +stage Romeo. + +While she was thinking of that and smiling in spite of his tie, the +old clock in the hall below chimed the hour, and it was a quarter to +seven; and at the same moment three men were getting out of a train +that had stopped at the Craythew station, three miles from Lord +Creedmore's gate. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +The daylight dinner was over, and the large party was more or less +scattered about the drawing-room and the adjoining picture-gallery +in groups of three and four, mostly standing while they drank their +coffee, and continued or finished the talk begun at table. + +By force of habit Margaret had stopped beside the closed piano, and +had seated herself on the old-fashioned stool to have her coffee. Lady +Maud stood beside her, leaning against the corner of the instrument, +her cup in her hand, and the two young women exchanged rather idle +observations about the lovely day that was over, and the perfect +weather. Both were preoccupied and they did not look at each other; +Margaret's eyes watched Logotheti, who was half-way down the long +room, before a portrait by Sir Peter Lely, of which he was apparently +pointing out the beauties to the elderly wife of the scientific peer. +Lady Maud was looking out at the light in the sunset sky above the +trees beyond the flower-beds and the great lawn, for the piano stood +near an open window. From time to time she turned her head quickly +and glanced towards Van Torp, who was talking with her father at some +distance; then she looked out of the window again. + +It was a warm evening; in the dusk of the big rooms the hum of voices +was low and pleasant, broken only now and then by Van Torp's more +strident tone. Outside it was still light, and the starlings and +blackbirds and thrushes were finishing their supper, picking up the +unwary worms and the tardy little snails, and making a good deal of +sweet noise about it. + +Margaret set down her cup on the lid of the piano, and at the slight +sound Lady Maud turned towards her, so that their eyes met. Each +noticed the other's expression. + +'What is it?' asked Lady Maud, with a little smile of friendly +concern. 'Is anything wrong?' + +'No--that is--' Margaret smiled too, as she hesitated--'I was going to +ask you the same question,' she added quickly. + +'It's nothing more than usual,' returned her friend. 'I think it +has gone very well, don't you, these three days? He has made a good +impression on everybody--don't you think so?' + +'Oh yes!' Margaret answered readily. 'Excellent! Could not be better! +I confess to being surprised, just a little--I mean,' she corrected +herself hastily, 'after all the talk there has been, it might not have +turned out so easy.' + +'Don't you feel a little less prejudiced against him yourself?' asked +Lady Maud. + +'Prejudiced!' Margaret repeated the word thoughtfully. 'Yes, I suppose +I'm prejudiced against him. That's the only word. Perhaps it's hateful +of me, but I cannot help it--and I wish you wouldn't make me own it to +you, for it's humiliating! I'd like him, if I could, for your sake. +But you must take the wish for the deed.' + +'That's better than nothing!' Lady Maud seemed to be trying to laugh +a little, but it was with an effort and there was no ripple in her +voice. 'You have something on your mind, too,' she went on, to change +the subject. 'Is anything troubling you?' + +'Only the same old question. It's not worth mentioning!' + +'To marry, or not to marry?' + +'Yes. I suppose I shall take the leap some day, and probably in the +dark, and then I shall be sorry for it. Most of you have!' + +She looked up at Lady Maud with a rather uncertain, flickering smile, +as if she wished her mind to be made up for her, and her hands lay +weakly in her lap, the palms almost upwards. + +'Oh, don't ask me!' cried her friend, answering the look rather than +the words, and speaking with something approaching to vehemence. + +'Do you wish you had waited for the other one till now?' asked +Margaret softly, but she did not know that he had been killed in South +Africa; she had never seen the shabby little photograph. + +'Yes--for ever!' + +That was all Lady Maud said, and the two words were not uttered +dramatically either, though gravely and without the least doubt. + +The butler and two men appeared, to collect the coffee cups; the +former had a small salver in his hand and came directly to Lady Maud. +He brought a telegram for her. + +'You don't mind, do you?' she asked Margaret mechanically, as she +opened it. + +'Of course,' answered the other in the same tone, and she looked +through the open window while her friend read the message. + +It was from the Embassy in London, and it informed her in the briefest +terms that Count Leven had been killed in St. Petersburg on the +previous day, in the street, by a bomb intended for a high official. +Lady Maud made no sound, but folded the telegram into a small square +and turned her back to the room for a moment in order to slip it +unnoticed into the body of her black velvet gown. As she recovered her +former attitude she was surprised to see that the butler was still +standing two steps from her where he had stopped after he had taken +the cups from the piano and set them on the small salver on which he +had brought the message. He evidently wanted to say something to her +alone. + +Lady Maud moved away from the piano, and he followed her a little +beyond the window, till she stopped and turned to hear what he had to +say. + +'There are three persons asking for Mr. Van Torp, my lady,' he said +in a very low tone, and she noticed the disturbed look in his face. +'They've got a motor-car waiting in the avenue.' + +'What sort of people are they?' she asked quietly; but she felt that +she was pale. + +'To tell the truth, my lady,' the butler spoke in a whisper, bending +his head, 'I think they are from Scotland Yard.' + +Lady Maud knew it already; she had almost guessed it when she had +glanced at his face before he spoke at all. + +'Show them into the old study,' she said, 'and ask them to wait a +moment.' + +The butler went away with his two coffee cups, and scarcely any one +had noticed that Lady Maud had exchanged a few words with him by the +window. She turned back to the piano, where Margaret was still sitting +on the stool with her hands in her lap, looking at Logotheti in the +distance and wondering whether she meant to marry him or not. + +'No bad news, I hope?' asked the singer, looking up as her friend came +to her side. + +'Not very good,' Lady Maud answered, leaning her elbow on the piano. +'Should you mind singing something to keep the party together while +I talk to some tiresome men who are in the old study? On these June +evenings people have a way of wandering out into the garden after +dinner. I should like to keep every one in the house for a quarter +of an hour, and if you will only sing for them they won't stir. Will +you?' + +Margaret looked at her curiously. + +'I think I understand,' Margaret said. 'The people in the study are +asking for Mr. Van Torp.' + +Lady Maud nodded, not surprised that Logotheti should have told the +Primadonna something about what he had been doing. + +'Then you believe he is innocent,' she said confidently. 'Even though +you don't like him, you'll help me, won't you?' + +'I'll do anything you ask me. But I should think--' + +'No,' Lady Maud interrupted. 'He must not be arrested at all. I know +that he would rather face the detectives than run away, even for a +few hours, till the truth is known. But I won't let him. It would +be published all over the world to-morrow morning that he had been +arrested for murder in my father's house, and it would never be +forgotten against him, though he might be proved innocent ten times +over. That's what I want to prevent. Will you help me?' + +As she spoke the last words she raised the front lid of the piano, +and Margaret turned on her seat towards the instrument to open the +keyboard, nodding her assent. + +'Just play a little, till I am out of the room, and then sing,' said +Lady Maud. + +The great artist's fingers felt the keys as her friend turned away. +Anything theatrical was natural to her now, and she began to play very +softly, watching the moving figure in black velvet as she would have +watched a fellow singer on the stage while waiting to go on. + +Lady Maud did not speak to Van Torp first, but to Griggs, and then to +Logotheti, and the two men slipped away together and disappeared. Then +she came back to Van Torp, smiling pleasantly. He was still talking +with Lord Creedmore, but the latter, at a word from his daughter, went +off to the elderly peeress whom Logotheti had abruptly left alone +before the portrait. + +Margaret did not hear what Lady Maud said to the American, but it was +evidently not yet a warning, for her smile did not falter, and he +looked pleased as he came back with her, and they passed near the +piano to go out through the open window upon the broad flagged terrace +that separated the house from the flower-beds. + +The Primadonna played a little louder now, so that every one heard the +chords, even in the picture-gallery, and a good many men were rather +bored at the prospect of music. + +Then the Señorita da Cordova raised her head and looked over the grand +piano, and her lips parted, and boredom vanished very suddenly; for +even those who did not take much pleasure in the music were amazed by +the mere sound of her voice and by its incredible flexibility. + +She meant to astonish her hearers and keep them quiet, and she knew +what to sing to gain her end, and how to sing it. Those who have not +forgotten the story of her beginnings will remember that she was a +thorough musician as well as a great singer, and was one of those +very few primadonnas who are able to accompany themselves from memory +without a false note through any great piece they know, from _Lucia_ +to _Parsifal_. + +She began with the waltz song in the first act of _Romeo and Juliet_. +It was the piece that had revealed her talent to Madame Bonanni, who +had accidentally overheard her singing to herself, and it suited her +purpose admirably. Such fireworks could not fail to astound, even if +they did not please, and half the full volume of her voice was more +than enough for the long drawing-room, into which the whole party +gathered almost as soon as she began to sing. Such trifles as having +just dined, or having just waked up in the morning, have little +influence on the few great natural voices of the world, which begin +with twice the power and beauty that the 'built-up' ones acquire in +years of study. Ordinary people go to a concert, to the opera, to a +circus, to university sports, and hear and see things that interest or +charm, or sometimes surprise them; but they are very much amazed if +they ever happen to find out in private life what a really great +professional of any sort can do at a pinch, if put to it by any strong +motive. If it had been necessary, Margaret could have sung to the +party in the drawing-room at Craythew for an hour at a stretch with no +more rest than her accompaniments afforded. + +Her hearers were the more delighted because it was so spontaneous, and +there was not the least affectation about it. During these days no one +had even suggested that she should make music, or be anything except +the 'daughter of Lord Creedmore's old friend.' But now, apparently, +she had sat down to the piano to give them all a concert, for the +sheer pleasure of singing, and they were not only pleased with her, +but with themselves; for the public, and especially audiences, are +more easily flattered by a great artist who chooses to treat his +hearers as worthy of his best, than the artist himself is by the +applause he hears for the thousandth time. + +So the Señorita da Cordova held the party at Craythew spellbound while +other things were happening very near them which would have interested +them much more than her trills, and her 'mordentini,' and her soaring +runs, and the high staccato notes that rang down from the ceiling as +if some astounding and invisible instrument were up there, supported +by an unseen force. + +Meanwhile Paul Griggs and Logotheti had stopped a moment in the first +of the rooms that contained the library, on their way to the old study +beyond. + +It was almost dark amongst the huge oak bookcases, and both men +stopped at the same moment by a common instinct, to agree quickly upon +some plan of action. They had led adventurous lives, and were not +likely to stick at trifles, if they believed themselves to be in +the right; but if they had left the drawing-room with the distinct +expectation of anything like a fight, they would certainly not have +stopped to waste their time in talking. + +The Greek spoke first. + +'Perhaps you had better let me do the talking,' he said. + +'By all means,' answered Griggs. 'I am not good at that. I'll keep +quiet, unless we have to handle them.' + +'All right, and if you have any trouble I'll join in and help you. +Just set your back against the door if they try to get out while I am +speaking.' + +'Yes.' + +That was all, and they went on in the gathering gloom, through the +three rooms of the library, to the door of the old study, from which a +short winding staircase led up to the two small rooms which Griggs was +occupying. + +Three quiet men in dark clothes were standing together in the +twilight, in the bay window at the other side of the room, and they +moved and turned their heads quickly as the door opened. Logotheti +went up to them, while Griggs remained near the door, looking on. + +'What can I do for you?' inquired the Greek, with much urbanity. + +'We wished to speak with Mr. Van Torp, who is stopping here,' answered +the one of the three men who stood farthest forward. + +'Oh yes, yes!' said Logotheti at once, as if assenting. 'Certainly! +Lady Maud Leven, Lord Creedmore's daughter--Lady Creedmore is away, +you know--has asked us to inquire just what you want of Mr. Van Torp.' + +'It's a personal matter,' replied the spokesman. 'I will explain it to +him, if you will kindly ask him to come here a moment.' + +Logotheti smiled pleasantly. + +'Quite so,' he said. 'You are, no doubt, reporters, and wish to +interview him. As a personal friend of his, and between you and me, +I don't think he'll see you. You had better write and ask for an +appointment. Don't you think so, Griggs?' + +The author's large, grave features relaxed in a smile of amusement as +he nodded his approval of the plan. + +'We do not represent the press,' answered the man. + +'Ah! Indeed? How very odd! But of course--' Logotheti pretended to +understand suddenly--'how stupid of me! No doubt you are from the +bank. Am I not right?' + +'No. You are mistaken. We are not from Threadneedle Street.' + +'Well, then, unless you will enlighten me, I really cannot imagine who +you are or where you come from!' + +'We wish to speak in private with Mr. Van Torp.' + +'In private, too?' Logotheti shook his head, and turned to Griggs. +'Really, this looks rather suspicious; don't you think so?' + +Griggs said nothing, but the smile became a broad grin. + +The spokesman, on his side, turned to his two companions and +whispered, evidently consulting them as to the course he should +pursue. + +'Especially after the warning Lord Creedmore has received,' said +Logotheti to Griggs in a very audible tone, as if explaining his last +speech. + +The man turned to him again and spoke in a gravely determined tone-- + +'I must really insist upon seeing Mr. Van Torp immediately,' he said. + +'Yes, yes, I quite understand you,' answered Logotheti, looking at him +with a rather pitying smile, and then turning to Griggs again, as if +for advice. + +The elder man was much amused by the ease with which the Greek had so +far put off the unwelcome visitors and gained time; but he saw that +the scene must soon come to a crisis, and prepared for action, keeping +his eye on the three, in case they should make a dash at the door that +communicated with the rest of the house. + +During the two or three seconds that followed, Logotheti reviewed the +situation. It would be an easy matter to trick the three men into the +short winding staircase that led up to the rooms Griggs occupied, and +if the upper and lower doors were locked and barricaded, the prisoners +could not forcibly get out. But it was certain that the leader of the +party had a warrant about him, and this must be taken from him before +locking him up, and without any acknowledgment of its validity; for +even the lawless Greek was aware that it was not good to interfere +with officers of the law in the execution of their duty. If there had +been more time he might have devised some better means of attaining +his end than occurred to him just then. + +'They must be the lunatics,' he said to Griggs, with the utmost calm. + +The spokesman started and stared, and his jaw dropped. For a moment he +could not speak. + +'You know Lord Creedmore was warned this morning that a number had +escaped from the county asylum,' continued Logotheti, still speaking +to Griggs, and pretending to lower his voice. + +'Lunatics?' roared the man when he got his breath, exasperated out of +his civil manner. 'Lunatics, sir? We are from Scotland Yard, sir, I'd +have you know!' + +'Yes, yes,' answered the Greek, 'we quite understand. Humour them, +my dear chap,' he added in an undertone that was meant to be heard. +'Yes,' he continued in a cajoling tone, 'I guessed at once that +you were from police headquarters. If you'll kindly show me your +warrant--' + +He stopped politely, and nudged Griggs with his elbow, so that the +detectives should be sure to see the movement. The chief saw the +awkwardness of his own position, measured the bony veteran and the +athletic foreigner with his eye, and judged that if the two were +convinced that they were dealing with madmen they would make a pretty +good fight. + +'Excuse me,' the officer said, speaking calmly, 'but you are under a +gross misapprehension about us. This paper will remove it at once, I +trust, and you will not hinder us in the performance of an unpleasant +duty.' + +He produced an official envelope, handed it to Logotheti, and waited +for the result. + +It was unexpected when it came. Logotheti took the paper, and as it +was now almost dark he looked about for the key of the electric +light. Griggs was now close to him by the door through which they had +entered, and behind which the knob was placed. + +'If I can get them upstairs, lock and barricade the lower door,' +whispered the Greek as he turned up the light. + +He took the paper under a bracket light on the other side of the room, +beside the door of the winding stair, and began to read. + +His face was a study, and Griggs watched it, wondering what was +coming. As Logotheti read and reread the few short sentences, he was +apparently seized by a fit of mirth which he struggled in vain to +repress, and which soon broke out into uncontrollable laughter. + +'The cleverest trick you ever saw!' he managed to get out between his +paroxysms. + +It was so well done that the detective was seriously embarrassed; but +after a moment's hesitation he judged that he ought to get his warrant +back at all hazards, and he moved towards Logotheti with a menacing +expression. + +But the Greek, pretending to be afraid that the supposed lunatic was +going to attack him, uttered an admirable yell of fear, opened the +door close at his hand, rushed through, slammed it behind him, and +fled up the dark stairs. + +The detective lost no time, and followed in hot pursuit, his two +companions tearing up after him into the darkness. Then Griggs quietly +turned the key in the lock, for he was sure that Logotheti had +reached the top in time to fasten the upper door, and must be +already barricading it. Griggs proceeded to do the same, quietly and +systematically, and the great strength he had not yet lost served him +well, for the furniture in the room was heavy. In a couple of minutes +it would have needed sledge-hammers and crowbars to break out by the +lower entrance, even if the lock had not been a solid one. + +Griggs then turned out the lights, and went quietly back through the +library to the other part of the house to find Lady Maud. + +Logotheti, having meanwhile made the upper door perfectly secure, +descended by the open staircase to the hall, and sent the first +footman he met to call the butler, with whom he said he wished to +speak. The butler came at once. + +'Lady Maud asked me to see those three men,' said Logotheti in a low +tone. 'Mr. Griggs and I are convinced that they are lunatics escaped +from the asylum, and we have locked them up securely in the staircase +beyond the study.' + +'Yes, sir,' said the butler, as if Logotheti had been explaining how +he wished his shoe-leather to be treated. + +'I think you had better telephone for the doctor, and explain +everything to him over the wire without speaking to Lord Creedmore +just yet.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'How long will it take the doctor to get here?' + +'Perhaps an hour, sir, if he's at home. Couldn't say precisely, sir.' + +'Very good. There is no hurry; and of course her ladyship will be +particularly anxious that none of her friends should guess what has +happened; you see there would be a general panic if it were known that +there are escaped lunatics in the house.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Perhaps you had better take a couple of men you can trust, and pile +up some more furniture against the doors, above and below. One cannot +be too much on the safe side in such cases.' + +'Yes, sir. I'll do it at once, sir.' + +Logotheti strolled back towards the gallery in a very unconcerned way. +As for the warrant, he had burnt it in the empty fireplace in Griggs' +room after making all secure, and had dusted down the black ashes so +carefully that they had quite disappeared under the grate. After all, +as the doctor would arrive in the firm expectation of finding three +escaped madmen under lock and key, the Scotland Yard men might +have some difficulty in proving themselves sane until they could +communicate with their headquarters, and by that time Mr. Van Torp +could be far on his way if he chose. + +When Logotheti reached the door of the drawing-room, Margaret was +finishing Rosina's Cavatina from the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ in a +perfect storm of fireworks, having transposed the whole piece two +notes higher to suit her own voice, for it was originally written for +a mezzo-soprano. + +Lady Maud and Van Torp had gone out upon the terrace unnoticed a +moment before Margaret had begun to sing. The evening was still and +cloudless, and presently the purple twilight would pale under the +summer moon, and the garden and the lawns would be once more as bright +as day. The friends walked quickly, for Lady Maud set the pace and led +Van Torp toward the trees, where the stables stood, quite hidden from +the house. As soon as she reached the shade she stood still and spoke +in a low voice. + +'You have waited too long,' she said. 'Three men have come to arrest +you, and their motor is over there in the avenue.' + +'Where are they?' inquired the American, evidently not at all +disturbed. 'I'll see them at once, please.' + +'And give yourself up?' + +'I don't care.' + +'Here?' + +'Why not? Do you suppose I am going to run away? A man who gets out in +a hurry doesn't usually look innocent, does he?' + +Lady Maud asserted herself. + +'You must think of me and of my father,' she said in a tone of +authority Van Torp had never heard from her. 'I know you're as +innocent as I am, but after all that has been said and written about +you, and about you and me together, it's quite impossible that you +should let yourself be arrested in our house, in the midst of a party +that has been asked here expressly to be convinced that my father +approves of you. Do you see that?' + +'Well--' Mr. Van Torp hesitated, with his thumbs in his waistcoat +pockets. + +Across the lawn, from the open window, Margaret's voice rang out like +a score of nightingales in unison. + +'There's no time to discuss it,' Lady Maud said. 'I asked her to sing, +so as to keep the people together. Before she has finished, you must +be out of reach.' + +Mr. Van Torp smiled. 'You're remarkably positive about it,' he said. + +'You must get to town before the Scotland Yard people, and I don't +know how much start they will give you. It depends on how long Mr. +Griggs and Logotheti can keep them in the old study. It will be neck +and neck, I fancy. I'll go with you to the stables. You must ride to +your own place as hard as you can, and go up to London in your +car to-night. The roads are pretty clear on Sundays, and there's +moonlight, so you will have no trouble. It will be easy to say here +that you have been called away suddenly. Come, you must go!' + +Lady Maud moved towards the stables, and Van Torp was obliged to +follow her. Far away Margaret was singing the last bars of the waltz +song. + +'I must say,' observed Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully, as they walked on, +'for a lady who's generally what I call quite feminine, you make a man +sit up pretty quick.' + +'It's not exactly the time to choose for loafing,' answered Lady Maud. +'By the bye,' she added, 'you may as well know. Poor Leven is dead. I +had a telegram a few minutes ago. He was killed yesterday by a bomb +meant for somebody else.' + +Van Torp stood still, and Lady Maud stopped with evident reluctance. + +'And there are people who don't believe in Providence,' he said +slowly. 'Well, I congratulate you anyway.' + +'Hush, the poor man is dead. We needn't talk about him. Come, there's +no time to lose!' She moved impatiently. + +'So you're a widow!' Van Torp seemed to be making the remark to +himself without expecting any answer, but it at once suggested a +question. 'And now what do you propose to do?' he inquired. 'But I +expect you'll be a nun, or something. I'd like you to arrange so that +I can see you sometimes, will you?' + +'I'm not going to disappear yet,' Lady Maud answered gravely. + +They reached the stables, which occupied three sides of a square yard. +At that hour the two grooms and the stable-boy were at their supper, +and the coachman had gone home to his cottage. A big brown retriever +on a chain was sitting bolt upright beside his kennel, and began to +thump the flagstones with his tail as soon as he recognised Lady Maud. +From within a fox-terrier barked two or three times. Lady Maud opened +a door, and he sprang out at her yapping, but was quiet as soon as he +knew her. + +'You'd better take the Lancashire Lass,' she said to Van Torp. 'You're +heavier than my father, but it's not far to ride, and she's a clever +creature.' + +She had turned up the electric light while speaking, for it was dark +inside the stable; she got a bridle, went into the box herself, and +slipped it over the mare's pretty head. Van Torp saw that it was +useless to offer help. + +'Don't bother about a saddle,' he said; 'it's a waste of time.' + +He touched the mare's face and lips with his hand, and she understood +him, and let him lead her out. He vaulted upon her back, and Lady Maud +walked beside him till they were outside the yard. + +'If you had a high hat it would look like the circus,' she said, +glancing at his evening dress. 'Now get away! I'll be in town on +Tuesday; let me know what happens. Good-bye! Be sure to let me know.' + +'Yes. Don't worry. I'm only going because you insist, anyhow. +Good-bye. God bless you!' + +He waved his hand, the mare sprang forward, and in a few seconds he +was out of sight amongst the trees. Lady Maud listened to the regular +sound of the galloping hoofs on the turf, and at the same time from +very far off she heard Margaret's high trills and quick staccato +notes. At that moment the moon was rising through the late twilight, +and a nightingale high overhead, no doubt judging her little self to +be quite as great a musician as the famous Cordova, suddenly began +a very wonderful piece of her own, just half a tone higher than +Margaret's, which might have distressed a sensitive musician, but did +not jar in the least on Lady Maud's ear. + +Now that she had sent Van Torp on his way, she would gladly have +walked alone in the park for half an hour to collect her thoughts; but +people who live in the world are rarely allowed any pleasant leisure +when they need it, and many of the most dramatic things in real life +happen when we are in such a hurry that we do not half understand +them. So the moment that should have been the happiest of all goes +dashing by when we are hastening to catch a train; so the instant of +triumph after years of labour or weeks of struggling is upon us when +we are perhaps positively obliged to write three important notes +in twenty minutes; and sometimes, too, and mercifully, the pain of +parting is numbed just as the knife strikes the nerve, by the howling +confusion of a railway station that forces us to take care of +ourselves and our belongings; and when the first instant of joy, or +victory, or acute suffering is gone in a flash, memory never quite +brings back all the happiness nor all the pain. + +Lady Maud could not have stayed away many minutes longer. She went +back at once, entered by the garden window just as Margaret was +finishing Rosina's song, and remained standing behind her till she +had sung the last note. English people rarely applaud conventional +drawing-room music, but this had been something more, and the Craythew +guests clapped their hands loudly, and even the elderly wife of the +scientific peer emitted distinctly audible sounds of satisfaction. +Lady Maud bent her handsome head and kissed the singer affectionately, +whispering words of heartfelt thanks. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +Through the mistaken efforts of Isidore Bamberger, justice had got +herself into difficulties, and it was as well for her reputation, +which is not good nowadays, that the public never heard what happened +on that night at Craythew, how the three best men who had been +available at headquarters were discomfited in their well-meant attempt +to arrest an innocent man, and how they spent two miserable hours +together locked up in a dark winding staircase. For it chanced, as +it will chance to the end of time, that the doctor was out when the +butler telephoned to him; it happened, too, that he was far from home, +engaged in ushering a young gentleman of prosperous parentage into +this world, an action of which the kindness might be questioned, +considering that the poor little soul presumably came straight from +paradise, with an indifferent chance of ever getting there again. So +the doctor could not come. + +The three men were let out in due time, however, and as no trace of a +warrant could be discovered at that hour, Logotheti and Griggs being +already sound asleep, and as Lord Creedmore, in his dressing-gown and +slippers, gave them a written statement to the effect that Mr. Van +Torp was no longer at Craythew, they had no choice but to return to +town, rather the worse for wear. What they said to each other by the +way may safely be left to the inexhaustible imagination of a gentle +and sympathising reader. + +Their suppressed rage, their deep mortification, and their profound +disgust were swept away in their overwhelming amazement, however, +when they found that Mr. Rufus Van Torp, whom they had sought in +Derbyshire, was in Scotland Yard before them, closeted with their +Chief and explaining what an odd mistake the justice of two nations +had committed in suspecting him to have been at the Metropolitan +Opera-House in New York at the time of the explosion, since he had +spent that very evening in Washington, in the private study of the +Secretary of the Treasury, who wanted his confidential opinion on a +question connected with Trusts before he went abroad. Mr. Van Torp +stuck his thumbs into his waistcoat pockets and blandly insisted that +the cables should be kept red-hot--at international expense--till the +member of the Cabinet in Washington should answer corroborating the +statement. Four o'clock in the morning in London was only eleven +o'clock of the previous evening, Mr. Van Torp explained, and it was +extremely unlikely that the Secretary of the Treasury should be in +bed so early. If he was, he was certainly not asleep; and with the +facilities at the disposal of governments there was no reason why the +answer should not come back in forty minutes. + +It was impossible to resist such simple logic. The lines were cleared +for urgent official business between London and Washington, and in +less than an hour the answer came back, to the effect that Mr. Rufus +Van Torp's statement was correct in every detail; and without any +interval another official message arrived, revoking the request +for his extradition, which 'had been made under a most unfortunate +misapprehension, due to the fact that Mr. Van Torp's visit to the +Secretary of the Treasury had been regarded as confidential by the +latter.' + +Scotland Yard expressed its regret, and Mr. Van Torp smiled and begged +to be allowed, before leaving, to 'shake hands' with the three men who +had been put to so much inconvenience on his account. This democratic +proposal was promptly authorised, to the no small satisfaction and +profit of the three haggard officials. So Mr. Van Torp went away, +and in a few minutes he was sound asleep in the corner of his big +motor-car on his way back to Derbyshire. + +Lady Maud found Margaret and Logotheti walking slowly together under +the trees about eleven o'clock on the following morning. Some of the +people were already gone, and most of the others were to leave in the +course of the day. Lady Maud had just said good-bye to a party of ten +who were going off together, and she had not had a chance to speak to +Margaret, who had come down late, after her manner. Most great singers +are portentous sleepers. As for Logotheti, he always had coffee in his +room wherever he was, he never appeared at breakfast, and he got rid +of his important correspondence for the day before coming down. + +'I've had a letter from Threlfall,' he said as Lady Maud came up. 'I +was just telling Miss Donne about it. Feist died in Dr. Bream's Home +yesterday afternoon.' + +'Rather unfortunate at this juncture, isn't it?' observed Margaret. + +But Lady Maud looked shocked and glanced at Logotheti as if asking a +question. + +'No,' said the Greek, answering her thought. 'I did not kill him, poor +devil! He did it himself, out of fright, I think. So that side of the +affair ends. He had some sealed glass capsules of hydrocyanide of +potassium in little brass tubes, sewn up in the lining of a waistcoat, +and he took one, and must have died instantly. I believe the stuff +turns into prussic acid, or something of that sort, when you swallow +it--Griggs will know.' + +'How dreadful!' exclaimed Lady Maud. 'I'm sure you drove him to it!' + +'I'll bear the responsibility of having rid the world of him, if I +did. But my share consisted in having given him opium and then stopped +it suddenly, till he surrendered and told the truth--or a large part +of it--what I have told you already. He would not own that he killed +Miss Bamberger himself with the rusty little knife that had a few red +silk threads sticking to the handle. He must have put it back into his +case of instruments as it was, and he never had the courage to look +at it again. He had studied medicine, I believe. But he confessed +everything else, how he had been madly in love with the poor girl when +he was her father's secretary, and how she treated him like a servant +and made her father turn him out, and how he hated Van Torp furiously +for being engaged to marry her. He hated the Nickel Trust, too, +because he had thought the shares were going down and had risked +the little he had as margin on a drop, and had lost it all by the +unexpected rise. He drank harder after that, till he was getting silly +from it, when the girl's death gave him his chance against Van Torp, +and he manufactured the evidence in the diary he kept, and went to +Bamberger with it and made the poor man believe whatever he invented. +He told me all that, with a lot of details, but I could not make him +admit that he had killed the girl himself, so I gave him his opium and +he went to sleep. That's my story. Or rather, it's his, as I got it +from him last Thursday. I supposed there was plenty of time, but Mr. +Bamberger seems to have been in a hurry after we had got Feist into +the Home.' + +'Had you told Mr. Van Torp all this?' asked Lady Maud anxiously. + +'No,' Logotheti answered. 'I was keeping the information ready in case +it should be needed.' + +A familiar voice spoke behind them. + +'Well, it's all right as it is. Much obliged, all the same.' + +All three turned suddenly and saw that Mr. Van Torp had crept up while +they were talking, and the expression of his tremendous mouth showed +that he had meant to surprise them, and was pleased with his success +in doing so. + +'Really!' exclaimed Lady Maud. + +'Goodness gracious!' cried the Primadonna. + +'By the Dog of Egypt!' laughed Logotheti. + +'Don't know the breed,' answered Van Torp, not understanding, but +cheerfully playful. 'Was it a trick dog?' + +'I thought you were in London,' Margaret said. + +'I was. Between one and four this morning, I should say. It's all +right.' He nodded to Lady Maud as he spoke the last words, but he did +not seem inclined to say more. + +'Is it a secret?' she asked. + +'I never have secrets,' answered the millionaire. 'Secrets are +everything that must be found out and put in the paper right away, +ain't they? But I had no trouble at all, only the bother of waiting +till the office got an answer from the other side. I happened to +remember where I'd spent the evening of the explosion, that's all, and +they cabled sharp and found my statement correct.' + +'Why did you never tell me?' asked Lady Maud reproachfully. 'You knew +how anxious I was!' + +'Well,' replied Mr. Van Torp, dwelling long on the syllable, 'I did +tell you it was all right anyhow, whatever they did, and I thought +maybe you'd accept the statement. The man I spent that evening with is +a public man, and he mightn't exactly think our interview was anybody +else's business, might he?' + +'And you say you never keep a secret!' + +The delicious ripple was in Lady Maud's sweet voice as she spoke. +Perhaps it came a little in spite of herself, and she would certainly +have controlled her tone if she had thought of Leven just then. But +she was a very natural creature, after all, and she could not and +would not pretend to be sorry that he was dead, though the manner of +his end had seemed horrible to her when she had been able to think +over the news, after Van Torp had got safely away. So far there had +only been three big things in her life: her love for a man who was +dead, her tremendous determination to do some real good for his +memory's sake, and her deep gratitude to Van Torp, who had made that +good possible, and who, strangely enough, seemed to her the only +living person who really understood her and liked her for her own +sake, without the least idea of making love. And she saw in him what +few suspected, except little Ida and Miss More--the real humanity and +faithful kindness that dwelt in the terribly hard and coarse-grained +fighting financier. Lady Maud had her faults, no doubt, but she was +too big, morally, to be disturbed by what seemed to Margaret Donne an +intolerable vulgarity of manner and speech. + +As for Margaret, she now felt that painful little remorse that hurts +us when we realise that we have suspected an innocent person of +something dreadful, even though we may have contributed to the +ultimate triumph of the truth. Van Torp unconsciously deposited a coal +of fire on her head. + +'I'd just like to say how much I appreciate your kindness in singing +last night, Madame da Cordova,' he said. 'From what you knew and +told me on the steamer, you might have had a reasonable doubt, and I +couldn't very well explain it away before. I wish you'd some day tell +me what I can do for you. I'm grateful, honestly.' + +Margaret saw that he was much in earnest, and as she felt that she had +done him great injustice, she held out her hand with a frank smile. + +'I'm glad I was able to be of use,' she said. 'Come and see me in +town.' + +'Really? You won't throw me out if I do?' + +Margaret laughed. + +'No, I won't throw you out!' + +'Then I'll come some day. Thank you.' + +Van Torp had long given up all hope that she would ever marry him, but +it was something to be on good terms with her again, and for the sake +of that alone he would have risked a good deal. + +The four paired off, and Lady Maud walked in front with Van Torp, +while Margaret and Logotheti followed more slowly; so the couples did +not long keep near one another, and in less than five minutes they +lost each other altogether among the trees. + +Margaret had noticed something very unusual in the Greek's appearance +when they had met half an hour earlier, and she had been amazed when +she realised that he wore no jewellery, no ruby, no emeralds, no +diamonds, no elaborate chain, and that his tie was neither green, +yellow, sky-blue, nor scarlet, but of a soft dove grey which she liked +very much. The change was so surprising that she had been on the point +of asking him whether anything dreadful had happened; but just then +Lady Maud had come up with them. + +They walked a little way now, and when the others were out of sight +Margaret sat down on one of the many boulders that strewed the park. +Her companion stood before her, and while he lit a cigarette she +surveyed him deliberately from head to foot. Her fresh lips twitched +as they did when she was near laughing, and she looked up and met his +eyes. + +'What in the world has happened to you since yesterday?' she asked in +a tone of lazy amusement. 'You look almost like a human being!' + +'Do I?' he asked, between two small puffs of smoke, and he laughed a +little. + +'Yes. Are you in mourning for your lost illusions?' + +'No. I'm trying "to create and foster agreeable illusions" in you. +That's the object of all art, you know.' + +'Oh! It's for me, then? Really?' + +'Yes. Everything is. I thought I had explained that the other night!' +His tone was perfectly unconcerned, and he smiled carelessly as he +spoke. + +'I wonder what would happen if I took you at your word,' said +Margaret, more thoughtfully than she had spoken yet. + +'I don't know. You might not regret it. You might even be happy!' + +There was a little silence, and Margaret looked down. + +'I'm not exactly miserable as it is,' she said at last. 'Are you?' + +'Oh no!' answered Logotheti. 'I should bore you if I were!' + +'Awfully!' She laughed rather abruptly. 'Should you want me to leave +the stage?' she asked after a moment. + +'You forget that I like the Cordova just as much as I like Margaret +Donne.' + +'Are you quite sure?' + +'Absolutely!' + +'Let's try it!' + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10521 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bf9d980 --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10521 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10521) diff --git a/old/10521-8.txt b/old/10521-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..df8c90a --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10521-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12147 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Primadonna, by F. Marion Crawford + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Primadonna + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: December 23, 2003 [eBook #10521] +[Last updated: October 27, 2015] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRIMADONNA*** + + +E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, Josephine Paolucci, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE PRIMADONNA + +A SEQUEL TO "FAIR MARGARET" + +BY + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + +AUTHOR OF "SARACINESCA," "SANT' ILARIO," "FAIR MARGARET," ETC., ETC. + +1908 + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +When the accident happened, Cordova was singing the mad scene in +_Lucia_ for the last time in that season, and she had never sung it +better. _The Bride of Lammermoor_ is the greatest love-story ever +written, and it was nothing short of desecration to make a libretto +of it; but so far as the last act is concerned the opera certainly +conveys the impression that the heroine is a raving lunatic. Only a +crazy woman could express feeling in such an unusual way. + +Cordova's face was nothing but a mask of powder, in which her handsome +brown eyes would have looked like two holes if she had not kept them +half shut under the heavily whitened lids; her hands were chalked too, +and they were like plaster casts of hands, cleverly jointed at the +wrists. She wore a garment which was supposed to be a nightdress, +which resembled a very expensive modern shroud, and which was +evidently put on over a good many other things. There was a deal of +lace on it, which fluttered when she made her hands shake to accompany +each trill, and all this really contributed to the general impression +of insanity. Possibly it was overdone; but if any one in the audience +had seen such a young person enter his or her room unexpectedly, and +uttering such unaccountable sounds, he or she would most assuredly +have rung for a doctor and a cab, and for a strait-jacket if such a +thing were to be had in the neighbourhood. + +An elderly man, with very marked features and iron-grey hair, sat in +the fifth row of the stalls, on the right-hand aisle. He was a bony +man, and the people behind him noticed him and thought he looked +strong. He had heard Bonanni in her best days and many great lyric +sopranos from Patti to Melba, and he was thinking that none of them +had sung the mad scene better than Cordova, who had only been on the +stage two years, and was now in New York for the first time. But he +had already heard her in London and Paris, and he knew her. He had +first met her at a breakfast on board Logotheti's yacht at Cap Martin. +Logotheti was a young Greek financier who lived in Paris and wanted to +marry her. He was rather mad, and had tried to carry her off on the +night of the dress rehearsal before her _début_, but had somehow got +himself locked up for somebody else. Since then he had grown calmer, +but he still worshipped at the shrine of the Cordova. He was not +the only one, however; there were several, including the very +distinguished English man of letters, Edmund Lushington, who had known +her before she had begun to sing on the stage. + +But Lushington was in England and Logotheti was in Paris, and on the +night of the accident Cordova had not many acquaintances in the house +besides the bony man with grey hair; for though society had been +anxious to feed her and get her to sing for nothing, and to play +bridge with her, she had never been inclined to accept those +attentions. Society in New York claimed her, on the ground that she +was a lady and was an American on her mother's side. Yet she insisted +on calling herself a professional, because singing was her profession, +and society thought this so strange that it at once became suspicious +and invented wild and unedifying stories about her; and the reporters +haunted the lobby of her hotel, and gossiped with their friends the +detectives, who also spent much time there in a professional way for +the general good, and were generally what English workmen call wet +smokers. + +Cordova herself was altogether intent on what she was doing and was +not thinking of her friends, of Lushington, or Logotheti, nor of the +bony man in the stalls; certainly not of society, though it was richly +represented by diamonds in the subscriber's tier. Indeed the jewellery +was so plentiful and of such expensive quality that the whole row of +boxes shone like a vast coronet set with thousands of precious stones. +When the music did not amuse society, the diamonds and rubies twinkled +and glittered uneasily, but when Cordova was trilling her wildest +they were quite still and blazed with a steady light. Afterwards the +audience would all say again what they had always said about every +great lyric soprano, that it was just a wonderful instrument without a +particle of feeling, that it was an over-grown canary, a human flute, +and all the rest of it; but while the trills ran on the people +listened in wonder and the diamonds were very quiet. + +'A-a--A-a--A-a--A-a--' sang Cordova at an inconceivable pitch. + +A terrific explosion shook the building to its foundations; the lights +went out, and there was a long grinding crash of broken glass not far +off. + +In the momentary silence that followed before the inevitable panic the +voice of Schreiermeyer, the manager, rang out through the darkness. + +'Ladies and gentlemen! There's no danger! Keep your seats! The lights +will be up directly.' + +And indeed the little red lamps over each door that led out, being on +another circuit, were all burning quietly, but in the first moment of +fright no one noticed them, and the house seemed to be quite dark. + +Then the whole mass of humanity began to writhe and swell, as a +frightened crowd does in the dark, so that every one feels as if all +the other people were growing hugely big, as big as elephants, to +smother and crush him; and each man makes himself as broad as he can, +and tries to swell out his chest, and squares his elbows to keep the +weight off his sides; and with the steady strain and effort every one +breathes hard, and few speak, and the hard-drawn breath of thousands +together makes a sound of rushing wind like bellows as enormous as +houses, blowing steadily in the darkness. + +'Keep your seats!' yelled Schreiermeyer desperately. + +He had been in many accidents, and understood the meaning of the +noises he heard. There was death in them, death for the weak by +squeezing, and smothering, and trampling underfoot. It was a grim +moment, and no one who was there has forgotten it, the manager least +of all. + +'It's only a fuse gone!' he shouted. 'Only a plug burnt out!' + +But the terrified throng did not believe, and the people pressed upon +each other with the weight of hundreds of bodies, thronging from +behind, towards the little red lights. There were groans now, besides +the strained breathing and the soft shuffling of many feet on the +thick carpets. Each time some one went down there was a groan, stifled +as instantly and surely as though the lips from which it came were +quickly thrust under water. + +Schreiermeyer knew well enough that if nothing could be done within +the next two minutes there would be an awful catastrophe; but he was +helpless. No doubt the electricians were at work; in ten minutes the +damage would be repaired and the lights would be up again; but the +house would be empty then, except for the dead and the dying. + +Another groan was heard, and another quickly after it. The wretched +manager yelled, stormed, stamped, entreated, and promised, but with no +effect. In the very faint red light from the doors he saw a moving +sea of black and heard it surging to his very feet. He had an old +professional's exact sense of passing time, and he knew that a full +minute had already gone by since the explosion. No one could be dead +yet, even in that press, but there were few seconds to spare, fewer +and fewer. + +Then another sound was heard, a very pure strong note, high above his +own tones, a beautiful round note, that made one think of gold and +silver bells, and that filled the house instantly, like light, and +reached every ear, even through the terror that was driving the crowd +mad in the dark. + +A moment more, an instant's pause, and Cordova had begun Lucia's song +again at the beginning, and her marvellous trills and staccato notes, +and trills again, trills upon trills without end, filled the vast +darkness and stopped those four thousand men and women, spellbound and +silent, and ashamed too. + +It was not great music, surely; but it was sung by the greatest living +singer, singing alone in the dark, as calmly and as perfectly as if +all the orchestra had been with her, singing as no one can who feels +the least tremor of fear; and the awful tension of the dark throng +relaxed, and the breath that came was a great sigh of relief, for it +was not possible to be frightened when a fearless woman was singing so +marvellously. + +Then, still in the dark, some of the musicians struck in and supported +her, and others followed, till the whole body of harmony was complete; +and just as she was at the wildest trills, at the very passage during +which the crash had come, the lights went up all at once; and there +stood Cordova in white and lace, with her eyes half shut and shaking +her outstretched hands as she always made them shake in the mad scene; +and the stage was just as it had been before the accident, except that +Schreiermeyer was standing near the singer in evening dress with a +perfectly new and shiny high hat on the back of his head, and his +mouth wide open. + +The people were half hysterical from the past danger, and when they +saw, and realised, they did not wait for the end of the air, but sent +up such a shout of applause as had never been heard in the Opera +before and may not be heard there again. + +Instinctively the Primadonna sang the last bars, though no one heard +her in the din, unless it was Schreiermeyer, who stood near her. When +she had finished at last he ran up to her and threw both his arms +round her in a paroxysm of gratitude, regardless of her powder and +chalk, which came off upon his coat and yellow beard in patches of +white as he kissed her on both cheeks, calling her by every endearing +name that occurred to his polyglot memory, from Sweetheart in English +to Little Cabbage in French, till Cordova laughed and pushed him away, +and made a tremendous courtesy to the audience. + +Just then a man in a blue jacket and gilt buttons entered from the +left of the stage and whispered a few words into Schreiermeyer's ear. +The manager looked grave at once, nodded and came forward to the +prompter's box. The man had brought news of the accident, he said; +a quantity of dynamite which was to have been used in subterranean +blasting had exploded and had done great damage, no one yet knew how +great. It was probable that many persons had been killed. + +But for this news, Cordova would have had one of those ovations which +rarely fall to the lot of any but famous singers, for there was not a +man or woman in the theatre who had not felt that she had averted a +catastrophe and saved scores of lives. As it was, several women had +been slightly hurt and at least fifty had fainted. Every one was +anxious to help them now, most of all the very people who had hurt +them. + +But the news of an accident in the city emptied the house in a few +minutes; even now that the lights were up the anxiety to get out +to the street and to know more of the truth was great enough to be +dangerous, and the strong crowd heaved and surged again and pushed +through the many doors with little thought for the weak or for any who +had been injured in the first panic. + +But in the meantime Cordova had reached her dressing-room, supported +by the enthusiastic Schreiermeyer on one side, and by the equally +enthusiastic tenor on the other, while the singular family party +assembled in the last act of _Lucia di Lammermoor_ brought up the rear +with many expressions of admiration and sympathy. + +As a matter of fact the Primadonna needed neither sympathy nor +support, and that sort of admiration was not of the kind that most +delighted her. She did not believe that she had done anything heroic, +and did not feel at all inclined to cry. + +'You saved the whole audience!' cried Signor Pompeo Stromboli, the +great Italian tenor, who presented an amazing appearance in his +Highland dress. 'Four thousand seven hundred and fifty-three people +owe you their lives at this moment! Every one of them would have been +dead but for your superb coolness! Ah, you are indeed a great woman!' + +Schreiermeyer's business ear had caught the figures. As they walked, +each with an arm through one of the Primadonna's, he leaned back and +spoke to Stromboli behind her head. + +'How the devil do you know what the house was?' he asked sharply. + +'I always know,' answered the Italian in a perfectly matter-of-fact +tone. 'My dresser finds out from the box-office. I never take the C +sharp if there are less than three thousand.' + +'I'll stop that!' growled Schreiermeyer. + +'As you please!' Stromboli shrugged his massive shoulders. 'C sharp is +not in the engagement!' + +'It shall be in the next! I won't sign without it!' + +'I won't sign at all!' retorted the tenor with a sneer of superiority. +'You need not talk of conditions, for I shall not come to America +again!' + +'Oh, do stop quarrelling!' laughed Cordova as they reached the door of +her box, for she had heard similar amenities exchanged twenty times +already, and she knew that they meant nothing at all on either side. + +'Have you any beer?' inquired Stromboli of the Primadonna, as if +nothing had happened. + +'Bring some beer, Bob!' Schreiermeyer called out over his shoulder to +some one in the distance. + +'Yes, sir,' answered a rough voice, far off, and with a foreign +accent. + +The three entered the Primadonna's dressing-room together. It was a +hideous place, as all dressing-rooms are which are never used two days +in succession by the same actress or singer; very different from +the pretty cells in the beehive of the Comédie Française where each +pensioner or shareholder is lodged like a queen bee by herself, for +years at a time. + +The walls of Cordova's dressing-room were more or less white-washed +where the plaster had not been damaged. There was a dingy full-length +mirror, a shabby toilet-table; there were a few crazy chairs, the +wretched furniture which is generally to be found in actresses' +dressing-rooms, notwithstanding the marvellous descriptions invented +by romancers. But there was light in abundance and to excess, +dazzling, unshaded, intolerable to any but theatrical eyes. There were +at least twenty strong electric lamps in the miserable place, which +illuminated the coarsely painted faces of the Primadonna and the tenor +with alarming distinctness, and gleamed on Schreiermeyer's smooth fair +hair and beard, and impassive features. + +'You'll have two columns and a portrait in every paper to-morrow,' he +observed thoughtfully. 'It's worth while to engage such people. Oh +yes, damn it, I tell you it's worth while!' + +The last emphatic sentence was intended for Stromboli, as if he had +contradicted the statement, or were himself not 'worth while.' + +'There's beer there already,' said the tenor, seeing a bottle and +glass on a deal table, and making for them at once. + +He undid the patent fastening, stood upright with his sturdy +stockinged legs wide apart, threw his head back, opened his huge +painted mouth to the necessary extent, but not to the full, and +without touching his lips poured the beer into the chasm in a gurgling +stream, which he swallowed without the least apparent difficulty. When +he had taken down half the contents of the small bottle he desisted +and poured the rest into the glass, apparently for Cordova's benefit. + +'I hope I have left you enough,' he said, as he prepared to go. 'My +throat felt like a rusty gun-barrel.' + +'Fright is very bad for the voice,' Schreiermeyer remarked, as the +call-boy handed him another bottle of beer through the open door. + +Stromboli took no notice of the direct imputation. He had taken a very +small and fine handkerchief from his sporran and was carefully tucking +it into his collar with some idea of protecting his throat. When this +was done his admiration for his colleague broke out again without the +slightest warning. + +'You were superb, magnificent, surpassing!' he cried. + +He seized Cordova's chalked hands, pressed them to his own whitened +chin, by sheer force of stage habit, because the red on his lips would +have come off on them, and turned away. + +'Surpassing! Magnificent! What a woman!' he roared in tremendous tones +as he strode away through the dim corridor towards the stage and his +own dressing-room on the other side. + +Meanwhile Schreiermeyer, who was quite as thirsty as the tenor, drank +what the latter had left in the only glass there was, and set the full +bottle beside the latter on the deal table. + +'There is your beer,' he said, calling attention to what he had done. + +Cordova nodded carelessly and sat down on one of the crazy chairs +before the toilet-table. Her maid at once came forward and took off +her wig, and her own beautiful brown hair appeared, pressed and matted +close to her head in a rather disorderly coil. + +'You must be tired,' said the manager, with more consideration than +he often showed to any one whose next engagement was already signed. +'I'll find out how many were killed in the explosion and then I'll +get hold of the reporters. You'll have two columns and a picture +to-morrow.' + +Schreiermeyer rarely took the trouble to say good-morning or +good-night, and Cordova heard the door shut after him as he went out. + +'Lock it,' she said to her maid. 'I'm sure that madman is about the +theatre again.' + +The maid obeyed with alacrity. She was very tall and dark, and +when she had entered Cordova's service two years ago she had been +positively cadaverous. She herself said that her appearance had been +the result of living many years with the celebrated Madame Bonanni, +who was a whirlwind, an earthquake, a phenomenon, a cosmic force. No +one who had lived with her in her stage days had ever grown fat; it +was as much as a very strong constitution could do not to grow thin. + +Madame Bonanni had presented the cadaverous woman to the young +Primadonna as one of the most precious of her possessions, and out of +sheer affection. It was true that since the great singer had closed +her long career and had retired to live in the country, in Provence, +she dressed with such simplicity as made it possible for her to exist +without the long-faithful, all-skilful, and iron-handed Alphonsine; +and the maid, on her side, was so thoroughly a professional theatrical +dresser that she must have died of inanition in what she would have +called private life. Lastly, she had heard that Madame Bonanni had now +given up the semblance, long far from empty, but certainly vain, of a +waist, and dressed herself in a garment resembling a priest's cassock, +buttoned in front from her throat to her toes. + +Alphonsine locked the door, and the Primadonna leaned her elbows on +the sordid toilet-table and stared at her chalked and painted face, +vaguely trying to recognise the features of Margaret Donne, the +daughter of the quiet Oxford scholar, her real self as she had been +two years ago, and by no means very different from her everyday self +now. But it was not easy. Margaret was there, no doubt, behind the +paint and the 'liquid white,' but the reality was what the public +saw beyond the footlights two or three times a week during the opera +season, and applauded with might and main as the most successful lyric +soprano of the day. + +There were moments when she tried to get hold of herself and bring +herself back. They came most often after some great emotion in the +theatre, when the sight of the painted mask in the glass shocked and +disgusted her as it did to-night; when the contrasts of life were +almost more than she could bear, when her sensibilities awoke again, +when the fastidiousness of the delicately nurtured girl revolted under +the rough familiarity of such a comrade as Stromboli, and rebelled +against the sordid cynicism of Schreiermeyer. + +She shuddered at the mere idea that the manager should have thought +she would drink out of the glass he had just used. Even the Italian +peasant, who had been a goatherd in Calabria, and could hardly write +his name, showed more delicacy, according to his lights, which were +certainly not dazzling. A faint ray of Roman civilisation had reached +him through generations of slaves and serfs and shepherds. But no +such traditions of forgotten delicacy disturbed the manners of +Schreiermeyer. The glass from which he had drunk was good enough for +any primadonna in his company, and it was silly for any of them to +give themselves airs. Were they not largely his creatures, fed from +his hand, to work for him while they were young, and to be turned out +as soon as they began to sing false? He was by no means the worst of +his kind, as Margaret knew very well. + +She thought of her childhood, of her mother and of her father, both +dead long before she had gone on the stage; and of that excellent and +kind Mrs. Rushmore, her American mother's American friend, who had +taken her as her own daughter, and had loved her and cared for her, +and had shed tears when Margaret insisted on becoming a singer; who +had fought for her, too, and had recovered for her a small fortune of +which her mother had been cheated. For Margaret would have been more +than well off without her profession, even when she had made her +_début_, and she had given up much to be a singer, believing that she +knew what she was doing. + +But now she was ready to undo it all and to go back; at least she +thought she was, as she stared at herself in the glass while the pale +maid drew her hair back and fastened it far above her forehead with a +big curved comb, as a preliminary to getting rid of paint and powder. +At this stage of the operation the Primadonna was neither Cordova nor +Margaret Donne; there was something terrifying about the exaggeratedly +painted mask when the wig was gone and her natural hair was drawn +tightly back. She thought she was like a monstrous skinned rabbit with +staring brown eyes. + +At first, with the inexperience of youth, she used to plunge her +painted face into soapsuds and scrub vigorously till her own +complexion appeared, a good deal overheated and temporarily shiny; +but before long she had yielded to Alphonsine's entreaties and +representations and had adopted the butter method, long familiar to +chimney-sweeps. + +The butter lay ready; not in a lordly dish, but in a clean tin can +with a cover, of the kind workmen use for fetching beer, and commonly +called a 'growler' in New York, for some reason which escapes +etymologists. + +Having got rid of the upper strata of white lace and fine linen, +artfully done up so as to tremble like aspen leaves with Lucia's mad +trills, Margaret proceeded to butter her face thoroughly. It occurred +to her just then that all the other artists who had appeared with her +were presumably buttering their faces at the same moment, and that if +the public could look in upon them it would be very much surprised +indeed. At the thought she forgot what she had been thinking of and +smiled. + +The maid, who was holding her hair back where it escaped the comb, +smiled too, and evidently considered that the relaxation of Margaret's +buttered features was equivalent to a permission to speak. + +'It was a great triumph for Madame,' she observed. 'All the papers +will praise Madame to-morrow. Madame saved many lives.' + +'Was Mr. Griggs in the house?' Margaret asked. 'I did not see him.' + +Alphonsine did not answer at once, and when she spoke her tone had +changed. + +'Yes, Madame. Mr. Griggs was in the house.' + +Margaret wondered whether she had saved his life too, in his own +estimation or in that of her maid, and while she pondered the question +she buttered her nose industriously. + +Alphonsine took a commercial view of the case. + +'If Madame would appear three times more in New York, before sailing, +the manager would give ten thousand francs a night,' she observed. + +Margaret said nothing to this, but she thought it would be amusing to +show herself to an admiring public in her present condition. + +'Madame is now a heroine,' continued Alphonsine, behind her. 'Madame +can ask anything she pleases. Several milliardaires will now offer to +marry Madame.' + +'Alphonsine,' answered Margaret, 'you have no sense.' + +The maid smiled, knowing that her mistress could not see even the +reflection of the smile in the glass; but she said nothing. + +'No sense,' Margaret repeated, with conviction. 'None at all' + +The maid allowed a few seconds to pass before she spoke again. + +'Or if Madame would accept to sing in one or two private houses in New +York, we could ask a very great price, more than the manager would +give.' + +'I daresay.' + +'It is certain,' said Alphonsine. 'At the French ball to which Madame +kindly allowed me to go, the valet of Mr. Van Torp approached me.' + +'Indeed!' exclaimed Cordova absently. 'How very disagreeable!' + +'I see that Madame is not listening,' said Alphonsine, taking offence. + +What she said was so true that Margaret did not answer at all. +Besides, the buttering process was finished, and it was time for the +hot water. She went to the ugly stationary washstand and bent over it, +while the maid kept her hair from her face. Alphonsine spoke again +when she was sure that her mistress could not possibly answer her. + +'Mr. Van Torp's valet asked me whether I thought Madame would be +willing to sing in church, at the wedding, the day after to-morrow,' +she said, holding the Primadonna's back hair firmly. + +The head moved energetically under her hands. Margaret would certainly +not sing at Mr. Van Torp's wedding, and she even tried to say so, but +her voice only bubbled and sputtered ineffectually through the soap +and water. + +'I was sure Madame would not,' continued the maid, 'though Mr. Van +Torp's valet said that money was no object. He had heard Mr. Van Torp +say that he would give five thousand dollars to have Madame sing at +his wedding.' + +Margaret did not shake her head this time, nor try to speak, but +Alphonsine heard the little impatient tap of her slipper on the wooden +floor. It was not often that the Primadonna showed so much annoyance +at anything; and of late, when she did, the cause had been connected +with this same Mr. Van Torp. The mere mention of his name irritated +her, and Alphonsine seemed to know it, and to take an inexplicable +pleasure in talking about him--about Mr. Rufus Van Torp, formerly of +Chicago, but now of New York. He was looked upon as the controlling +intellect of the great Nickel Trust; in fact, he was the Nickel Trust +himself, and the other men in it were mere dummies compared with him. +He had sailed the uncertain waters of finance for twenty years or +more, and had been nearly shipwrecked more than once, but at the time +of this story he was on the top of the wave; and as his past was even +more entirely a matter of conjecture than his future, it would be +useless to inquire into the former or to speculate about the latter. +Moreover, in these break-neck days no time counts but the present, so +far as reputation goes; good fame itself now resembles righteousness +chiefly because it clothes men as with a garment; and as we have the +highest authority for assuming that charity covers a multitude of +sins, we can hardly be surprised that it should be so generally +used for that purpose. Rufus Van Torp's charities were notorious, +aggressive, and profitable. The same sums of money could not have +bought as much mingled advertisement and immunity in any other way. + +'Of course,' observed Alphonsine, seeing that Margaret would soon be +able to speak again, 'money is no object to Madame either!' + +This subtle flattery was evidently meant to forestall reproof. But +Margaret was now splashing vigorously, and as both taps were running +the noise was as loud as that of a small waterfall; possibly she had +not even heard the maid's last speech. + +Some one knocked at the door, and knocked a second time almost +directly. The Primadonna pushed Alphonsine with her elbow, speaking +being still impossible, and the woman understood that she was to +answer the summons. + +She asked who was knocking, and some one answered. + +'It is Mr. Griggs,' said Alphonsine. + +'Ask him to wait,' Margaret succeeded in saying. + +Alphonsine transmitted the message through the closed door, and +listened for the answer. + +'He says that there is a lady dying in the manager's room, who wants +Madame,' said the maid, repeating what she heard. + +Margaret stood upright, turned quickly, and crossed the room to the +door, mopping her face with a towel. + +'Who is it?' she asked in an anxious tone. + +'I'm Griggs,' said a deep voice. 'Come at once, if you can, for the +poor girl cannot last long.' + +'One minute! Don't go away--I'm coming out.' + +Alphonsine never lost her head. A theatrical dresser who does is of no +use. She had already brought the wide fur coat Margaret always wore +after singing. In ten seconds the singer was completely clothed in +it, and as she laid her hand on the lock to let herself out, the maid +placed a dark Russian hood on her head from behind her and took the +long ends twice round her throat. + +Mr. Griggs was a large bony man with iron-grey hair, who looked very +strong. He had a sad face and deep-set grey eyes. He led the way +without speaking, and Cordova walked quickly after him. Alphonsine did +not follow, for she was responsible for the belongings that lay about +in the dressing-room. The other doors on the women's side, which is on +the stage left and the audience's right at the Opera, were all tightly +closed. The stage itself was not dark yet, and the carpenters were +putting away the scenery of the last act as methodically as if nothing +had happened. + +'Do you know her?' Margaret asked of her companion as they hurried +along the passage that leads into the house. + +'Barely. She is a Miss Bamberger, and she was to have been married the +day after to-morrow, poor thing--to a millionaire. I always forget his +name, though I've met him several times.' + +'Van Torp?' asked Margaret as they hastened on. + +'Yes. That's it--the Nickel Trust man, you know.' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered in a low tone. 'I was asked to sing at the +wedding.' + +They reached the door of the manager's room. The clerks from the +box-office and several other persons employed about the house were +whispering together in the little lobby. They made way for Cordova and +looked with curiosity at Griggs, who was a well-known man of letters. + +Schreiermeyer stood at the half-closed inner door, evidently waiting. + +'Come in,' he said to Margaret. 'The doctor is there.' + +The room was flooded with electric light, and smelt of very strong +Havana cigars and brandy. Margaret saw a slight figure in a red silk +evening gown, lying at full length on an immense red leathern sofa. A +young doctor was kneeling on the floor, bending down to press his ear +against the girl's side; he moved his head continually, listening for +the beating of her heart. Her face was of a type every one knows, and +had a certain half-pathetic prettiness; the features were small, and +the chin was degenerate but delicately modelled. The rather colourless +fair hair was elaborately done; her thin cheeks were dreadfully white, +and her thin neck shrank painfully each time she breathed out, though +it grew smooth and full as she drew in her breath. A short string of +very large pearls was round her throat, and gleamed in the light as +her breathing moved them. + +Schreiermeyer did not let Griggs come in, but went out to him, shut +the door and stood with his back to it. + +Margaret did not look behind her, but crossed directly to the sofa and +leaned over the dying girl, who was conscious and looked at her with +inquiring eyes, not recognising her. + +'You sent for me,' said the singer gently. + +'Are you really Madame Cordova?' asked the girl in a faint tone. + +It was as much as she could do to speak at all, and the doctor looked +up to Margaret and raised his hand in a warning gesture, meaning that +his patient should not be allowed to talk. She saw his movement and +smiled faintly, and shook her head. + +'No one can save me,' she said to him, quite quietly and distinctly. +'Please leave us together, doctor.' + +'I am altogether at a loss,' the doctor answered, speaking to Margaret +as he rose. 'There are no signs of asphyxia, yet the heart does not +respond to stimulants. I've tried nitro-glycerine--' + +'Please, please go away!' begged the girl. + +The doctor was a young surgeon from the nearest hospital, and hated to +leave his case. He was going to argue the point, but Margaret stopped +him. + +'Go into the next room for a moment, please,' she said +authoritatively. + +He obeyed with a bad grace, and went into the empty office which +adjoined the manager's room, but he left the door open. Margaret knelt +down in his place and took the girl's cold white hand. + +'Can he hear?' asked the faint voice. + +'Speak low,' Margaret answered. 'What can I do?' + +'It is a secret,' said the girl. 'The last I shall ever have, but I +must tell some one before I die. I know about you. I know you are a +lady, and very good and kind, and I have always admired you so much!' + +'You can trust me,' said the singer. 'What is the secret I am to keep +for you?' + +'Do you believe in God? I do, but so many people don't nowadays, you +know. Tell me.' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, wondering. 'Yes, I do.' + +'Will you promise, by the God you believe in?' + +'I promise to keep your secret, so help me God in Heaven,' said +Margaret gravely. + +The girl seemed relieved, and closed her eyes for a moment. She was so +pale and still that Margaret thought the end had come, but presently +she drew breath again and spoke, though it was clear that she had not +much strength left. + +'You must not keep the secret always,' she said. 'You may tell him you +know it. Yes--let him know that you know--if you think it best--' + +'Who is he?' + +'Mr. Van Torp.' + +'Yes?' Margaret bent her ear to the girl's lips and waited. + +Again there was a pause of many seconds, and then the voice came +once more, with a great effort that only produced very faint sounds, +scarcely above a whisper. + +'He did it.' + +That was all. At long intervals the dying girl drew deep breaths, +longer and longer, and then no more. Margaret looked anxiously at the +still face for some time, and then straightened herself suddenly. + +'Doctor! Doctor!' she cried. + +The young man was beside her in an instant. For a full minute there +was no sound in the room, and he bent over the motionless figure. + +'I'm afraid I can't do anything,' he said gently, and he rose to his +feet. + +'Is she really dead?' Margaret asked, in an undertone. + +'Yes. Failure of the heart, from shock.' + +'Is that what you will call it?' + +'That is what it is,' said the doctor with a little emphasis of +offence, as if his science had been doubted. 'You knew her, I +suppose?' + +'No. I never saw her before. I will call Schreiermeyer.' + +She stood still a moment longer, looking down at the dead face, and +she wondered what it all meant, and why the poor girl had sent for +her, and what it was that Mr. Van Torp had done. Then she turned very +slowly and went out. + +'Dead, I suppose,' said Schreiermeyer as soon as he saw the +Primadonna's face. 'Her relations won't get here in time.' + +Margaret nodded in silence and went on through the lobby. + +'The rehearsal is at eleven,' the manager called out after her, in his +wooden voice. + +She nodded again, but did not look back. Griggs had waited in order +to take her back to her dressing-room, and the two crossed the stage +together. It was almost quite dark now, and the carpenters were gone +away. + +'Thank you,' Margaret said. 'If you don't care to go all the way back +you can get out by the stage door.' + +'Yes. I know the way in this theatre. Before I say good-night, do you +mind telling me what the doctor said?' + +'He said she died of failure of the heart, from shock. Those were his +words. Why do you ask?' + +'Mere curiosity. I helped to carry her--that is, I carried her myself +to the manager's room, and she begged me to call you, so I came to +your door.' + +'It was kind of you. Perhaps it made a difference to her, poor girl. +Good-night.' + +'Good-night. When do you sail?' + +'On Saturday. I sing "Juliet" on Friday night and sail the next +morning.' + +'On the _Leofric_?' + +'Yes.' + +'So do I. We shall cross together.' + +'How delightful! I'm so glad! Good-night again.' + +Alphonsine was standing at the open door of the dressing-room in the +bright light, and Margaret nodded and went in. The maid looked after +the elderly man till he finally disappeared, and then she went in too +and locked the door after her. + +Griggs walked home in the bitter March weather. When he was in New +York, he lived in rooms on the second floor of an old business +building not far from Fifth Avenue. He was quite alone in the house at +night, and had to walk up the stairs by the help of a little electric +pocket-lantern he carried. He let himself into his own door, turned +up the light, slipped off his overcoat and gloves, and went to the +writing-table to get his pipe. That is very often the first thing a +man does when he gets home at night. + +The old briar pipe he preferred to any other lay on the blotting-paper +in the circle where the light was brightest. As he took it a stain on +his right hand caught his eye, and he dropped the pipe to look at +it. The blood was dark and was quite dry, and he could not find any +scratch to account for it. It was on the inner side of his right hand, +between the thumb and forefinger, and was no larger than an ordinary +watch. + +'How very odd!' exclaimed Mr. Griggs aloud; and he turned his hand +this way and that under the electric lamp, looking for some small +wound which he supposed must have bled. There was a little more inside +his fingers, and between them, as if it had oozed through and then had +spread over his knuckles. + +But he could find nothing to account for it. He was an elderly man who +had lived all over the world and had seen most things, and he was not +easily surprised, but he was puzzled now. Not the least strange thing +was that the stain should be as small as it was and yet so dark. He +crossed the room again and examined the front of his overcoat with the +most minute attention. It was made of a dark frieze, almost black, +on which a red stain would have shown very little; but after a very +careful search Griggs was convinced that the blood which had stained +his hand had not touched the cloth. + +He went into his dressing-room and looked at his face in his +shaving-glass, but there was certainly no stain on the weather-beaten +cheeks or the furrowed forehead. + +'How very odd!' he exclaimed a second time. + +He washed his hands slowly and carefully, examining them again and +again, for he thought it barely possible that the skin might have been +cracked somewhere by the cutting March wind, and might have bled a +little, but he could not find the least sign of such a thing. + +When he was finally convinced that he could not account for the stain +he had now washed off, he filled his old pipe thoughtfully and sat +down in a big shabby arm-chair beside the table to think over other +questions more easy of solution. For he was a philosophical man, and +when he could not understand a matter he was able to put it away in a +safe place, to be kept until he got more information about it. + +The next morning, amidst the flamboyant accounts of the subterranean +explosion, and of the heroic conduct of Madame Margarita da Cordova, +the famous Primadonna, in checking a dangerous panic at the Opera, +all the papers found room for a long paragraph about Miss Ida H. +Bamberger, who had died at the theatre in consequence of the shock +her nerves had received, and who was to have married the celebrated +capitalist and philanthropist, Mr. Van Torp, only two days later. +There were various dramatic and heart-rending accounts of her death, +and most of them agreed that she had breathed her last amidst her +nearest and dearest, who had been with her all the evening. + +But Mr. Griggs read these paragraphs thoughtfully, for he remembered +that he had found her lying in a heap behind a red baize door which +his memory could easily identify. + +After all, the least misleading notice was the one in the column of +deaths:-- + +BAMBERGER.--On Wednesday, of heart-failure from shock, IDA HAMILTON, +only child of HANNAH MOON by her former marriage with ISIDORE +BAMBERGER. California papers please copy. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +In the lives of professionals, whatever their profession may be, the +ordinary work of the day makes very little impression on the memory, +whereas a very strong and lasting one is often made by circumstances +which a man of leisure or a woman of the world might barely notice, +and would soon forget. In Margaret's life there were but two sorts of +days, those on which she was to sing and those on which she was at +liberty. In the one case she had a cutlet at five o'clock, and supper +when she came home; in the other, she dined like other people and went +to bed early. At the end of a season in New York, the evenings on +which she had sung all seemed to have been exactly alike; the people +had always applauded at the same places, she had always been called +out about the same number of times, she had always felt very much +the same pleasure and satisfaction, and she had invariably eaten her +supper with the same appetite. Actors lead far more emotional lives +than singers, partly because they have the excitement of a new piece +much more often, with the tremendous nervous strain of a first night, +and largely because they are not obliged to keep themselves in such +perfect training. To an actor a cold, an indigestion, or a headache +is doubtless an annoyance; but to a leading singer such an accident +almost always means the impossibility of appearing at all, with +serious loss of money to the artist, and grave disappointment to the +public. The result of all this is that singers, as a rule, are much +more normal, healthy, and well-balanced people than other musicians, +or than actors. Moreover they generally have very strong bodies and +constitutions to begin with, and when they have not they break down +young. + +Paul Griggs had an old traveller's preference for having plenty of +time, and he was on board the steamer on Saturday a full hour before +she was to sail; his not very numerous belongings, which looked as +weather-beaten as himself, were piled up unopened in his cabin, and he +himself stood on the upper promenade deck watching the passengers as +they came on board. He was an observant man, and it interested him to +note the expression of each new face that appeared; for the fact +of starting on a voyage across the ocean is apt to affect people +inversely as their experience. Those who cross often look so +unconcerned that a casual observer might think they were not to start +at all, whereas those who are going for the first time are either +visibly flurried, or are posing to look as if they were not, though +they are intensely nervous about their belongings; or they try to +appear as if they belonged to the ship, or else as if the ship +belonged to them, making observations which are supposed to be +nautical, but which instantly stamp them as unutterable land-lubbers +in the shrewd estimation of the stewards; and the latter, as every old +hand is aware, always know everything much better than the captain. + +Margaret Donne had been the most sensible and simple of young girls, +and when she appeared at the gangway very quietly dressed in brown, +with a brown fur collar, a brown hat, a brown veil, and a brown +parasol, there was really nothing striking to distinguish her from +other female passengers, except her good looks and her well-set-up +figure. Yet somehow it seems impossible for a successful primadonna +ever to escape notice. Instead of one maid, for instance, Cordova had +two, and they carried rather worn leathern boxes that were evidently +heavy jewel-cases, which they clutched with both hands and refused to +give up to the stewards. They also had about them the indescribable +air of rather aggressive assurance which belongs especially to +highly-paid servants, men and women. Their looks said to every one: +'We are the show and you are the public, so don't stand in the way, +for if you do the performance cannot go on!' They gave their orders +about their mistress's things to the chief steward as if he were +nothing better than a railway porter or a call-boy at the theatre; +and, strange to say, that exalted capitalist obeyed with a docility he +would certainly not have shown to any other passenger less than royal. +They knew their way everywhere, they knew exactly what the best of +everything was, and they made it clear that the great singer would +have nothing less than the very, very best. She had the best cabin +already, and she was to have the best seat at table, the best steward +and the best stewardess, and her deck-chair was to be always in the +best place on the upper promenade deck; and there was to be no mistake +about it; and if anybody questioned the right of Margarita da Cordova, +the great lyric soprano, to absolute precedence during the whole +voyage, from start to finish, her two maids would know the reason why, +and make the captain and all the ship's company wish they were dead. + +That was their attitude. + +But this was not all. There were the colleagues who came to see +Margaret off and wished that they were going too. In spite of the +windy weather there was Signor Pompeo Stromboli, the tenor, as broad +as any two ordinary men, in a fur coat of the most terribly expensive +sort, bringing an enormous box of chocolates with his best wishes; and +there was the great German dramatic barytone, Herr Tiefenbach, who +sang 'Amfortas' better than any one, and was a true musician as well +as a man of culture, and he brought Margaret a book which he insisted +that she must read on the voyage, called _The Genesis of the Tone +Epos_; and there was that excellent and useful little artist, Fräulein +Ottilie Braun, who never had an enemy in her life, who was always +ready to sing any part creditably at a moment's notice if one of the +leading artists broke down, and who was altogether one of the best, +kindest, and least conceited human beings that ever joined an opera +company. She brought her great colleague a little bunch of violets. + +Least expected of them all, there was Schreiermeyer, with a basket +of grape fruit in his tightly-gloved podgy hands; and he was smiling +cheerfully, which was an event in itself. They followed Margaret up to +the promenade deck after her maids had gone below, and stood round her +in a group, all talking at once in different languages. + +Griggs chanced to be the only other passenger on that part of the deck +and he joined the party, for he knew them all. Margaret gave him her +hand quietly and nodded to him. Signor Stromboli was effusive in his +greeting; Herr Tiefenbach gave him a solemn grip; little Fräulein +Ottilie smiled pleasantly, and Schreiermeyer put into his hands the +basket he carried, judging that as he could not get anything else out +of the literary man he could at least make him carry a parcel. + +'Grape fruit for Cordova,' he observed. 'You can give it to the +steward, and tell him to keep the things in a cool place.' + +Griggs took the basket with a slight smile, but Stromboli snatched it +from him instantly, and managed at the same time to seize upon the +book Herr Tiefenbach had brought without dropping his own big box of +sweetmeats. + +'I shall give everything to the waiter!' he cried with exuberant +energy as he turned away. 'He shall take care of Cordova with his +conscience! I tell you, I will frighten him!' + +This was possible, and even probable. Margaret looked after the broad +figure. + +'Dear old Stromboli!' she laughed. + +'He has the kindest heart in the world,' said little Fräulein Ottilie +Braun. + +'He is no a musician,' observed Herr Tiefenbach; 'but he does not sing +out of tune.' + +'He is a lunatic,' said Schreiermeyer gravely. 'All tenors are +lunatics--except about money,' he added thoughtfully. + +'I think Stromboli is very sensible,' said Margaret, turning to +Griggs. 'He brings his little Calabrian wife and her baby out with +him, and they take a small house for the winter and Italian servants, +and live just as if they were in their own country and see only their +Italian friends--instead of being utterly wretched in a horrible +hotel.' + +'For the modest consideration of a hundred dollars a day,' put in +Griggs, who was a poor man. + +'I wish my bills were never more than that!' Margaret laughed. + +'Yes,' said Schreiermeyer, still thoughtful. 'Stromboli understands +money. He is a man of business. He makes his wife cook for him.' + +'I often cook for myself,' said Fräulein Ottilie quite simply. 'If I +had a husband, I would cook for him too!' She laughed like a child, +without the slightest sourness. 'It is easier to cook well than to +marry at all, even badly!' + +'I do not at all agree with you,' answered Herr Tiefenbach severely. +'Without flattering myself, I may say that my wife married well; but +her potato dumplings are terrifying.' + +'You were never married, were you?' Margaret asked, turning to Griggs +with a smile. + +'No,' he answered. 'Can you make potato dumplings, and are you in +search of a husband?' + +'It is the other way,' said Schreiermeyer, 'for the husbands are +always after her. Talking of marriage, that girl who died the other +night was to have been married to Mr. Van Torp yesterday, and they +were to have sailed with you this morning.' + +'I saw his name on the--' Schreiermeyer began, but he was interrupted +by a tremendous blast from the ship's horn, the first warning for +non-passengers to go ashore. + +Before the noise stopped Stromboli appeared again, looking very much +pleased with himself, and twisting up the short black moustache that +was quite lost on his big face. When he was nearer he desisted from +twirling, shook a fat forefinger at Margaret and laughed. + +'Oh, well, then,' he cried, translating his Italian literally into +English, 'I've been in your room, Miss Cordova! Who is this Tom, eh? +Flowers from Tom, one! Sweets from Tom, two! A telegram from Tom, +three! Tom, Tom, Tom; it is full of Tom, her room! In the end, what +is this Tom? For me, I only know Tom the ruffian in the _Ballo in +Maschera_. That is all the Tom I know!' + +They all looked at Margaret and laughed. She blushed a little, more +out of annoyance than from any other reason. + +'The maids wished to put me out,' laughed Stromboli, 'but they could +not, because I am big. So I read everything. If I tell you I read, +what harm is there?' + +'None whatever,' Margaret answered, 'except that it is bad manners to +open other people's telegrams.' + +'Oh, that! The maid had opened it with water, and was reading when I +came. So I read too! You shall find it all well sealed again, have no +fear! They all do so.' + +'Pleasant journey,' said Schreiermeyer abruptly. 'I'm going ashore. +I'll see you in Paris in three weeks.' + +'Read the book,' said Herr Tiefenbach earnestly, as he shook hands. +'It is a deep book.' + +'Do not forget me!' cried Stromboli sentimentally, and he kissed +Margaret's gloves several times. + +'Good-bye,' said Fräulein Ottilie. 'Every one is sorry when you go!' + +Margaret was not a gushing person, but she stooped and kissed the +cheerful little woman, and pressed her small hand affectionately. + +'And everybody is glad when you come, my dear,' she said. + +For Fräulein Ottilie was perhaps the only person in the company whom +Cordova really liked, and who did not jar dreadfully on her at one +time or another. + +Another blast from the horn and they were all gone, leaving her and +Griggs standing by the rail on the upper promenade deck. The little +party gathered again on the pier when they had crossed the plank, and +made farewell signals to the two, and then disappeared. Unconsciously +Margaret gave a little sigh of relief, and Griggs noticed it, as he +noticed most things, but said nothing. + +There was silence for a while, and the gangplank was still in place +when the horn blew a third time, longer than before. + +'How very odd!' exclaimed Griggs, a moment after the sound had ceased. + +'What is odd?' Margaret asked. + +She saw that he was looking down, and her eyes followed his. A +square-shouldered man in mourning was walking up the plank in a +leisurely way, followed by a well-dressed English valet, who carried a +despatch-box in a leathern case. + +'It's not possible!' Margaret whispered in great surprise. + +'Perfectly possible,' Griggs answered, in a low voice. 'That is Rufus +Van Torp.' + +Margaret drew back from the rail, though the new comer was already out +of sight on the lower promenade deck, to which the plank was laid to +suit the height of the tide. She moved away from the door of the first +cabin companion. + +Griggs went with her, supposing that she wished to walk up and down. +Numbers of other passengers were strolling about on the side next to +the pier, waiting to see the start. Margaret went on forward, turned +the deck-house and walked to the rail on the opposite side, where +there was no one. Griggs glanced at her face and thought that she +seemed disturbed. She looked straight before her at the closed iron +doors of the next pier, at which no ship was lying. + +'I wish I knew you better,' she said suddenly. + +Griggs looked at her quietly. It did not occur to him to make a +trivial and complimentary answer to this advance, such as most men of +the world would have made, even at his age. + +'I shall be very glad if we ever know each other better,' he said +after a short pause. + +'So shall I.' + +She leaned upon the rail and looked down at the eddying water. The +tide had turned and was beginning to go out. Griggs watched her +handsome profile in silence for a time. + +'You have not many intimate friends, have you?' she asked presently. + +'No, only one or two.' + +She smiled. + +'I'm not trying to get confidences from you. But really, that is very +vague. You must surely know whether you have only one, or whether +there is another. I'm not suggesting myself as a third, either!' + +'Perhaps I'm over-cautious,' Griggs said. 'It does not matter. You +began by saying that you wished you knew me better. You meant that +if you did, you would either tell me something which you don't tell +everybody, or you would come to me for advice about something, or you +would ask me to do something for you. Is that it?' + +'I suppose so.' + +'It was not very hard to guess. I'll answer the three cases. If you +want to tell me a secret, don't. If you want advice without telling +everything about the case, it will be worthless. But if there is +anything I can do for you, I'll do it if I can, and I won't ask any +questions.' + +'That's kind and sensible,' Margaret answered. 'And I should not be in +the least afraid to tell you anything. You would not repeat it.' + +'No, certainly not. But some day, unless we became real friends, you +would think that I might, and then you would be very sorry.' + +A short pause followed. + +'We are moving,' Margaret said, glancing at the iron doors again. + +'Yes, we are off.' + +There was another pause. Then Margaret stood upright and turned her +face to her companion. She did not remember that she had ever looked +steadily into his eyes since she had known him. + +They were grey and rather deeply set under grizzled eyebrows that +were growing thick and rough with advancing years, and they met hers +quietly. She knew at once that she could bear their scrutiny for any +length of time without blushing or feeling nervous, though there was +something in them that was stronger than she. + +'It's this,' she said at last, as if she had been talking and had +reached a conclusion. 'I'm alone, and I'm a little frightened.' + +'You?' Griggs smiled rather incredulously. + +'Yes. Of course I'm used to travelling without any one and taking care +of myself. Singers and actresses are just like men in that, and it did +not occur to me this morning that this trip could be different from +any other.' + +'No. Why should it be so different? I don't understand.' + +'You said you would do something for me without asking questions. Will +you?' + +'If I can.' + +'Keep Mr. Van Torp away from me during the voyage. I mean, as much +as you can without being openly rude. Have my chair put next to some +other woman's and your own on my other side. Do you mind doing that?' + +Griggs smiled. + +'No,' he said, 'I don't mind.' + +'And if I am walking on deck and he joins me, come and walk beside me +too. Will you? Are you quite sure you don't mind?' + +'Yes.' He was still smiling. 'I'm quite certain that I don't dislike +the idea.' + +'I wish I were sure of being seasick,' Margaret said thoughtfully. +'It's bad for the voice, but it would be a great resource.' + +'As a resource, I shall try to be a good substitute for it,' said +Griggs. + +Margaret realised what she had said and laughed. + +'But it is no laughing matter,' she answered, her face growing grave +again after a moment. + +Griggs had promised not to ask questions, and he expressed no +curiosity. + +'As soon as you go below I'll see about the chair,' he said. + +'My cabin is on this deck,' Margaret answered. 'I believe I have a +tiny little sitting-room, too. It's what they call a suite in their +magnificent language, and the photographs in the advertisements make +it look like a palatial apartment!' + +She left the rail as she spoke, and found her own door on the same +side of the ship, not very far away. + +'Here it is,' she said. 'Thank you very much.' + +She looked into his eyes again for an instant and went in. + +She had forgotten Signor Stromboli and what he had said, for her +thoughts had been busy with a graver matter, but she smiled when she +saw the big bunch of dark red carnations in a water-jug on the table, +and the little cylinder-shaped parcel which certainly contained a +dozen little boxes of the chocolate 'oublies' she liked, and the +telegram, with its impersonal-looking address, waiting to be opened by +her after having been opened, read, and sealed again by her thoughtful +maids. Such trifles as the latter circumstance did not disturb her in +the least, for though she was only a young woman of four and twenty, +a singer and a musician, she had a philosophical mind, and considered +that if virtue has nothing to do with the greatness of princes, moral +worth need not be a clever lady's-maid's strong point. + +'Tom' was her old friend Edmund Lushington, one of the most +distinguished of the younger writers of the day. He was the only son +of the celebrated soprano, Madame Bonanni, now retired from the stage, +by her marriage with an English gentleman of the name of Goodyear, and +he had been christened Thomas. But his mother had got his name and +surname legally changed when he was a child, thinking that it would be +a disadvantage to him to be known as her son, as indeed it might have +been at first; even now the world did not know the truth about his +birth, but it would not have cared, since he had won his own way. + +Margaret meant to marry him if she married at all, for he had been +faithful in his devotion to her nearly three years; and his rivalry +with Constantine Logotheti, her other serious adorer, had brought some +complications into her life. But on mature reflection she was sure +that she did not wish to marry any one for the present. So many of +her fellow-singers had married young and married often, evidently +following the advice of a great American humorist, and mostly with +disastrous consequences, that Margaret preferred to be an exception, +and to marry late if at all. + +In the glaring light of the twentieth century it at last clearly +appears that marriageable young women have always looked upon marriage +as the chief means of escape from the abject slavery and humiliating +dependence hitherto imposed upon virgins between fifteen and fifty +years old. Shakespeare lacked the courage to write the 'Seven Ages of +Woman,' a matter the more to be regretted as no other writer has ever +possessed enough command of the English language to describe more than +three out of the seven without giving offence: namely, youth, which +lasts from sixteen to twenty; perfection, which begins at twenty and +lasts till further notice; and old age, which women generally place +beyond seventy, though some, whose strength is not all sorrow and +weakness even then, do not reach it till much later. If Shakespeare +had dared he would have described with poetic fire the age of the girl +who never marries. But this is a digression. The point is that the +truth about marriage is out, since the modern spinster has shown the +sisterhood how to live, and an amazing number of women look upon +wedlock as a foolish thing, vainly imagined, never necessary, and +rarely amusing. + +The state of perpetual unsanctified virginity, however, is not for +poor girls, nor for operatic singers, nor for kings' daughters, none +of whom, for various reasons, can live, or are allowed to live, +without husbands. Unless she be a hunchback, an unmarried royal +princess is almost as great an exception as a white raven or a cat +without a tail; a primadonna without a husband alive, dead, or +divorced, is hardly more common; and poor girls marry to live. But +give a modern young woman a decent social position, with enough money +for her wants and an average dose of assurance, and she becomes so +fastidious in the choice of a mate that no man is good enough for +her till she is too old to be good enough for any man. Even then the +chances are that she will not deeply regret her lost opportunities, +and though her married friends will tell her that she has made a +mistake, half of them will envy her in secret, the other half will not +pity her much, and all will ask her to their dinner-parties, because a +woman without a husband is such a convenience. + +In respect to her art Margarita da Cordova was in all ways a thorough +artist, endowed with the gifts, animated by the feelings, and +afflicted with the failings that usually make up an artistic nature. +But Margaret Donne was a sound and healthy English girl who had been +brought up in the right way by a very refined and cultivated father +and mother who loved her devotedly. If they had lived she would not +have gone upon the stage; for as her mother's friend Mrs. Rushmore had +often told her, the mere thought of such a life for their daughter +would have broken their hearts. She was a grown woman now, and high +on the wave of increasing success and celebrity, but she still had +a childish misgiving that she had disobeyed her parents and done +something very wrong, just as when she had surreptitiously got into +the jam cupboard at the age of five. + +Yet there are old-fashioned people alive even now who might think that +there was less harm in becoming a public singer than in keeping Edmund +Lushington dangling on a string for two years and more. Those things +are matters of opinion. Margaret would have answered that if he +dangled it was his misfortune and not her fault, since she never, in +her own opinion, had done anything to keep him, and would not have +been broken-hearted if he had gone away, though she would have missed +his friendship very much. Of the two, the man who had disturbed her +maiden peace of mind was Logotheti, whom she feared and sometimes +hated, but who had an inexplicable power over her when they met: the +sort of fateful influence which honest Britons commonly ascribe to all +foreigners with black hair, good teeth, diamond studs, and the other +outward signs of wickedness. Twice, at least, Logotheti had behaved in +a manner positively alarming, and on the second occasion he had very +nearly succeeded in carrying her off bodily from the theatre to +his yacht, a fate from which Lushington and his mother had been +instrumental in saving her. Such doings were shockingly lawless, but +they showed a degree of recklessly passionate admiration which was +flattering from a young financier who was so popular with women that +he found it infinitely easier to please than to be pleased. + +Perhaps, if Logotheti could have put on a little Anglo-Saxon coolness, +Margaret might have married him by this time. Perhaps she would have +married Lushington, if he could have suddenly been animated by a +little Greek fire. As things stood, she told herself that she did not +care to take a man who meant to be not only her master but her tyrant, +nor one who seemed more inclined to be her slave than her master. + +Meanwhile, however, it was the Englishman who kept himself constantly +in mind with her by an unbroken chain of small attentions that often +made her smile but sometimes really touched her. Any one could cable +'Pleasant voyage,' and sign the telegram 'Tom,' which gave it a +friendly and encouraging look, because somehow 'Tom' is a cheerful, +plucky little name, very unlike 'Edmund.' But it was quite another +matter, being in England, to take the trouble to have carnations of +just the right shade fresh on her cabin table at the moment of her +sailing from New York, and beside them the only sort of chocolates she +liked. That was more than a message, it was a visit, a presence, a +real reaching out of hand to hand. + +Logotheti, on the contrary, behaved as if he had forgotten Margaret's +existence as soon as he was out of her sight; and they now no longer +met often, but when they did he had a way of taking up the thread as +if there had been no interval, which was almost as effective as his +rival's method; for it produced the impression that he had been +thinking of her only, and of nothing else in the world since the last +meeting, and could never again give a thought to any other woman. This +also was flattering. He never wrote to her, he never telegraphed good +wishes for a journey or a performance, he never sent her so much as a +flower; he acted as if he were really trying to forget her, as perhaps +he was. But when they met, he was no sooner in the same room with her +than she felt the old disturbing influence she feared and yet +somehow desired in spite of herself, and much as she preferred the +companionship of Lushington and liked his loyal straightforward ways, +and admired his great talent, she felt that he paled and seemed less +interesting beside the vivid personality of the Greek financier. + +He was vivid; no other word expresses what he was, and if that one +cannot properly be applied to a man, so much the worse for our +language. His colouring was too handsome, his clothes were too good, +his shoes were too shiny, his ties too surprising, and he not only +wore diamonds and rubies, but very valuable ones. Yet he was not +vulgarly gorgeous; he was Oriental. No one would say that a Chinese +idol covered with gold and precious stones was overdressed, but it +would be out of place in a Scotch kirk; the minister would be thrown +into the shade and the congregation would look at the idol. In +society, which nowadays is far from a chiaroscuro, everybody looked at +Logotheti. If he had come from any place nearer than Constantinople +people would have smiled and perhaps laughed at him; as it was, he was +an exotic, and besides, he had the reputation of being dangerous to +women's peace, and extremely awkward to meddle with in a quarrel. + +Margaret sat some time in her little sitting-room reflecting on these +things, for she knew that before many days were past she must meet +her two adorers; and when she had thought enough about both, she gave +orders to her maids about arranging her belongings. By and by she went +to luncheon and found herself alone at some distance from the other +passengers, next to the captain's empty seat; but she was rather glad +that her neighbours had not come to table, for she got what she wanted +very quickly and had no reason for waiting after she had finished. + +Then she took a book and went on deck again, and Alphonsine found her +chair on the sunny side and installed her in it very comfortably and +covered her up, and to her own surprise she felt that she was very +sleepy; so that just as she was wondering why, she dozed off and began +to dream that she was Isolde, on board of Tristan's ship, and that she +was singing the part, though she had never sung it and probably never +would. + +When she opened her eyes again there was no land in sight, and the big +steamer was going quietly with scarcely any roll. She looked aft and +saw Paul Griggs leaning against the rail, smoking; and she turned her +head the other way, and the chair next to her own on that side was +occupied by a very pleasant-looking young woman who was sitting up +straight and showing the pictures in a book to a beautiful little girl +who stood beside her. + +The lady had a very quiet healthy face and smooth brown hair, and was +simply and sensibly dressed. Margaret at once decided that she was not +the child's mother, nor an elder sister, but some one who had charge +of her, though not exactly a governess. The child was about nine years +old; she had a quantity of golden hair that waved naturally, and a +spiritual face with deep violet eyes, a broad white forehead and a +pathetic little mouth. + +She examined each picture, and then looked up quickly at the lady, +keeping her wide eyes fixed on the latter's face with an expression of +watchful interest. The lady explained each picture to her, but in such +a soft whisper that Margaret could not hear a sound. Yet the child +evidently understood every word easily. It was natural to suppose that +the lady spoke under her breath in order not to disturb Margaret while +she was asleep. + +'It is very kind of you to whisper,' said the Primadonna graciously, +'but I am awake now.' + +The lady turned with a pleasant smile. + +'Thank you,' she answered. + +The child did not notice Margaret's little speech, but looked up from +the book for the explanation of the next picture. + +'It is the inside of the Colosseum in Rome, and you will see it +before long,' said the lady very distinctly. 'I have told you how the +gladiators fought there, and how Saint Ignatius was sent all the way +from Antioch to be devoured by lions there, like many other martyrs.' + +The little girl watched her face intently, nodded gravely, and looked +down at the picture again, but said nothing. The lady turned to +Margaret. + +'She was born deaf and dumb,' she said quietly, 'but I have taught her +to understand from the lips, and she can already speak quite well. She +is very clever.' + +'Poor little thing!' Margaret looked at the girl with increasing +interest. 'Such a little beauty, too! What is her name?' + +'Ida--' + +The child had turned over the pages to another picture, and now looked +up for the explanation of it. Griggs had finished his cigar and came +and sat down on Margaret's other side. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +The _Leofric_ was three days out, and therefore half-way over the +ocean, for she was a fast boat, but so far Griggs had not been called +upon to hinder Mr. Van Torp from annoying Margaret. Mr. Van Torp had +not been on deck; in fact, he had not been seen at all since he had +disappeared into his cabin a quarter of an hour before the steamer had +left the pier. There was a good deal of curiosity about him amongst +the passengers, as there would have been about the famous Primadonna +if she had not come punctually to every meal, and if she had not been +equally regular in spending a certain number of hours on deck every +day. + +At first every one was anxious to have what people call a 'good look' +at her, because all the usual legends were already repeated about her +wherever she went. It was said that she was really an ugly woman of +thirty-five who had been married to a Spanish count of twice that +age, and that he had died leaving her penniless, so that she had been +obliged to support herself by singing. Others were equally sure that +she was a beautiful escaped nun, who had been forced to take the veil +in a convent in Seville by cruel parents, but who had succeeded in +getting herself carried off by a Polish nobleman disguised as a +priest. Every one remembered the marvellous voice that used to sing so +high above all the other nuns, behind the lattice on Sunday afternoons +at the church of the Dominican Convent. That had been the voice of +Margarita da Cordova, and she could never go back to Spain, for if she +did the Inquisition would seize upon her, and she would be tortured +and probably burnt alive to encourage the other nuns. + +This was very romantic, but unfortunately there was a man who said he +knew the plain truth about her, and that she was just a good-looking +Irish girl whose father used to play the flute at a theatre in Dublin, +and whose mother kept a sweetshop in Queen Street. The man who knew +this had often seen the shop, which was conclusive. + +Margaret showed herself daily and the myths lost value, for every +one saw that she was neither an escaped Spanish nun nor the gifted +offspring of a Dublin flute-player and a female retailer of +bull's-eyes and butterscotch, but just a handsome, healthy, +well-brought-up young Englishwoman, who called herself Miss Donne in +private life. + +But gossip, finding no hold upon her, turned and rent Mr. Van Torp, +who dwelt within his tent like Achilles, but whether brooding or +sea-sick no one was ever to know. The difference of opinion about him +was amazing. Some said he had no heart, since he had not even waited +for the funeral of the poor girl who was to have been his wife. +Others, on the contrary, said that he was broken-hearted, and that +his doctor had insisted upon his going abroad at once, doubtless +considering, as the best practitioners often do, that it is wisest +to send a patient who is in a dangerous condition to distant shores, +where some other doctor will get the credit of having killed him or +driven him mad. Some said that Mr. Van Torp was concerned in the +affair of that Chinese loan, which of course explained why he was +forced to go to Europe in spite of the dreadful misfortune that had +happened to him. The man who knew everything hinted darkly that Mr. +Van Torp was not really solvent, and that he had perhaps left the +country just at the right moment. + +'That is nonsense,' said Miss More to Margaret in an undertone, for +they had both heard what had just been said. + +Miss More was the lady in charge of the pretty deaf child, and the +latter was curled up in the next chair with a little piece of crochet +work. Margaret had soon found out that Miss More was a very nice +woman, after her own taste, who was given neither to flattery nor to +prying, the two faults from which celebrities are generally made to +suffer most by fellow-travellers who make their acquaintance. Miss +More was evidently delighted to find herself placed on deck next to +the famous singer, and Margaret was so well satisfied that the deck +steward had already received a preliminary tip, with instructions to +keep the chairs together during the voyage. + +'Yes,' said Margaret, in answer to Miss More's remark. 'I don't +believe there is the least reason for thinking that Mr. Van Torp is +not immensely rich. Do you know him?' + +'Yes.' + +Miss More did not seem inclined to enlarge upon the fact, and her face +was thoughtful after she had said the one word; so was Margaret's tone +when she answered: + +'So do I.' + +Each of the young women understood that the other did not care to +talk of Mr. Van Torp. Margaret glanced sideways at her neighbour and +wondered vaguely whether the latter's experience had been at all like +her own, but she could not see anything to make her think so. Miss +More had a singularly pleasant expression and a face that made one +trust her at once, but she was far from beautiful, and would hardly +pass for pretty beside such a good-looking woman as Margaret, who +after all was not what people call an out-and-out beauty. It was odd +that the quiet lady-like teacher should have answered monosyllabically +in that tone. She felt Margaret's sidelong look of inquiry, and turned +half round after glancing at little Ida, who was very busy with her +crochet. + +'I'm afraid you may have misunderstood me,' she said, smiling. 'If I +did not say any more it is because he himself does not wish people to +talk of what he does.' + +'I assure you, I'm not curious,' Margaret answered, smiling too. 'I'm +sorry if I looked as if I were.' + +'No--you misunderstood me, and it was a little my fault. Mr. Van Torp +is doing something very, very kind which it was impossible that I +should not know of, and he has asked me not to tell any one.' + +'I see,' Margaret answered. 'Thank you for telling me. I am glad to +know that he--' + +She checked herself. She detested and feared the man, for reasons of +her own, and she found it hard to believe that he could do something +'very, very kind' and yet not wish it to be known. He did not strike +her as being the kind of person who would go out of his way to hide +his light under a bushel. Yet Miss More's tone had been quiet and +earnest. Perhaps he had employed her to teach some poor deaf and dumb +child, like little Ida. Her words seemed to imply this, for she had +said that it had been impossible that she should not know; that is, +he had been forced to ask her advice or help, and her help and advice +could only be considered indispensable where her profession as a +teacher of the deaf and dumb was concerned. + +Miss More was too discreet to ask the question which Margaret's +unfinished sentence suggested, but she would not let the speech pass +quite unanswered. + +'He is often misjudged,' she said. 'In business he may be what many +people say he is. I don't understand business! But I have known him to +help people who needed help badly and who never guessed that he even +knew their names.' + +'You must be right,' Margaret answered. + +She remembered the last words of the girl who had died in the +manager's room at the theatre. There had been a secret. The secret +was that Mr. Van Torp had done the thing, whatever it was. She had +probably not known what she was saying, but it had been on her mind to +say that Mr. Van Torp had done it, the man she was to have married. +Margaret's first impression had been that the thing done must have +been something very bad, because she herself disliked the man so +much; but Miss More knew him, and since he often did 'very, very kind +things,' it was possible that the particular action of which the dying +girl was thinking might have been a charitable one; possibly he had +confided the secret to her. Margaret smiled rather cruelly at her own +superior knowledge of the world--yes, he had told the girl about that +'secret' charity in order to make a good impression on her! Perhaps +that was his favourite method of interesting women; if it was, he +had not invented it. Margaret thought she could have told Miss More +something which would have thrown another light on Mr. Van Torp's +character. + +Her reflections had led her back to the painful scene at the theatre, +and she remembered the account of it the next day, and the fact that +the girl's name had been Ida. To change the subject she asked her +neighbour an idle question. + +'What is the little girl's full name?' she inquired. + +'Ida Moon,' answered Miss More. + +'Moon?' Margaret turned her head sharply. 'May I ask if she is any +relation of the California Senator who died last year?' + +'She is his daughter,' said Miss More quietly. + +Margaret laid one hand on the arm of her chair and leaned forward a +little, so as to see the child better. + +'Really!' she exclaimed, rather deliberately, as if she had chosen +that particular word out of a number that suggested themselves. +'Really!' she repeated, still more slowly, and then leaned back again +and looked at the grey waves. + +She remembered the notice of Miss Bamberger's death. It had described +the deceased as the only child of Hannah Moon by her former marriage +with Isidore Bamberger. But Hannah Moon, as Margaret happened to know, +was now the widow of Senator Alvah Moon. Therefore the little deaf +child was the half-sister of the girl who had died at the theatre in +Margaret's arms and had been christened by the same name. Therefore, +also, she was related to Margaret, whose mother had been the +California magnate's cousin. + +'How small the world is!' Margaret said in a low voice as she looked +at the grey waves. + +She wondered whether little Ida had ever heard of her half-sister, and +what Miss More knew about it all. + +'How old is Mrs. Moon?' she asked. + +'I fancy she must be forty, or near that. I know that she was nearly +thirty years younger than the Senator, but I never saw her.' + +'You never saw her?' Margaret was surprised. + +'No,' Miss More answered. 'She is insane, you know. She went quite +mad soon after the little girl was born. It was very painful for +the Senator. Her delusion was that he was her divorced husband, Mr. +Bamberger, and when the child came into the world she insisted that +it should be called Ida, and that she had no other. Mr. Bamberger's +daughter was Ida, you know. It was very strange. Mrs. Moon was +convinced that she was forced to live her life over again, year by +year, as an expiation for something she had done. The doctors say it +is a hopeless case. I really think it shortened the Senator's life.' + +Margaret did not think that the world had any cause to complain of +Mrs. Moon on that account. + +'So this child is quite alone in the world,' she said. + +'Yes. Her father is dead and her mother is in an asylum.' + +'Poor little thing!' + +The two young women were leaning back in their chairs, their faces +turned towards each other as they talked, and Ida was still busy with +her crochet. + +'Luckily she has a sunny nature,' said Miss More. 'She is interested +in everything she sees and hears.' She laughed a little. 'I always +speak of it as hearing,' she added, 'for it is quite as quick, when +there is light enough. You know that, since you have talked with her.' + +'Yes. But in the dark, how do you make her understand?' + +'She can generally read what I say by laying her hand on my lips; but +besides that, we have the deaf and dumb alphabet, and she can feel my +fingers as I make the letters.' + +'You have been with her a long time, I suppose,' Margaret said. + +'Since she was three years old.' + +'California is a beautiful country, isn't it?' asked Margaret after a +pause. + +She put the question idly, for she was thinking how hard it must be to +teach deaf and dumb children. Miss More's answer surprised her. + +'I have never been there.' + +'But, surely, Senator Moon lived in San Francisco,' Margaret said. + +'Yes. But the child was sent to New England when she was three, +and never went back again. We have been living in the country near +Boston.' + +'And the Senator used to pay you a visit now and then, of course, when +he was alive. He must have been immensely pleased by the success of +your teaching.' + +Though Margaret felt that she was growing more curious about little +Ida than she often was about any one, it did not occur to her that the +question she now suggested, rather than asked, was an indiscreet one, +and she was surprised by her companion's silence. She had already +discovered that Miss More was one of those literally truthful people +who never let an inaccurate statement pass their lips, and who will +be obstinately silent rather than answer a leading question, quite +regardless of the fact that silence is sometimes the most direct +answer that can be given. On the present occasion Miss More said +nothing and turned her eyes to the sea, leaving Margaret to make any +deduction she pleased; but only one suggested itself, namely, that the +deceased Senator had taken very little interest in the child of his +old age, and had felt no affection for her. Margaret wondered whether +he had left her rich, but Miss More's silence told her that she had +already asked too many questions. + +She glanced down the long line of passengers beyond Miss More and Ida. +Men, women, and children lay side by side in their chairs, wrapped and +propped like a row of stuffed specimens in a museum. They were not +interesting, Margaret thought; for those who were awake all looked +discontented, and those who were asleep looked either ill or +apoplectic. Perhaps half of them were crossing because they were +obliged to go to Europe for one reason or another; the other half were +going in an aimless way, because they had got into the habit while +they were young, or had been told that it was the right thing to do, +or because their doctors sent them abroad to get rid of them. The grey +light from the waves was reflected on the immaculate and shiny white +paint, and shed a cold glare on the commonplace faces and on the +plaid rugs, and on the vivid magazines which many of the people were +reading, or pretending to read; for most persons only look at the +pictures nowadays, and read the advertisements. A steward in a very +short jacket was serving perfectly unnecessary cups of weak broth on a +big tray, and a great number of the passengers took some, with a vague +idea that the Company's feelings might be hurt if they did not, or +else that they would not be getting their money's worth. + +Between the railing and the feet of the passengers, which stuck out +over the foot-rests of their chairs to different lengths according +to the height of the possessors, certain energetic people walked +ceaselessly up and down the deck, sometimes flattening themselves +against the railing to let others who met them pass by, and sometimes, +when the ship rolled a little, stumbling against an outstretched foot +or two without making any elaborate apology for doing so. + +Margaret only glanced at the familiar sight, but she made a little +movement of annoyance almost directly, and took up the book that lay +open and face downwards on her knee; she became absorbed in it so +suddenly as to convey the impression that she was not really reading +at all. + +She had seen Mr. Van Torp and Paul Griggs walking together and coming +towards her. + +The millionaire was shorter than his companion and more clumsily made, +though not by any means a stout man. Though he did not look like a +soldier he had about him the very combative air which belongs to so +many modern financiers of the Christian breed. There was the bull-dog +jaw, the iron mouth, and the aggressive blue eye of the man who takes +and keeps by force rather than by astuteness. Though his face had +lines in it and his complexion was far from brilliant he looked +scarcely forty years of age, and his short, rough, sandy hair had not +yet begun to turn grey. + +He was not ugly, but Margaret had always seen something in his face +that repelled her. It was some lack of proportion somewhere, which +she could not precisely define; it was something that was out of +the common type of faces, but that was disquieting rather than +interesting. Instead of wondering what it meant, those who noticed it +wished it were not there. + +Margaret was sure she could distinguish his heavy step from Griggs's +when he was near her, but she would not look up from her book till he +stopped and spoke to her. + +'Good-morning, Madame Cordova; how are you this morning?' he inquired, +holding out his hand. 'You didn't expect to see me on board, did you?' + +His tone was hard and business-like, but he lifted his yachting cap +politely as he held out his hand. Margaret hesitated a moment before +taking it, and when she moved her own he was already holding his out +to Miss More. + +'Good-morning, Miss More; how are you this morning?' + +Miss More leaned forward and put down one foot as if she would have +risen in the presence of the great man, but he pushed her back by her +hand which he held, and proceeded to shake hands with the little girl. + +'Good-morning, Miss Ida; how are you this morning?' + +Margaret felt sure that if he had shaken hands with a hundred people +he would have repeated the same words to each without any variation. +She looked at Griggs imploringly, and glanced at his vacant chair on +her right side. He did not answer by sitting down, because the action +would have been too like deliberately telling Mr. Van Torp to go away, +but he began to fold up the chair as if he were going to take it away, +and then he seemed to find that there was something wrong with one of +its joints, and altogether it gave him a good deal of trouble, and +made it quite impossible for the great man to get any nearer to +Margaret. + +Little Ida had taken Mr. Van Torp's proffered hand, and had watched +his hard lips when he spoke. She answered quite clearly and rather +slowly, in the somewhat monotonous voice of those born deaf who have +learned to speak. + +'I'm very well, thank you, Mr. Van Torp. I hope you are quite well.' + +Margaret heard, and saw the child's face, and at once decided that, if +the little girl knew of her own relationship to Ida Bamberger, she was +certainly ignorant of the fact that her half-sister had been engaged +to Mr. Van Torp, when she had died so suddenly less than a week ago. +Little Ida's manner strengthened the impression in Margaret's mind +that the millionaire was having her educated by Miss More. Yet it +seemed impossible that the rich old Senator should not have left her +well provided. + +'I see you've made friends with Madame Cordova,' said Mr. Van Torp. +'I'm very glad, for she's quite an old friend of mine too.' + +Margaret made a slight movement, but said nothing. Miss More saw her +annoyance and intervened by speaking to the financier. + +'We began to fear that we might not see you at all on the voyage,' she +said, in a tone of some concern. 'I hope you have not been suffering +again.' + +Margaret wondered whether she meant to ask if he had been sea-sick; +what she said sounded like an inquiry about some more or less frequent +indisposition, though Mr. Van Torp looked as strong as a ploughman. + +In answer to the question he glanced sharply at Miss More, and shook +his head. + +'I've been too busy to come on deck,' he said, rather curtly, and he +turned to Margaret again. + +'Will you take a little walk with me, Madame Cordova?' he asked. + +Not having any valid excuse for refusing, Margaret smiled, for the +first time since she had seen him on deck. + +'I'm so comfortable!' she answered. 'Don't make me get out of my rug!' + +'If you'll take a little walk with me, I'll give you a pretty +present,' said Mr. Van Torp playfully. + +Margaret thought it best to laugh and shake her head at this singular +offer. Little Ida had been watching them both. + +'You'd better go with him,' said the child gravely. 'He makes lovely +presents.' + +'Does he?' Margaret laughed again. + +'"A fortress that parleys, or a woman who listens, is lost,'" put in +Griggs, quoting an old French proverb. + +'Then I won't listen,' Margaret said. + +Mr. Van Torp planted himself more firmly on his sturdy legs, for the +ship was rolling a little. + +'I'll give you a book, Madame Cordova,' he said. + +His habit of constantly repeating the name of the person with whom +he was talking irritated her extremely. She was not smiling when she +answered. + +'Thank you. I have more books than I can possibly read.' + +'Yes. But you have not the one I will give you, and it happens to be +the only one you want.' + +'But I don't want any book at all! I don't want to read!' + +'Yes, you do, Madame Cordova. You want to read this one, and it's the +only copy on board, and if you'll take a little walk with me I'll give +it to you.' + +As he spoke he very slowly drew a new book from the depths of the wide +pocket in his overcoat, but only far enough to show Margaret the first +words of the title, and he kept his aggressive blue eyes fixed on her +face. A faint blush came into her cheeks at once and he let the volume +slip back. Griggs, being on his other side, had not seen it, and it +meant nothing to Miss More. To the latter's surprise Margaret pushed +her heavy rug from her knees and let her feet slip from the chair to +the ground. Her eyes met Griggs's as she rose, and seeing that his +look asked her whether he was to carry out her previous instructions +and walk beside her, she shook her head. + +'Nine times out of ten, proverbs are true,' he said in a tone of +amusement. + +Mr. Van Torp's hard face expressed no triumph when Margaret stood +beside him, ready to walk. She had yielded, as he had been sure she +would; he turned from the other passengers to go round to the weather +side of the ship, and she went with him submissively. Just at the +point where the wind and the fine spray would have met them if they +had gone on, he stopped in the lee of a big ventilator. There was no +one in sight of them now. + +'Excuse me for making you get up,' he said. 'I wanted to see you alone +for a moment.' + +Margaret said nothing in answer to this apology, and she met his fixed +eyes coldly. + +'You were with Miss Bamberger when she died,' he said. + +Margaret bent her head gravely in assent. His face was as +expressionless as a stone. + +'I thought she might have mentioned me before she died,' he said +slowly. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered after a moment's pause; 'she did.' + +'What did she say?' + +'She told me that it was a secret, but that I was to tell you what she +said, if I thought it best.' + +'Are you going to tell me?' + +It was impossible to guess whether he was controlling any emotion or +not; but if the men with whom he had done business where large sums +were involved had seen him now and had heard his voice, they would +have recognised the tone and the expression. + +'She said, "he did it,"' Margaret answered slowly, after a moment's +thought. + +'Was that all she said?' + +'That was all. A moment later she was dead. Before she said it, she +told me it was a secret, and she made me promise solemnly never to +tell any one but you.' + +'It's not much of a secret, is it?' As he spoke, Mr. Van Torp turned +his eyes from Margaret's at last and looked at the grey sea beyond the +ventilator. + +'Such as it is, I have told it to you because she wished me to,' +answered Margaret. 'But I shall never tell any one else. It will be +all the easier to be silent, as I have not the least idea what she +meant.' + +'She meant our engagement,' said Mr. Van Torp in a matter-of-fact +tone. 'We had broken it off that afternoon. She meant that it was I +who did it, and so it was. Perhaps she did not like to think that when +she was dead people might call her heartless and say she had thrown me +over; and no one would ever know the truth except me, unless I chose +to tell--me and her father.' + +'Then you were not to be married after all!' Margaret showed her +surprise. + +'No. I had broken it off. We were going to let it be known the next +day.' + +'On the very eve of the wedding!' + +'Yes.' Mr. Van Torp fixed his eyes on Margaret's again. 'On the very +eve of the wedding,' he said, repeating her words. + +He spoke very slowly and without emphasis, but with the greatest +possible distinctness. Margaret had once been taken to see a motor-car +manufactory and she remembered a machine that clipped bits off the +end of an iron bar, inch by inch, smoothly and deliberately. Mr. Van +Torp's lips made her think of that; they seemed to cut the hard words +one by one, in lengths. + +'Poor girl!' she sighed, and looked away. + +The man's face did not change, and if his next words echoed the +sympathy she expressed his tone did not. + +'I was a good deal cut up myself,' he observed coolly. 'Here's your +book, Madame Cordova.' + +'No,' Margaret answered with a little burst of indignation, 'I don't +want it. I won't take it from you!' + +'What's the matter now?' asked Mr. Van Torp without the least change +of manner. 'It's your friend Mr. Lushington's latest, you know, and it +won't be out for ten days. I thought you would like to see it, so I +got an advance copy before it was published.' + +He held the volume out to her, but she would not even look at it, nor +answer him. + +'How you hate me! Don't you, Madame Cordova?' + +Margaret still said nothing. She was considering how she could best +get rid of him. If she simply brushed past him and went back to her +chair on the lee side, he would follow her and go on talking to her as +if nothing had happened; and she knew that in that case she would lose +control of herself before Griggs and Miss More. + +'Oh, well,' he went on, 'if you don't want the book, I don't. I can't +read novels myself, and I daresay it's trash anyhow.' + +Thereupon, with a quick movement of his arm and hand, he sent Mr. +Lushington's latest novel flying over the lee rail, fully thirty feet +away, and it dropped out of sight into the grey waves. He had been a +good baseball pitcher in his youth. + +Margaret bit her lip and her eyes flashed. + +'You are quite the most disgustingly brutal person I ever met,' she +said, no longer able to keep down her anger. + +'No,' he answered calmly. 'I'm not brutal; I'm only logical. I took a +great deal of trouble to get that book for you because I thought +it would give you pleasure, and it wasn't a particularly legal +transaction by which I got it either. Since you didn't want it, I +wasn't going to let anybody else have the satisfaction of reading it +before it was published, so I just threw it away because it is safer +in the sea than knocking about in my cabin. If you hadn't seen me +throw it overboard you would never have believed that I had. You're +not much given to believing me, anyway. I've noticed that. Are you, +now?' + +'Oh, it was not the book!' + +Margaret turned from him and made a step forward so that she faced the +sharp wind. It cut her face and she felt that the little pain was +a relief. He came and stood beside her with his hands deep in the +pockets of his overcoat. + +'If you think I'm a brute on account of what I told you about +Miss Bamberger,' he said, 'that's not quite fair. I broke off our +engagement because I found out that we were going to make each other +miserable and we should have had to divorce in six months; and if half +the people who are just going to get married would do the same thing +there would be a lot more happy women in the world, not to say men! +That's all, and she knew it, poor girl, and was just as glad as I was +when the thing was done. Now what is there so brutal in that, Madame +Cordova?' + +Margaret turned on him almost fiercely. + +'Why do you tell me all this?' she asked. 'For heaven's sake let poor +Miss Bamberger rest in her grave!' + +'Since you ask me why,' answered Mr. Van Torp, unmoved, 'I tell you +all this because I want you to know more about me than you do. If you +did, you'd hate me less. That's the plain truth. You know very well +that there's nobody like you, and that if I'd judged I had the +slightest chance of getting you I would no more have thought of +marrying Miss Bamberger than of throwing a million dollars into the +sea after that book, or ten million, and that's a great deal of +money.' + +'I ought to be flattered,' said Margaret with scorn, still facing the +wind. + +'No. I'm not given to flattery, and money means something real to me, +because I've fought for it, and got it. Your regular young lover will +always call you his precious treasure, and I don't see much difference +between a precious treasure and several million dollars. I'm logical, +you see. I tell you I'm logical, that's all.' + +'I daresay. I think we have been talking here long enough. Shall we go +back?' + +She had got her anger under again. She detested Mr. Van Torp, but she +was honest enough to realise that for the present she had resented his +saying that Lushington's book was probably trash, much more than what +he had told her of his broken engagement. She turned and came back to +the ventilator, meaning to go around to her chair, but he stopped her. + +'Don't go yet, please!' he said, keeping beside her. 'Call me a +disgusting brute if you like. I sha'n't mind it, and I daresay it's +true in a kind of way. Business isn't very refining, you know, and it +was the only education I got after I was sixteen. I'm sorry I called +that book rubbish, for I'm sure it's not. I've met Mr. Lushington in +England several times; he's very clever, and he's got a first-rate +position. But you see I didn't like your refusing the book, after I'd +taken so much trouble to get it for you. Perhaps if I hadn't thrown it +overboard you'd take it, now that I've apologised. Would you?' + +His tone had changed at last, as she had known it to change before in +the course of an acquaintance that had lasted more than a year. He put +the question almost humbly. + +'I don't know,' Margaret answered, relenting a little in spite of +herself. 'At all events I'm sorry I was so rude. I lost my temper.' + +'It was very natural,' said Mr. Van Torp meekly, but not looking at +her, 'and I know I deserved it. You really would let me give you the +book now, if it were possible, wouldn't you?' + +'Perhaps.' She thought that as there was no such possibility it was +safe to say as much as that. + +'I should feel so much better if you would,' he answered. 'I should +feel as if you'd accepted my apology. Won't you say it, Madame +Cordova?' + +'Well--yes--since you wish it so much,' Margaret replied, feeling that +she risked nothing. + +'Here it is, then,' he said, to her amazement, producing the new novel +from the pocket of his overcoat, and enjoying her surprise as he put +it into her hand. + +It looked like a trick of sleight of hand, and she took the book and +stared at him, as a child stares at the conjuror who produces an apple +out of its ear. + +'But I saw you throw it away,' she said in a puzzled tone. + +'I got two while I was about it,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling without +showing his teeth. 'It was just as easy and it didn't cost me any +more.' + +'I see! Thank you very much.' + +She knew that she could not but keep the volume now, and in her heart +she was glad to have it, for Lushington had written to her about it +several times since she had been in America. + +'Well, I'll leave you now,' said the millionaire, resuming his stony +expression. 'I hope I've not kept you too long.' + +Before Margaret had realised the idiotic conventionality of the last +words her companion had disappeared and she was left alone. He had not +gone back in the direction whence they had come, but had taken the +deserted windward side of the ship, doubtless with the intention of +avoiding the crowd. + +Margaret stood still for some time in the lee of the ventilator, +holding the novel in her hand and thinking. She wondered whether Mr. +Van Torp had planned the whole scene, including the sacrifice of the +novel. If he had not, it was certainly strange that he should have had +the second copy ready in his pocket. Lushington had once told her that +great politicians and great financiers were always great comedians, +and now that she remembered the saying it occurred to her that Mr. Van +Torp reminded her of a certain type of American actor, a type that +has a heavy jaw and an aggressive eye, and strongly resembles the +portraits of Daniel Webster. Now Daniel Webster had a wide reputation +as a politician, but there is reason to believe that the numerous +persons who lent him money and never got it back thought him a +financier of undoubted ability, if not a comedian of talent. There +were giants in those days. + +The English girl, breathing the clean air of the ocean, felt as if +something had left a bad taste in her mouth; and the famous young +singer, who had seen in two years what a normal Englishwoman would +neither see, nor guess at, nor wish to imagine in a lifetime, thought +she understood tolerably well what the bad taste meant. Moreover, +Margaret Donne was ashamed of what Margarita da Cordova knew, and +Cordova had moments of sharp regret when she thought of the girl who +had been herself, and had lived under good Mrs. Rushmore's protection, +like a flower in a glass house. + +She remembered, too, how Lushington and Mrs. Rushmore had warned her +and entreated her not to become an opera-singer. She had taken her +future into her own hands and had soon found out what it meant to be +a celebrity on the stage; and she had seen only too clearly where +she was classed by the women who would have been her companions and +friends if she had kept out of the profession. She had learned by +experience, too, how little real consideration she could expect from +men of the world, and how very little she could really exact from such +people as Mr. Van Torp; still less could she expect to get it from +persons like Schreiermeyer, who looked upon the gifted men and women +he engaged to sing as so many head of cattle, to be driven more or +less hard according to their value, and to be turned out to starve the +moment they were broken-winded. That fate is sure to overtake the best +of them sooner or later. The career of a great opera-singer is rarely +more than half as long as that of a great tragedian, and even when a +primadonna or a tenor makes a fortune, the decline of their glory is +far more sudden and sad than that of actors generally is. Lady Macbeth +is as great a part as Juliet for an actress of genius, but there are +no 'old parts' for singers; the soprano dare not turn into a contralto +with advancing years, nor does the unapproachable Parsifal of +eight-and-twenty turn into an incomparable Amfortas at fifty. For the +actor, it often happens that the first sign of age is fatigue; in the +singer's day, the first shadow is an eclipse, the first false note is +disaster, the first breakdown is often a heart-rending failure that +brings real tears to the eyes of younger comrades. The exquisite voice +does not grow weak and pathetic and ethereal by degrees, so that we +still love to hear it, even to the end; far more often it is suddenly +flat or sharp by a quarter of a tone throughout whole acts, or it +breaks on one note in a discordant shriek that is the end. Down goes +the curtain then, in the middle of the great opera, and down goes the +great singer for ever into tears and silence. Some of us have seen +that happen, many have heard of it; few can think without real +sympathy of such mortal suffering and distress. + +Margaret realised all this, without any illusion, but there was +another side to the question. There was success, glorious and +far-reaching, and beyond her brightest dreams; there was the certainty +that she was amongst the very first, for the deafening ring of +universal applause was in her ears; and, above all, there was youth. +Sometimes it seemed to her that she had almost too much, and that some +dreadful thing must happen to her; yet if there were moments when she +faintly regretted the calmer, sweeter life she might have led, she +knew that she would have given that life up, over and over again, for +the splendid joy of holding thousands spellbound while she sang. She +had the real lyric artist's temperament, for that breathless silence +of the many while her voice rang out alone, and trilled and died away +to a delicate musical echo, was more to her than the roar of applause +that could be heard through the walls and closed doors in the street +outside. To such a moment as that Faustus himself would have cried +'Stay!' though the price of satisfied desire were his soul. And there +had been many such moments in Cordova's life. They satisfied something +much deeper than greedy vanity and stronger than hungry ambition. Call +it what you will, according to the worth you set on such art, it is +a longing which only artists feel, and to which only something in +themselves can answer. To listen to perfect music is a feast for gods, +but to be the living instrument beyond compare is to be a god oneself. +Of our five senses, sight calls up visions, divine as well as earthly, +but hearing alone can link body, mind, and soul with higher things, by +the word and by the word made song. The mere memory of hearing when it +is lost is still enough for the ends of genius; for the poet and the +composer touch the blind most deeply, perhaps, when other senses do +not count at all; but a painter who loses his sight is as helpless in +the world of art as a dismasted ship in the middle of the ocean. + +Some of these thoughts passed through Margaret's brain as she stood +beside the ventilator with her friend's new book in her hand, and, +although her reflections were not new to her, it was the first time +she clearly understood that her life had made two natures out of her +original self, and that the two did not always agree. She felt that +she was not halved by the process, but doubled. She was two women +instead of one, and each woman was complete in herself. She had not +found this out by any elaborate self-study, for healthy people do not +study themselves. She simply felt it, and she was sure it was true, +because she knew that each of her two selves was able to do, suffer, +and enjoy as much as any one woman could. The one might like what the +other disliked and feared, but the contradiction was open and natural, +not secret or morbid. The two women were called respectively Madame +Cordova and Miss Donne. Miss Donne thought Madame Cordova very showy, +and much too tolerant of vulgar things and people, if not a little +touched with vulgarity herself. On the other hand, the brilliantly +successful Cordova thought Margaret Donne a good girl, but rather +silly. Miss Donne was very fond of Edmund Lushington, the writer, but +the Primadonna had a distinct weakness for Constantine Logotheti, the +Greek financier who lived in Paris, and who wore too many rubies and +diamonds. + +On two points, at least, the singer and the modest English girl +agreed, for they both detested Rufus Van Torp, and each had positive +proof that he was in love with her, if what he felt deserved the name. + +For in very different ways she was really loved by Lushington and by +Logotheti; and since she had been famous she had made the acquaintance +of a good many very high and imposing personages, whose names are to +be found in the first and second part of the _Almanack de Gotha_, in +the Olympian circle of the reigning or the supernal regions of the +Serene Mediatized, far above the common herd of dukes and princes; +they had offered her a share in the overflowing abundance of their +admirative protection; and then had seemed surprised, if not deeply +moved, by the independence she showed in declining their intimacy. +Some of them were frankly and contentedly cynical; some were of a +brutality compared with which the tastes and manners of a bargee would +have seemed ladylike; some were as refined and sensitive as English +old maids, though less scrupulous and much less shy; the one was +as generous as an Irish sailor, the next was as mean as a Normandy +peasant; some had offered her rivers of rubies, and some had proposed +to take her incognito for a drive in a cab, because it would be so +amusing--and so inexpensive. Yet in their families and varieties +they were all of the same species, all human and all subject to the +ordinary laws of attraction and repulsion. Rufus Van Torp was not like +them. + +Neither of Margaret's selves could look upon him as a normal human +being. At first sight there was nothing so very unusual in his face, +certainly nothing that suggested a monster; and yet, whatever mood she +chanced to be in, she could not be with him five minutes without being +aware of something undefinable that always disturbed her profoundly, +and sometimes became positively terrifying. She always felt the +sensation coming upon her after a few moments, and when it had +actually come she could hardly hide her repulsion till she felt, as +to-day, that she must run from him, without the least consideration +of pride or dignity. She might have fled like that before a fire or a +flood, or from the scene of an earthquake, and more than once nothing +had kept her in her place but her strong will and healthy nerves. She +knew that it was like the panic that seizes people in the presence of +an appalling disturbance of nature. + +Doubtless, when she had talked with Mr. Van Torp just now, she had +been disgusted by the indifferent way in which he spoke of poor Miss +Bamberger's sudden death; it was still more certain that what he said +about the book, and his very ungentlemanly behaviour in throwing it +into the sea, had roused her justifiable anger. But she would have +smiled at the thought that an exhibition of heartlessness, or the most +utter lack of manners, could have made her wish to run away from any +other man. Her life had accustomed her to people who had no more +feeling than Schreiermeyer, and no better manners than Pompeo +Stromboli. Van Torp might have been on his very best behaviour that +morning, or at any of her previous chance meetings with him; sooner +or later she would have felt that same absurd and unreasoning fear +of him, and would have found it very hard not to turn and make her +escape. His face was so stony and his eyes were so aggressive; he was +always like something dreadful that was just going to happen. + +Yet Margarita da Cordova was a brave woman, and had lately been called +a heroine because she had gone on singing after that explosion till +the people were quiet again; and Margaret Donne was a sensible girl, +justly confident of being able to take care of herself where men were +concerned. She stood still and wondered what there was about Mr. Van +Torp that could frighten her so dreadfully. + +After a little while she went quietly back to her chair, and sat down +between Griggs and Miss More. The elderly man rose and packed her +neatly in her plaid, and she thanked him. Miss More looked at her and +smiled vaguely, as even the most intelligent people do sometimes. Then +Griggs got into his own chair again and took up his book. + +'Was that right of me?' he asked presently, so low that Miss More did +not hear him speak. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, under her breath, 'but don't let me do it +again, please.' + +They both began to read, but after a time Margaret spoke to him again +without turning her eyes. + +'He wanted to ask me about that girl who died at the theatre,' she +said, just audibly. + +'Oh--yes!' + +Griggs seemed so vague that Margaret glanced at him. He was looking at +the inside of his right hand in a meditative way, as if it recalled +something. If he had shown more interest in what she said she would +have told him what she had just learned, about the breaking off of the +engagement, but he was evidently absorbed in thought, while he slowly +rubbed that particular spot on his hand, and looked at it again and +again as if it recalled something. + +Margaret did not resent his indifference, for he was much more than +old enough to be her father; he was a man whom all younger writers +looked upon as a veteran, he had always been most kind and courteous +to her when she had met him, and she freely conceded him the right to +be occupied with his own thoughts and not with hers. With him she was +always Margaret Donne, and he seldom talked to her about music, or of +her own work. Indeed, he so rarely mentioned music that she fancied he +did not really care for it, and she wondered why he was so often in +the house when she sang. + +Mr. Van Torp did not show himself at luncheon, and Margaret began to +hope that he would not appear on deck again till the next day. In +the afternoon the wind dropped, the clouds broke, and the sun shone +brightly. Little Ida, who was tired of doing crochet work, and had +looked at all the books that had pictures, came and begged Margaret to +walk round the ship with her. It would please her small child's vanity +to show everybody that the great singer was willing to be seen walking +up and down with her, although she was quite deaf, and could not hope +ever to hear music. It was her greatest delight to be treated before +every one as if she were just like other girls, and her cleverness in +watching the lips of the person with her, without seeming too intent, +was wonderful. + +They went the whole length of the promenade deck, as if they were +reviewing the passengers, bundled and packed in their chairs, and the +passengers looked at them both with so much interest that the child +made Margaret come all the way back again. + +'The sea has a voice, too, hasn't it?' Ida asked, as they paused and +looked over the rail. + +She glanced up quickly for the answer, but Margaret did not find one +at once. + +'Because I've read poetry about the voices of the sea,' Ida explained. +'And in books they talk of the music of the waves, and then they say +the sea roars, and thunders in a storm. I can hear thunder, you know. +Did you know that I could hear thunder?' + +Margaret smiled and looked interested. + +'It bangs in the back of my head,' said the child gravely. 'But I +should like to hear the sea thunder. I often watch the waves on the +beach, as if they were lips moving, and I try to understand what they +say. Of course, it's play, because one can't, can one? But I can only +make out "Boom, ta-ta-ta-ta," getting quicker and weaker to the end, +you know, as the ripples run up the sand.' + +'It's very like what I hear,' Margaret answered. + +'Is it really?' Little Ida was delighted. 'Perhaps it's a language +after all, and I shall make it out some day. You see, until I know the +language people are speaking, their lips look as if they were talking +nonsense. But I'm sure the sea could not really talk nonsense all day +for thousands of years.' + +'No, I'm sure it couldn't!' Margaret was amused. 'But the sea is not +alive,' she added. + +'Everything that moves is alive,' the child said, 'and everything that +is alive can make a noise, and the noise must mean something. If it +didn't, it would be of no use, and everything is of some use. So +there!' + +Delighted with her own argument, the beautiful child laughed and +showed her even teeth in the sun. + +They were standing at the end of the promenade deck, which extended +twenty feet abaft the smoking-room, and took the whole beam; above +the latter, as in most modern ships, there was the boat deck, to the +after-part of which passengers had access. Standing below, it was easy +to see and talk with any one who looked over the upper rail. + +Ida threw her head back and looked up as she laughed, and Margaret +laughed good-naturedly with her, thinking how pretty she was. But +suddenly the child's expression changed, her face grew grave, and her +eyes fixed themselves intently on some point above. Margaret looked in +the same direction, and saw that Mr. Van Torp was standing alone up +there, leaning against the railing and evidently not seeing her, for +he gazed fixedly into the distance; and as he stood there, his lips +moved as if he were talking to himself. + +Margaret gave a little start of surprise when she saw him, but the +child watched him steadily, and a look of fear stole over her face. +Suddenly she grasped Margaret's arm. + +'Come away! Come away!' she cried in a low tone of terror. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Margaret was sorry to say good-bye to Miss More and little Ida when +the voyage was over, three days later. She was instinctively fond of +children, as all healthy women are, and she saw very few of them in +her wandering life. It is true that she did not understand them very +well, for she had been an only child, brought up much alone, and +children's ways are only to be learnt and understood by experience, +since all children are experimentalists in life, and what often seems +to us foolishness in them is practical wisdom of the explorative kind. + +When Ida had pulled Margaret away from the railing after watching Mr. +Van Torp while he was talking to himself, the singer had thought +very little of it; and Ida never mentioned it afterwards. As for the +millionaire, he was hardly seen again, and he made no attempt to +persuade Margaret to take another walk with him on deck. + +'Perhaps you would like to see my place,' he said, as he bade her +good-bye on the tender at Liverpool. 'It used to be called Oxley +Paddox, but I didn't like that, so I changed the name to Torp Towers. +I'm Mr. Van Torp of Torp Towers. Sounds well, don't it?' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, biting her lip, for she wanted to laugh. 'It +has a very lordly sound. If you bought a moor and a river in Scotland, +you might call yourself the M'Torp of Glen Torp, in the same way.' + +'I see you're laughing at me,' said the millionaire, with a quiet +smile of a man either above or beyond ridicule. 'But it's all a game +in a toy-shop anyway, this having a place in Europe. I buy a doll to +play with when I have time, and I can call it what I please, and +smash its head when I'm tired of it. It's my doll. It isn't any one's +else's. The Towers is in Derbyshire if you want to come.' + +Margaret did not 'want to come' to Torp Towers, even if the doll +wasn't 'any one's else's.' She was sorry for any person or thing +that had the misfortune to be Mr. Van Torp's doll, and she felt her +inexplicable fear of him coming upon her while he was speaking. She +broke off the conversation by saying good-bye rather abruptly. + +'Then you won't come,' he said, in a tone of amusement. + +'Really, you are very kind, but I have so many engagements.' + +'Saturday to Monday in the season wouldn't interfere with your +engagements. However, do as you like.' + +'Thank you very much. Good-bye again.' + +She escaped, and he looked after her, with an unsatisfied expression +that was almost wistful, and that would certainly not have been in his +face if she could have seen it. + +Griggs was beside her when she went ashore. + +'I had not much to do after all,' he said, glancing at Van Torp. + +'No,' Margaret answered, 'but please don't think it was all +imagination. I may tell you some day. No,' she said again, after a +short pause, 'he did not make himself a nuisance, except that once, +and now he has asked me to his place in Derbyshire.' + +'Torp Towers,' Griggs observed, with a smile. + +'Yes. I could hardly help laughing when he told me he had changed its +name.' + +'It's worth seeing,' said Griggs. 'A big old house, all full of other +people's ghosts.' + +'Ghosts?' + +'I mean figuratively. It's full of things that remind one of the +people who lived there. It has one of the oldest parks in England. +Lots of pheasants, too--but that cannot last long.' + +'Why not?' + +'He won't let any one shoot them! They will all die of overcrowding in +two or three years. His keepers are three men from the Society for the +Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.' + +'What a mad idea!' Margaret laughed. 'Is he a Buddhist?' + +'No.' Paul Griggs knew something about Buddhism. 'Certainly not! He's +eccentric. That's all.' + +They were at the pier. Half-an-hour later they were in the train +together, and there was no one else in the carriage. Miss More and +little Ida had disappeared directly after landing, but Margaret had +seen Mr. Van Torp get into a carriage on the window of which was +pasted the label of the rich and great: 'Reserved.' She could have had +the same privilege if she had chosen to ask for it or pay for it, but +it irritated her that he should treat himself like a superior being. +Everything he did either irritated her or frightened her, and she +found herself constantly thinking of him and wishing that he would get +out at the first station. Griggs was silent too, and Margaret thought +he really might have taken some trouble to amuse her. + +She had Lushington's book on her knee, for she had found it less +interesting than she had expected, and was rather ashamed of not +having finished it before meeting him, since it had been given to her. +She thought he might come down as far as Rugby to meet her, and she +was quite willing that he should find her with it in her hand. A +literary man is always supposed to be flattered at finding a friend +reading his last production, as if he did not know that the friend has +probably grabbed the volume with undignified haste the instant he was +on the horizon, with the intention of being discovered deep in it. Yet +such little friendly frauds are sweet compared with the extremes of +brutal frankness to which our dearest friends sometimes think it their +duty to go with us, for our own good. + +After a time Griggs spoke to her, and she was glad to hear his voice. +She had grown to like him during the voyage, even more than she had +ever thought probable. She had even gone so far as to wonder whether, +if he had been twenty-five years younger, he might not have been the +one man she had ever met whom she might care to marry, and she had +laughed at the involved terms of the hypothesis as soon as she thought +of it. Griggs had never been married, but elderly people remembered +that there had been some romantic tale about his youth, when he had +been an unknown young writer struggling for life as a newspaper +correspondent. + +'You saw the notice of Miss Bamberger's death, I suppose,' he said, +turning his grey eyes to hers. + +He had not alluded to the subject during the voyage. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, wondering why he broached it now. + +'The notice said that she died of heart failure, from shock,' Griggs +continued. 'I should like to know what you think about it, as you were +with her when she died. Have you any idea that she may have died of +anything else?' + +'No.' Margaret was surprised. 'The doctor said it was that.' + +'I know. I only wanted to have your own impression. I believe that +when people die of heart failure in that way, they often make +desperate efforts to explain what has happened, and go on trying to +talk when they can only make inarticulate sounds. Do you remember if +it was at all like that?' + +'Not at all,' Margaret said. 'She whispered the last words she spoke, +but they were quite distinct. Then she drew three or four deep +breaths, and all at once I saw that she was dead, and I called the +doctor from the next room.' + +'I suppose that might be heart failure,' said Griggs thoughtfully. +'You are quite sure that you thought it was only that, are you not?' + +'Only what?' Margaret asked with growing surprise. + +'Only fright, or the result of having been half-suffocated in the +crowd.' + +'Yes, I think I am sure. What do you mean? Why do you insist so much?' + +'It's of no use to tell other people,' said Griggs, 'but you may just +as well know. I found her lying in a heap behind a door, where there +could not have been much of a crowd.' + +'Perhaps she had taken refuge there, to save herself,' Margaret +suggested. + +'Possibly. But there was another thing. When I got home I found that +there was a little blood on the palm of my hand. It was the hand I had +put under her waist when I lifted her.' + +'Do you mean to say you think she was wounded?' Margaret asked, +opening her eyes wide. + +'There was blood on the inside of my hand,' Griggs answered, 'and I +had no scratch to account for it. I know quite well that it was on the +hand that I put under her waist--a little above the waist, just in the +middle of her back.' + +'But it would have been seen afterwards.' + +'On the dark red silk she wore? Not if there was very little of it. +The doctor never thought of looking for such a wound. Why should he? +He had not the slightest reason for suspecting that the poor girl had +been murdered.' + +'Murdered?' + +Margaret looked hard at Griggs, and then she suddenly shuddered from +head to foot. She had never before had such a sensation; it was like +a shock from an electric current at the instant when the contact is +made, not strong enough to hurt, but yet very disagreeable. She felt +it at the moment when her mind connected what Griggs was saying with +the dying girl's last words, 'he did it'; and with little Ida's look +of horror when she had watched Mr. Van Torp's lips while he was +talking to himself on the boat-deck of the _Leofric_; and again, with +the physical fear of the man that always came over her when she had +been near him for a little while. When she spoke to Griggs again the +tone of her voice had changed. + +'Please tell me how it could have been done,' she said. + +'Easily enough. A steel bodkin six or seven inches long, or even a +strong hat-pin. It would be only a question of strength.' + +Margaret remembered Mr. Van Torp's coarse hands, and shuddered again. + +'How awful!' she exclaimed. + +'One would bleed to death internally before long,' Griggs said. + +'Are you sure?' + +'Yes. That is the reason why the three-cornered blade for duelling +swords was introduced in France thirty years ago. Before that, men +often fought with ordinary foils filed to a point, and there were many +deaths from internal hemorrhage.' + +'What odd things you always know! That would be just like being run +through with a bodkin, then?' + +'Very much the same.' + +'But it would have been found out afterwards,' Margaret said, 'and the +papers would have been full of it.' + +'That does not follow,' Griggs answered. 'The girl was an only child, +and her mother had been divorced and married again. She lived alone +with her father, and he probably was told the truth. But Isidore +Bamberger is not the man to spread out his troubles before the public +in the newspapers. On the contrary, if he found out that his daughter +had been killed--supposing that she was--he probably made up his mind +at once that the world should not know it till he had caught the +murderer. So he sent for the best detective in America, put the matter +in his hands, and inserted a notice of his daughter's death that +agreed with what the doctor had said. That would be the detective's +advice, I'm sure, and probably Van Torp approved of it.' + +'Mr. Van Torp? Do you think he was told about it? Why?' + +'First, because Bamberger is Van Torp's banker, broker, figure-head, +and general representative on earth,' answered Griggs. 'Secondly, +because Van Torp was engaged to marry the girl.' + +'The engagement was broken off,' Margaret said. + +'How do you know that?' asked Griggs quickly. + +'Mr. Van Torp told me, on the steamer. They had broken it off that +very day, and were going to let it be known the next morning. He told +me so, that afternoon when I walked with him.' + +'Really!' + +Griggs was a little surprised, but as he did not connect Van Torp with +the possibility that Miss Bamberger had been murdered, his thoughts +did not dwell on the broken engagement. + +'Why don't you try to find out the truth?' Margaret asked rather +anxiously. 'You know so many people everywhere--you have so much +experience.' + +'I never had much taste for detective work,' answered the literary +man, 'and besides, this is none of my business. But Bamberger and Van +Torp are probably both of them aware by this time that I found the +girl and carried her to the manager's room, and when they are ready +to ask me what I know, or what I remember, the detective they +are employing will suddenly appear to me in the shape of a new +acquaintance in some out-of-the-way place, who will go to work +scientifically to make me talk to him. He will very likely have a +little theory of his own, to the effect that since it was I who +brought Miss Bamberger to Schreiermeyer's room, it was probably I who +killed her, for some mysterious reason!' + +'Shall you tell him about the drop of blood on your hand?' + +'Without the slightest hesitation. But not until I am asked, and I +shall be very glad if you will not speak of it.' + +'I won't,' Margaret said; 'but I wonder why you have told me if you +mean to keep it a secret!' + +The veteran man of letters turned his sad grey eyes to hers, while his +lips smiled. + +'The world is not all bad,' he said. 'All men are not liars, and all +women do not betray confidence.' + +'It's very good to hear a man like you say that,' Margaret answered. +'It means something.' + +'Yes,' assented Griggs thoughtfully. 'It means a great deal to me to +be sure of it, now that most of my life is lived.' + +'Were you unhappy when you were young?' + +She asked the question as a woman sometimes does who feels herself +strongly drawn to a man much older than she. Griggs did not answer at +once, and when he spoke his voice was unusually grave, and his eyes +looked far away. + +'A great misfortune happened to me,' he said. 'A great misfortune,' he +repeated slowly, after a pause, and his tone and look told Margaret +how great that calamity had been better than a score of big words. + +'Forgive me,' Margaret said softly; 'I should have known.' + +'No,' Griggs answered after a moment. 'You could not have known. It +happened very long ago, perhaps ten years before you were born.' + +Again he turned his sad grey eyes to hers, but no smile lingered now +about the rather stern mouth. The two looked at each other quietly +for five or six seconds, and that may seem a long time. When Margaret +turned away from the elderly man's more enduring gaze, both felt that +there was a bond of sympathy between them which neither had quite +acknowledged till then. There was silence after that, and Margaret +looked out of the window, while her hand unconsciously played with the +book on her knee, lifting the cover a little and letting it fall again +and again. + +Suddenly she turned to Griggs once more and held the book out to him +with a smile. + +'I'm not an autograph-hunter,' she said, 'but will you write something +on the fly-leaf? Just a word or two, without your name, if you like. +Do you think I'm very sentimental?' + +She smiled again, and he took the book from her and produced a pencil. + +'It's a book I shall not throw away,' she went on, 'because the man +who wrote it is a great friend of mine, and I have everything he has +ever written. So, as I shall keep it, I want it to remind me that you +and I grew to know each other better on this voyage.' + +It occurred to the veteran that while this was complimentary to +himself it was not altogether promising for Lushington, who was the +old friend in question. A woman who loves a man does not usually ask +another to write a line in that man's book. Griggs set the point of +the pencil on the fly-leaf as if he were going to write; but then he +hesitated, looked up, glanced at Margaret, and at last leaned back in +the seat, as if in deep thought. + +'I didn't mean to give you so much trouble,' Margaret said, still +smiling. 'I thought it must be so easy for a famous author like you to +write half-a-dozen words!' + +'A "sentiment" you mean!' Griggs laughed rather contemptuously, and +then was grave again. + +'No!' Margaret said, a little disappointed. 'You did not understand +me. Don't write anything at all. Give me back the book.' + +She held out her hand for it; but as if he had just made up his mind, +he put his pencil to the paper again, and wrote four words in a small +clear hand. She leaned forwards a little to see what he was writing. + +'You know enough Latin to read that,' he said, as he gave the book +back to her. + +She read the words aloud, with a puzzled expression. + +'"Credo in resurrectionem mortuorum."' She looked at him for some +explanation. + +'Yes,' he said, answering her unspoken question. '"I believe in the +resurrection of the dead."' + +'It means something especial to you--is that it?' + +'Yes.' His eyes were very sad again as they met hers. + +'My voice?' she asked. 'Some one--who sang like me? Who died?' + +'Long before you were born,' he answered gently. + +There was another little pause before she spoke again, for she was +touched. + +'Thank you,' she said. 'Thank you for writing that.' + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Mr. Van Torp arrived in London alone, with one small valise, for he +had sent his man with his luggage to the place in Derbyshire. At +Euston a porter got him a hansom, and he bargained with the cabman to +take him and his valise to the Temple for eighteenpence, a sum which, +he explained, allowed sixpence for the valise, as the distance could +not by any means be made out to be more than two miles. + +Such close economy was to be expected from a millionaire, travelling +incognito; what was more surprising was that, when the cab stopped +before a door in Hare Court and Mr. Van Torp received his valise from +the roof of the vehicle, he gave the man half-a-crown, and said it was +'all right.' + +'Now, my man,' he observed, 'you've not only got an extra shilling, +to which you had no claim whatever, but you've had the pleasure of a +surprise which you could not have bought for that money.' + +The cabman grinned as he touched his hat and drove away, and Mr. Van +Torp took his valise in one hand and his umbrella in the other and +went up the dark stairs. He went up four flights without stopping +to take breath, and without so much as glancing at any of the names +painted in white letters on the small black boards beside the doors on +the right and left of each landing. + +The fourth floor was the last, and though the name on the left had +evidently been there a number of years, for the white lettering was of +the tint of a yellow fog, it was still quite clear and legible. + +MR.I. BAMBERGER. + +That was the name, but the millionaire did not look at it any more +than he had looked at the others lower down. He knew them all by +heart. He dropped his valise, took a small key from his pocket, opened +the door, picked up his valise again, and, as neither hand was free, +he shut the door with his heel as he passed in, and it slammed behind +him, sending dismal echoes down the empty staircase. + +The entry was almost quite dark, for it was past six o'clock in the +afternoon, late in March, and the sky was overcast; but there was +still light enough to see in the large room on the left into which Mr. +Van Torp carried his things. + +It was a dingy place, poorly furnished, but some one had dusted the +table, the mantelpiece, and the small bookcase, and the fire was laid +in the grate, while a bright copper kettle stood on a movable hob. Mr. +Van Torp struck a match and lighted the kindling before he took off +his overcoat, and in a few minutes a cheerful blaze dispelled the +gathering gloom. He went to a small old-fashioned cupboard in a corner +and brought from it a chipped cup and saucer, a brown teapot, and a +cheap japanned tea-caddy, all of which he set on the table; and as +soon as the fire burned brightly, he pushed the movable hob round with +his foot till the kettle was over the flame of the coals. Then he took +off his overcoat and sat down in the shabby easy-chair by the hearth, +to wait till the water boiled. + +His proceedings, his manner, and his expression would have surprised +the people who had been his fellow-passengers on the _Leofric_, and +who imagined Mr. Van Torp driving to an Olympian mansion, somewhere +between Constitution Hill and Sloane Square, to be received at his own +door by gravely obsequious footmen in plush, and to drink Imperial +Chinese tea from cups of Old Saxe, or Bleu du Roi, or Capo di Monte. + +Paul Griggs, having tea and a pipe in a quiet little hotel in Clarges +Street, would have been much surprised if he could have seen Rufus Van +Torp lighting a fire for himself in that dingy room in Hare Court. +Madame Margarita da Cordova, waiting for an expected visitor in her +own sitting-room, in her own pretty house in Norfolk Crescent, would +have been very much surprised indeed. The sight would have plunged her +into even greater uncertainty as to the man's real character, and it +is not unlikely that she would have taken his mysterious retreat to be +another link in the chain of evidence against him which already seemed +so convincing. She might naturally have wondered, too, what he had +felt when he had seen that board beside the door, and she could hardly +have believed that he had gone in without so much as glancing at the +yellowish letters that formed the name of Bamberger. + +But he seemed quite at home where he was, and not at all uncomfortable +as he sat before the fire, watching the spout of the kettle, his +elbows on the arms of the easy-chair and his hands raised before him, +with the finger-tips pressed against each other, in the attitude +which, with most men, means that they are considering the two sides of +a question that is interesting without being very important. + +Perhaps a thoughtful observer would have noticed at once that there +had been no letters waiting for him when he had arrived, and would +have inferred either that he did not mean to stay at the rooms +twenty-four hours, or that, if he did, he had not chosen to let any +one know where he was. + +Presently it occurred to him that there was no longer any light in +the room except from the fire, and he rose and lit the gas. The +incandescent light sent a raw glare into the farthest corners of the +large room, and just then a tiny wreath of white steam issued from the +spout of the kettle. This did not escape Mr. Van Torp's watchful eye, +but instead of making tea at once he looked at his watch, after which +he crossed the room to the window and stood thoughtfully gazing +through the panes at the fast disappearing outlines of the roofs and +chimney-pots which made up the view when there was daylight outside. +He did not pull down the shade before he turned back to the fire, +perhaps because no one could possibly look in. + +But he poured a little hot water into the teapot, to scald it, and +went to the cupboard and got another cup and saucer, and an old +tobacco-tin of which the dingy label was half torn off, and which +betrayed by a rattling noise that it contained lumps of sugar. The +imaginary thoughtful observer already mentioned would have inferred +from all this that Mr. Van Torp had resolved to put off making tea +until some one came to share it with him, and that the some one +might take sugar, though he himself did not; and further, as it was +extremely improbable, on the face of it, that an afternoon visitor +should look in by a mere chance, in the hope of finding some one in +Mr. Isidore Bamberger's usually deserted rooms, on the fourth floor of +a dark building in Hare Court, the observer would suppose that Mr. Van +Torp was expecting some one to come and see him just at that hour, +though he had only landed in Liverpool that day, and would have been +still at sea if the weather had been rough or foggy. + +All this might have still further interested Paul Griggs, and would +certainly have seemed suspicious to Margaret, if she could have known +about it. + +Five minutes passed, and ten, and the kettle was boiling furiously, +and sending out a long jet of steam over the not very shapely toes of +Mr. Van Torp's boots, as he leaned back with his feet on the fender. +He looked at his watch again and apparently gave up the idea of +waiting any longer, for he rose and poured out the hot water from the +teapot into one of the cups, as a preparatory measure, and took off +the lid to put in the tea. But just as he had opened the caddy, he +paused and listened. The door of the room leading to the entry was +ajar, and as he stood by the table he had heard footsteps on the +stairs, still far down, but mounting steadily. + +He went to the outer door and listened. There was no doubt that +somebody was coming up; any one not deaf could have heard the sound. +It was more strange that Mr. Van Torp should recognise the step, +for the rooms on the other side of the landing were occupied, and a +stranger would have thought it quite possible that the person who +was coming up should be going there. But Mr. Van Torp evidently knew +better, for he opened his door noiselessly and stood waiting to +receive the visitor. The staircase below was dimly lighted by gas, but +there was none at the upper landing, and in a few seconds a dark form +appeared, casting a tall shadow upwards against the dingy white paint +of the wall. The figure mounted steadily and came directly to the open +door--a lady in a long black cloak that quite hid her dress. She wore +no hat, but her head was altogether covered by one of those things +which are neither hoods nor mantillas nor veils, but which serve women +for any of the three, according to weather and circumstances. The +peculiarity of the one the lady wore was that it cast a deep shadow +over her face. + +'Come in,' said Mr. Van Torp, withdrawing into the entry to make way. + +She entered and went on directly to the sitting-room, while he shut +the outer door. Then he followed her, and shut the second door behind +him. She was standing before the fire spreading her gloved hands to +the blaze, as if she were cold. The gloves were white, and they fitted +very perfectly. As he came near, she turned and held out one hand. + +'All right?' he inquired, shaking it heartily, as if it had been a +man's. + +A sweet low voice answered him. + +'Yes--all right,' it said, as if nothing could ever be wrong with +its possessor. 'But you?' it asked directly afterwards, in a tone of +sympathetic anxiety. + +'I? Oh--well--' Mr. Van Torp's incomplete answer might have meant +anything, except that he too was 'all right.' + +'Yes,' said the lady gravely. 'I read the telegram the next day. Did +you get my cable? I did not think you would sail.' + +'Yes, I got your cable. Thank you. Well--I did sail, you see. Take off +your things. The water's boiling and we'll have tea in a minute.' + +The lady undid the fastening at her throat so that the fur-lined cloak +opened and slipped a little on her white shoulders. She held it in +place with one hand, and with the other she carefully turned back the +lace hood from her face, so as not to disarrange her hair. Mr. Van +Torp was making tea, and he looked up at her over the teapot. + +'I dressed for dinner,' she said, explaining. + +'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, looking at her, 'I should think you did!' + +There was real admiration in his tone, though it was distinctly +reluctant. + +'I thought it would save half an hour and give us more time together,' +said the lady simply. + +She sat down in the shabby easy-chair, and as she did so the cloak +slipped and lay about her waist, and she gathered one side of it over +her knees. Her gown was of black velvet, without so much as a bit of +lace, except at the sleeves, and the only ornament she wore was a +short string of very perfect pearls clasped round her handsome young +throat. + +She was handsome, to say the least. If tired ghosts of departed +barristers were haunting the dingy room in Hare Court that night, they +must have blinked and quivered for sheer pleasure at what they saw, +for Mr. Van Torp's visitor was a very fine creature to look at; and if +ghosts can hear, they heard that her voice was sweet and low, like an +evening breeze and flowing water in a garden, even in the Garden of +Eden. + +She was handsome, and she was young; and above all she had the +freshness, the uncontaminated bloom, the subdued brilliancy of +nature's most perfect growing things. It was in the deep clear eyes, +in the satin sheen of her bare shoulders under the sordid gaslight; it +was in the strong smooth lips, delicately shaded from salmon colour to +the faintest peach-blossom; it was in the firm oval of her face, in +the well-modelled ear, the straight throat and the curving neck; it +was in her graceful attitude; it was everywhere. 'No doubt,' the +ghosts might have said, 'there are more beautiful women in England +than this one, but surely there is none more like a thoroughbred and a +Derby winner!' + +'You take sugar, don't you?' asked Mr. Van Torp, having got the lid +off the old tobacco-tin with some difficulty, for it had developed an +inclination to rust since it had last been moved. + +'One lump, please,' said the thoroughbred, looking at the fire. + +'I thought I remembered,' observed the millionaire. 'The tea's good,' +he added, 'and you'll have to excuse the cup. And there's no cream.' + +'I'll excuse anything,' said the lady, 'I'm so glad to be here!' + +'Well, I'm glad to see you too,' said Mr. Van Torp, giving her the +cup. 'Crackers? I'll see if there're any in the cupboard. I forgot.' + +He went to the corner again and found a small tin of biscuits, which +he opened and examined under gaslight. + +'Mouldy,' he observed. 'Weevils in them, too. Sorry. Does it matter +much?' + +'Nothing matters,' answered the lady, sweet and low. 'But why do you +put them away if they are bad? It would be better to burn them and be +done with it.' + +He was taking the box back to the cupboard. + +'I suppose you're right,' he said reluctantly. 'But it always seems +wicked to burn bread, doesn't it?' + +'Not when it's weevilly,' replied the thoroughbred, after sipping the +hot tea. + +He emptied the contents of the tin upon the coal fire, and the room +presently began to smell of mouldy toast. + +'Besides,' he said, 'it's cruel to burn weevils, I suppose. If I'd +thought of that, I'd have left them alone. It's too late now. They're +done for, poor beasts! I'm sorry. I don't like to kill things.' + +He stared thoughtfully at the already charred remains of the +holocaust, and shook his head a little. The lady sipped her tea and +looked at him quietly, perhaps affectionately, but he did not see her. + +'You think I'm rather silly sometimes, don't you?' he asked, still +gazing at the fire. + +'No,' she answered at once. 'It's never silly to be kind, even to +weevils.' + +'Thank you for thinking so,' said Mr. Van Torp, in an oddly humble +tone, and he began to drink his own tea. + +If Margaret Donne could have suddenly found herself perched among the +chimney-pots on the opposite roof, and if she had then looked at his +face through the window, she would have wondered why she had ever felt +a perfectly irrational terror of him. It was quite plain that the lady +in black velvet had no such impression. + +'You need not be so meek,' she said, smiling. + +She did not laugh often, but sometimes there was a ripple in her fresh +voice that would turn a man's head. Mr. Van Torp looked at her in a +rather dull way. + +'I believe I feel meek when I'm with you. Especially just now.' + +He swallowed the rest of his tea at a gulp, set the cup on the table, +and folded his hands loosely together, his elbows resting on his +knees; in this attitude he leaned forward and looked at the burning +coals. Again his companion watched his hard face with affectionate +interest. + +'Tell me just how it happened,' she said. 'I mean, if it will help you +at all to talk about it.' + +'Yes. You always help me,' he answered, and then paused. 'I think I +should like to tell you the whole thing,' he added after an instant. +'Somehow, I never tell anybody much about myself.' + +'I know.' + +She bent her handsome head in assent. Just then it would have been +very hard to guess what the relations were between the oddly assorted +pair, as they sat a little apart from each other before the grate. +Mr. Van Torp was silent now, as if he were making up his mind how to +begin. + +In the pause, the lady quietly held out her hand towards him. He saw +without turning further, and he stretched out his own. She took it +gently, and then, without warning, she leaned very far forward, bent +over it and touched it with her lips. He started and drew it back +hastily. It was as if the leaf of a flower had settled upon it, and +had hovered an instant, and fluttered away in a breath of soft air. + +'Please don't!' he cried, almost roughly. 'There's nothing to thank me +for. I've often told you so.' + +But the lady was already leaning back in the old easy-chair again as +if she had done nothing at all unusual. + +'It wasn't for myself,' she said. 'It was for all the others, who will +never know.' + +'Well, I'd rather not,' he answered. 'It's not worth all that. Now, +see here! I'm going to tell you as near as I can what happened, and +when you know you can make up your mind. You never saw but one side of +me anyhow, but you've got to see the other sooner or later. No, I know +what you're going to say--all that about a dual nature, and Jekyll and +Hyde, and all the rest of it. That may be true for nervous people, but +I'm not nervous. Not at all. I never was. What I know is, there are +two sides to everybody, and one's always the business side. The other +may be anything. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Sometimes +it cares for a woman, sometimes it's a collector of art things, +Babylonian glass, and Etruscan toys and prehistoric dolls. It may +gamble, or drink, or teach a Sunday school, or read Dante, or shoot, +or fish, or anything that's of no use. But one side's always the +business side. That's certain.' + +Mr. Van Torp paused, and looked at his companion's empty cup. Seeing +that he was going to get up in order to give her more, she herself +rose quickly and did it for herself. He sat still and watched her, +probably because the business side of his nature judged that he could +be of no use. The fur-lined cloak was now lying in the easy-chair, and +there was nothing to break the sweeping lines of the black velvet from +her dazzling shoulders to her waist, to her knee, to her feet. Mr. Van +Torp watched her in silence, till she sat down again. + +'You know me well enough to understand that,' he said, going on. 'My +outside's my business side, and that's what matters most. Now the +plain truth is this. My engagement to Miss Bamberger was just a +business affair. Bamberger thought of it first, and suggested it to +me, and he asked her if she'd mind being engaged to me for a few +weeks; and she said she wouldn't provided she wasn't expected to marry +me. That was fair and square, anyway, on both sides. Wasn't it?' + +'It depends on why you did it,' said the lady, going to the point +directly. + +'That was the business side,' answered her companion. 'You see, a big +thing like the Nickel Trust always has a lot of enemies, besides a +heap of people who want to get some of it cheap. This time they put +their heads together and got up one of the usual stories. You see, +Isidore H. Bamberger is the president and I only appear as a director, +though most of it's mine. So they got up a story that he was operating +on his own account to get behind me, and that we were going to quarrel +over it, and there was going to be a slump, and people began to +believe it. It wasn't any use talking to the papers. We soon found +that out. Sometimes the public won't believe anything it's told, and +sometimes it swallows faster than you can feed to it. I don't know +why, though I've had a pretty long experience, but I generally do know +which state it's in. I feel it. That's what's called business ability. +It's like fishing. Any old fisherman can judge in half an hour whether +the fish are going to bite all day or not. If he's wrong once, he'll +be right a hundred times. Well, I felt talking was no good, and so did +Bamberger, and the shares began to go down before the storm. If the +big slump had come there'd have been a heap of money lost. I don't say +we didn't let the shares drop a couple of points further than they +needed to, and Bamberger bought any of it that happened to be lying +around, and the more he bought the quicker it wanted to go +down, because people said there was going to be trouble and an +investigation. But if we'd gone on, lots of people would have been +ruined, and yet we didn't just see how to stop it sharp, till +Bamberger started his scheme. Do you understand all that?' + +The lady nodded gravely. + +'You make it clear,' she said. + +'Well, I thought it was a good scheme,' continued her companion, +'and as the girl said she didn't mind, we told we were engaged. That +settled things pretty quick. The shares went up again in forty-eight +hours, and as we'd bought for cash we made the points, and the other +people were short and lost. But when everything was all right again we +got tired of being engaged, Miss Bamberger and I; and besides, there +was a young fellow she'd a fancy for, and he kept writing to her that +he'd kill himself, and that made her nervous, you see, and she said if +it went on another day she knew she'd have appendicitis or something. +So we were going to announce that the engagement was broken. And the +very night before--' + +He paused. Not a muscle of the hard face moved, there was not a change +in the expression of the tremendous mouth, there was not a tremor in +the tone; but the man kept his eyes steadily on the fire. + +'Oh, well, she's dead now, poor thing,' he said presently. 'And that's +what I wanted to tell you. I suppose it's not a very pretty story, is +it? But I'll tell you one thing. Though we made a little by the turn +of the market, we saved a heap of small fry from losing all they'd put +in. If we'd let the slump come and then bought we should have made a +pile; but then we might have had difficulty in getting the stock up to +anywhere near par again for some time.' + +'Besides,' said the lady quietly, 'you would not have ruined all those +little people if you could help it.' + +'You think I wouldn't?' He turned his eyes to her now. + +'I'm sure you would not,' said the lady with perfect confidence. + +'I don't know, I'm sure,' answered Mr. Van Torp in a doubtful tone. +'Perhaps I wouldn't. But it would only have been business if I had. +It's not as if Bamberger and I had started a story on purpose about +our quarrelling in order to make things go down. I draw the line +there. That's downright dishonest, I call it. But if we'd just let +things slide and taken advantage of what happened, it would only have +been business after all. Except for that doubt about getting back +to par,' he added, as an afterthought. 'But then I should have felt +whether it was safe or not.' + +'Then why did you not let things slide, as you call it?' + +'I don't know, I'm sure. Maybe I was soft-hearted. We don't always +know why we do things in business. There's a great deal more in the +weather where big money is moving than you might think. For instance, +there was never a great revolution in winter. But as for making people +lose their money, those who can't keep it ought not to have it. +They're a danger to society, and half the time it's they who upset the +market by acting like lunatics. They get a lot of sentimental pity +sometimes, those people; but after all, if they didn't try to cut in +without capital, and play the game without knowing the rules, business +would be much steadier and there would be fewer panics. They're the +people who get frightened and run, not we. The fact is, they ought +never to have been there. That's why I believe in big things myself.' + +He paused, having apparently reached the end of his subject. + +'Were you with the poor girl when she died?' asked the lady presently. + +'No. She'd dined with a party and was in their box, and they were the +last people who saw her. You read about the explosion. She bolted +from the box in the dark, I was told, and as she couldn't be found +afterwards they concluded she had rushed out and taken a cab home. It +seemed natural, I suppose.' + +'Who found her at last?' + +'A man called Griggs--the author, you know. He carried her to the +manager's room, still alive. They got a doctor, and as she wanted +to see a woman, they sent for Cordova, the singer, from her +dressing-room, and the girl died in her arms. They said it was heart +failure, from shock.' + +'It was very sad.' + +'I'm sorry for poor Bamberger,' said Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully. 'She +was his only child, and he doted on her. I never saw a man so cut up +as he looked. I wanted to stay, but he said the mere sight of me drove +him crazy, poor fellow, and as I had business over here and my passage +was taken, I just sailed. Sometimes the kindest thing one can do is +to get out. So I did. But I'm very sorry for him. I wish I could do +anything to make it easier for him. It was nobody's fault, I suppose, +though I do think the people she was with might have prevented her +from rushing out in the dark.' + +'They were frightened themselves. How could any one be blamed for her +death?' + +'Exactly. But if any one could be made responsible, I know Bamberger +would do for him in some way. He's a resentful sort of man if any one +does him an injury. Blood for blood is Bamberger's motto, every time. +One thing I'm sure of. He'll run down whoever was responsible for +that explosion, and he'll do for him, whoever he is, if it costs one +million to get a conviction. I wouldn't like to be the fellow!' + +'I can understand wishing to be revenged for the death of one's only +child,' said the lady thoughtfully. 'Cannot you?' + +The American turned his hard face to her. + +'Yes,' he said, 'I can. It's only human, after all.' + +She sighed and looked into the fire. She was married, but she was +childless, and that was a constant regret to her. Mr. Van Torp knew it +and understood. + +'To change the subject,' he said cheerfully, 'I suppose you need +money, don't you?' + +'Oh yes! Indeed I do!' + +Her momentary sadness had already disappeared, and there was almost a +ripple in her tone again as she answered. + +'How much?' asked the millionaire smiling. + +She shook her head and smiled too; and as she met his eyes she +settled herself and leaned far back in the shabby easy-chair. She was +wonderfully graceful and good to look at in her easy attitude. + +'I'm afraid to tell you how much!' She shook her head again, as she +answered. + +'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp in an encouraging tone, 'I've brought some +cash in my pocket, and if it isn't enough I'll get you some more +to-morrow. But I won't give you a cheque. It's too compromising. I +thought of that before I left New York, so I brought some English +notes from there.' + +'How thoughtful you always are for me!' + +'It's not much to do for a woman one likes. But I'm sorry if I've +brought too little. Here it is, anyway.' + +He produced a large and well-worn pocket-book, and took from it a +small envelope, which he handed to her. + +'Tell me how much more you'll need,' he said, 'and I'll give it to +you to-morrow. I'll put the notes between the pages of a new book and +leave it at your door. He wouldn't open a package that was addressed +to you from a bookseller's, would he?' + +'No,' answered the lady, her expression changing a little, 'I think he +draws the line at the bookseller.' + +'You see, this was meant for you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'There are your +initials on it.' + +She glanced at the envelope, and saw that it was marked in pencil with +the letters M.L. in one corner. + +'Thank you,' she said, but she did not open it. + +'You'd better count the notes,' suggested the millionaire. 'I'm open +to making mistakes myself.' + +The lady took from the envelope a thin flat package of new Bank of +England notes, folded together in four. Without separating them she +glanced carelessly at the first, which was for a hundred pounds, and +then counted the others by the edges. She counted four after the +first, and Mr. Van Torp watched her face with evident amusement. + +'You need more than that, don't you?' he asked, when she had finished. + +'A little more, perhaps,' she said quietly, though she could not quite +conceal her disappointment, as she folded the notes and slipped them +into the envelope again. 'But I shall try to make this last. Thank you +very much.' + +'I like you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'You're the real thing. They'd call +you a chief's daughter in the South Seas. But I'm not so mean as all +that. I only thought you might need a little cash at once. That's +all.' + +A loud knocking at the outer door prevented the lady from answering. + +She looked at Mr. Van Torp in surprise. + +'What's that?' she asked, rather anxiously. + +'I don't know,' he answered. 'He couldn't guess that you were here, +could he?' + +'Oh no! That's quite out of the question!' + +'Then I'll open the door,' said the millionaire, and he left the +sitting-room. + +The lady had not risen, and she still leaned back in her seat. She +idly tapped the knuckles of her gloved hand with the small envelope. + +The knocking was repeated, she heard the outer door opened, and the +sound of voices followed directly. + +'Oh!' Mr. Van Torp exclaimed in a tone of contemptuous surprise, 'it's +you, is it? Well, I'm busy just now. I can't see you till to-morrow.' + +'My business will not keep till to-morrow,' answered an oily voice in +a slightly foreign accent. + +At the very first syllables the lady rose quickly to her feet, and +resting one hand on the table she leant forward in the direction of +the door, with an expression that was at once eager and anxious, and +yet quite fearless. + +'What you call your business is going to wait my convenience,' said +Mr. Van Torp. 'You'll find me here to-morrow morning until eleven +o'clock.' + +From the sounds the lady judged that the American now attempted to +shut the door in his visitor's face, but that he was hindered and that +a scuffle followed. + +'Hold him!' cried the oily voice in a tone of command. 'Bring him in! +Lock the door!' + +It was clear enough that the visitor had not come alone, and that Mr. +Van Torp had been overpowered. The lady bit her salmon-coloured lip +angrily and contemptuously. + +A moment later a tall heavily-built man with thick fair hair, a long +moustache, and shifty blue eyes, rushed into the room and did not stop +till there was only the small table between him and the lady. + +'I've caught you! What have you to say?' he asked. + +'To you? Nothing!' + +She deliberately turned her back on her husband, rested one elbow on +the mantelpiece and set one foot upon the low fender, drawing up +her velvet gown over her instep. But a moment later she heard other +footsteps in the room, and turned her head to see Mr. Van Torp enter +the room between two big men who were evidently ex-policemen. The +millionaire, having failed to shut the door in the face of the three +men, had been too wise to attempt any further resistance. + +The fair man glanced down at the table and saw the envelope with his +wife's initials lying beside the tea things. She had dropped it there +when she had risen to her feet at the sound of his voice. He snatched +it away as soon as he saw the pencilled letters on it, and in a moment +he had taken out the notes and was looking over them. + +'I should like you to remember this, please,' he said, addressing the +two men who had accompanied him. 'This envelope is addressed to my +wife, under her initials, in the handwriting of Mr. Van Torp. Am +I right in taking it for your handwriting?' he inquired, in a +disagreeably polite tone, and turning towards the millionaire. + +'You are,' answered the American, in a perfectly colourless voice and +without moving a muscle. 'That's my writing.' + +'And this envelope,' continued the husband, holding up the notes +before the men, 'contains notes to the amount of four thousand one +hundred pounds.' + +'Five hundred pounds, you mean,' said the lady coldly. + +'See for yourself!' retorted the fair man, raising his eyebrows and +holding out the notes. + +'That's correct,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling and looking at the lady. +'Four thousand one hundred. Only the first one was for a hundred, and +the rest were thousands. I meant it for a little surprise, you see.' + +'Oh, how kind! How dear and kind!' cried the lady gratefully, and with +amazing disregard of her husband's presence. + +The two ex-policemen had not expected anything so interesting as this, +and their expressions were worthy of study. They had been engaged, +through a private agency, to assist and support an injured husband, +and afterwards to appear as witnesses of a vulgar clandestine meeting, +as they supposed. It was not the first time they had been employed on +such business, but they did not remember ever having had to deal with +two persons who exhibited such hardened indifference; and though the +incident of the notes was not new to them, they had never been in a +case where the amount of cash received by the lady at one time was so +very large. + +'It is needless,' said the fair man, addressing them both, 'to ask +what this money was for.' + +'Yes,' said Mr. Van Torp coolly. 'You needn't bother. But I'll call +your attention to the fact that the notes are not yours, and that I'd +like to see them put back into that envelope and laid on that table +before you go. You broke into my house by force anyhow. If you take +valuables away with you, which you found here, it's burglary in +England, whatever it may be in your country; and if you don't know it, +these two professional gentlemen do. So you just do as I tell you, if +you want to keep out of gaol.' + +The fair man had shown a too evident intention of slipping the +envelope into his own pocket, doubtless to be produced in evidence, +but Mr. Van Torp's final argument seemed convincing. + +'I have not the smallest intention of depriving my wife of the price +of my honour, sir. Indeed, I am rather flattered to find that you both +value it so highly.' + +Mr. Van Torp's hard face grew harder, and a very singular light came +into his eyes. He moved forwards till he was close to the fair man. + +'None of that!' he said authoritatively. 'If you say another word +against your wife in my hearing I'll make it the last you ever said to +anybody. Now you'd better be gone before I telephone for the police. +Do you understand?' + +The two ex-policemen employed by a private agency thought the case was +becoming more and more interesting; but at the same time they were +made vaguely nervous by Mr. Van Torp's attitude. + +'I think you are threatening me,' said the fair man, drawing back a +step, and leaving the envelope on the table. + +'No,' answered his adversary, 'I'm warning you off my premises, and +if you don't go pretty soon I'll telephone for the police. Is that a +threat?' + +The last question was addressed to the two men. + +'No, sir,' answered one of them. + +'It would hardly be to your advantage to have more witnesses of my +wife's presence here,' observed the fair man coldly, 'but as I intend +to take her home we may as well go at once. Come, Maud! The carriage +is waiting.' + +The lady, whose name was now spoken for the first time since she had +entered Mr. Van Torp's lodging, had not moved from the fireplace since +she had taken up her position there. Women are as clever as Napoleon +or Julius Caesar in selecting strong positions when there is to be an +encounter, and a fireplace, with a solid mantelpiece to lean against, +to strike, to cry upon or to cling to, is one of the strongest. +The enemy is thus reduced to prowling about the room and handling +knick-knacks while he talks, or smashing them if he is of a violent +disposition. + +The lady now leant back against the dingy marble shelf and laid one +white-gloved arm along it, in an attitude that was positively regal. +Her right hand might appropriately have been toying with the orb of +empire on the mantelpiece, and her left, which hung down beside her, +might have loosely held the sceptre. Mr. Van Torp, who often bought +large pictures, was reminded of one recently offered to him in +America, representing an empress. He would have bought the portrait if +the dealer could have remembered which empress it represented, but the +fact that he could not had seemed suspicious to Mr. Van Torp. It was +clearly the man's business to know empresses by sight. + +From her commanding position the Lady Maud refused her husband's +invitation to go home with him. + +'I shall certainly not go with you,' she said. 'Besides, I'm dining +early at the Turkish Embassy and we are going to the play. You need +not wait for me. I'll take care of myself this evening, thank you.' + +'This is monstrous!' cried the fair man, and with a peculiarly +un-English gesture he thrust his hand into his thick hair. + +The foreigner in despair has always amused the genuine Anglo-Saxon. +Lady Maud's lip did not curl contemptuously now, she did not raise +her eyebrows, nor did her eyes flash with scorn. On the contrary, +she smiled quite frankly, and the sweet ripple was in her voice, the +ripple that drove some men almost crazy. + +'You needn't make such a fuss,' she said. 'It's quite absurd, you +know. Mr. Van Torp is an old friend of mine, and you have known him +ever so long, and he is a man of business. You are, are you not?' she +asked, looking to the American for assent. + +'I'm generally thought to be that,' he answered. + +'Very well. I came here, to Mr. Van Torp's rooms in the Temple, +before going to dinner, because I wished to see him about a matter of +business, in what is a place of business. It's all ridiculous nonsense +to talk about having caught me--and worse. That money is for a +charity, and I am going to take it before your eyes, and thank Mr. Van +Torp for being so splendidly generous. Now go, and take those persons +with you, and let me hear no more of this!' + +Thereupon Lady Maud came forward from the mantelpiece and deliberately +took from the table the envelope which contained four thousand one +hundred pounds in new Bank of England notes; and she put it into the +bosom of her gown, and smiled pleasantly at her husband. + +Mr. Van Torp watched her with genuine admiration, and when she looked +at him and nodded her thanks again, he unconsciously smiled too, and +answered by a nod of approval. + +The fair-haired foreign gentleman turned to his two ex-policemen with +considerable dignity. + +'You have heard and seen,' he said impressively. 'I shall expect you +to remember all this when you are in the witness-box. Let us go.' +He made a sweeping bow to his wife and Mr. Van Torp. 'I wish you an +agreeable evening,' he said. + +Thereupon he marched out of the room, followed by his men, who each +made an awkward bow at nothing in particular before going out. Mr. Van +Torp followed them at some distance towards the outer door, judging +that as they had forced their way in they could probably find their +way out. He did not even go to the outer threshold, for the last of +the three shut the door behind him. + +When the millionaire came back Lady Maud was seated in the easy-chair, +leaning forward and looking thoughtfully into the fire. Assuredly no +one would have suspected from her composed face that anything unusual +had happened. She glanced at her friend when he came in, but did not +speak, and he began to walk up and down on the other side of the +table, with his hands behind him. + +'You've got pretty good nerves,' he said presently. + +'Yes,' answered Lady Maud, still watching the coals, 'they really are +rather good.' + +A long silence followed, during which she did not move and Mr. Van +Torp steadily paced the floor. + +'I didn't tell a fib, either,' she said at last. 'It's charity, in its +way.' + +'Certainly,' assented her friend. 'What isn't either purchase-money or +interest, or taxes, or a bribe, or a loan, or a premium, or a present, +or blackmail, must be charity, because it must be something, and it +isn't anything else you can name.' + +'A present may be a charity,' said Lady Maud, still thoughtful. + +'Yes,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'It may be, but it isn't always.' + +He walked twice the length of the room before he spoke again. + +'Do you think it's really to be war this time?' he asked, stopping +beside the table. 'Because if it is, I'll see a lawyer before I go to +Derbyshire.' + +Lady Maud looked up with a bright smile. Clearly she had been thinking +of something compared with which the divorce court was a delightful +contrast. + +'I don't know,' she answered. 'It must come sooner or later, because +he wants to be free to marry that woman, and as he has not the courage +to cut my throat, he must divorce me--if he can!' + +'I've sometimes thought he might take the shorter way,' said Van Torp. + +'He?' Lady Maud almost laughed, but her companion looked grave. + +'There's a thing called homicidal mania,' he said. 'Didn't he shoot a +boy in Russia a year ago?' + +'A young man--one of the beaters. But that was an accident.' + +'I'm not so sure. How about that poor dog at the Theobalds' last +September?' + +'He thought the creature was mad,' Lady Maud explained. + +'He knows as well as you do that there's no rabies in the British +Isles,' objected Mr. Van Torp. 'Count Leven never liked that dog for +some reason, and he shot him the first time he got a chance. He's +always killing things. Some day he'll kill you, I'm afraid.' + +'I don't think so,' answered the lady carelessly. 'If he does, I hope +he'll do it neatly! I should hate to be maimed or mangled.' + +'Do you know it makes me uncomfortable to hear you talk like that? I +wish you wouldn't! You can't deny that your husband's half a lunatic, +anyway. He was behaving like one here only a quarter of an hour ago, +and it's no use denying it.' + +'But I'm not denying anything!' + +'No, I know you're not,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'If you don't know how +crazy he is, I don't suppose any one else does. But your nerves are +better than mine, as I told you. The idea of killing anything makes +me uncomfortable, and when it comes to thinking that he really might +murder you some day--well, I can't stand it, that's all! If I didn't +know that you lock your door at night I shouldn't sleep, sometimes. +You do lock it, always, don't you?' + +'Oh yes!' + +'Be sure you do to-night. I wonder whether he is in earnest about the +divorce this time, or whether the whole scene was just bluff, to get +my money.' + +'I don't know,' answered Lady Maud, rising. 'He needs money, I +believe, but I'm not sure that he would try to get it just in that +way.' + +'Too bad? Even for him?' + +'Oh dear, no! Too simple! He's a tortuous person.' + +'He tried to pocket those notes with a good deal of directness!' +observed Mr. Van Torp. + +'Yes. That was an opportunity that turned up unexpectedly, but he +didn't know it would. How could he? He didn't come here expecting to +find thousands of pounds lying about on the table! It was easy enough +to know that I was here, of course. I couldn't go out of my own house +on foot, in a dinner-gown, and pick up a hansom, could I? I had one +called and gave the address, and the footman remembered it and told my +husband. There's nothing more foolish than making mysteries and giving +the cabman first one address and then another. If Boris is really +going to bring a suit, the mere fact that there was no concealment as +to where I was going this evening would be strong evidence, wouldn't +it? Evidence he cannot deny, too, since he must have learnt the +address from the footman, who heard me give it! And people who make no +secret of a meeting are not meeting clandestinely, are they?' + +'You argue that pretty well,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling. + +'And besides,' rippled Lady Maud's sweet voice, as she shook out the +folds of her black velvet, 'I don't care.' + +Her friend held up the fur-lined cloak and put it over her shoulders. +She fastened it at the neck and then turned to the fire for a moment +before leaving. + +'Rufus,' she said gravely, after a moment's pause, and looking down at +the coals, 'you're an angel.' + +'The others in the game don't think so,' answered Mr. Van Torp. + +'No one was ever so good to a woman as you've been to me,' said Maud. + +And all at once the joyful ring had died away from her voice and there +was another tone in it that was sweet and low too, but sad and tender +and grateful, all at once. + +'There's nothing to thank me for,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'I've often +told you so. But I have a good deal of reason to be grateful to you +for all you've given me.' + +'Nonsense!' returned the lady, and the sadness was gone again, but +not all the tenderness. 'I must be going,' she added a moment later, +turning away from the fire. + +'I'll take you to the Embassy in a hansom,' said the millionaire, +slipping on his overcoat. + +'No. You mustn't do that--we should be sure to meet some one at the +door. Are you going anywhere in particular? I'll drop you wherever you +like, and then go on. It will give us a few minutes more together.' + +'Goodness knows we don't get too many!' + +'No, indeed!' + +So the two went down the dismal stairs of the house in Hare Court +together. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The position of a successful lyric primadonna with regard to other +artists and the rest of the world is altogether exceptional, and +is not easy to explain. Her value for purposes of advertisement +apparently exceeds that of any other popular favourite, not to mention +the majority of royal personages. A respectable publisher has been +known to bring out a book in which he did not believe, solely because +a leading lyric soprano promised him to say in an interview that it +was the book of the year. Countless brands of cigars, cigarettes, +wines and liquors, have been the fashion with the flash crowd that +frequents public billiard-rooms and consumes unlimited tobacco and +drink, merely because some famous 'Juliet' or 'Marguerite' has +'consented' to lend her name to the articles in question; and half +the grog-shops on both sides of the Atlantic display to the admiring +street the most alarming pink and white caricatures, or monstrously +enlarged photographs, of the three or four celebrated lyric sopranos +who happen to be before the public at any one time. In the popular +mind those artists represent something which they themselves do not +always understand. There is a legend about each; she is either an +angel of purity and light, or a beautiful monster of iniquity; she +has turned the heads of kings--'kings' in a vaguely royal +plural--completely round on their shoulders, or she has built out of +her earnings a hospital for crippled children; the watery-sentimental +eye of the flash crowd in its cups sees in her a Phryne, a Mrs. Fry, +or a Saint Cecilia. Goethe said that every man must be either the +hammer or the anvil; the billiard-room public is sure that every +primadonna is a siren or a martyred wife, or else a public +benefactress, unless she is all three by turns, which is even more +interesting. + +In any case, the reporters are sure that every one wants to know just +what she thinks about everything. In the United States, for instance, +her opinion on political matters is often asked, and is advertised +with 'scare-heads' that would stop a funeral or arrest the attention +of a man on his way to the gallows. + +Then, too, she has her 'following' of 'girls,' thousands of whom have +her photograph, or her autograph, or both, and believe in her, and are +ready to scratch out the eyes of any older person who suggests that +she is not perfection in every way, or that to be a primadonna like +her ought not to be every girl's highest ambition. They not only +worship her, but many of them make real sacrifices to hear her sing; +for most of them are anything but well off, and to hear an opera means +living without little luxuries, and sometimes without necessaries, for +days together. Their devotion to their idol is touching and true; and +she knows it and is good-natured in the matter of autographs for them, +and talks about 'my matinée girls' to the reporters, as if those +eleven thousand virgins and more were all her younger sisters and +nieces. An actress, even the most gifted, has no such 'following.' The +greatest dramatic sopranos that ever sing Brunhilde and Kundry +enjoy no such popularity. It belongs exclusively to the nightingale +primadonnas, whose voices enchant the ear if they do not always +stir the blood. It may be explicable, but no explanation is at all +necessary, since the fact cannot be disputed. + +To this amazing popularity Margaret Donne had now attained; and she +was known to the matinée girls' respectful admiration as Madame +Cordova, to the public generally and to her comrades as Cordova, to +sentimental paragraph-writers as Fair Margaret, and to her friends as +Miss Donne, or merely as Margaret. Indeed, from the name each person +gave her in speaking of her, it was easy to know the class to which +each belonged. + +She had bought a house in London, because in her heart she still +thought England the finest country in the world, and had never felt +the least desire to live anywhere else. She had few relations left and +none whom she saw; for her father, the Oxford scholar, had not had +money, and they all looked with disapproval on the career she had +chosen. Besides, she had been very little in England since her +parents' death. Her mother's American friend, the excellent Mrs. +Rushmore, who had taken her under her wing, was now in Versailles, +where she had a house, and Margaret actually had the audacity to live +alone, rather than burden herself with a tiresome companion. + +Her courage in doing so was perhaps mistaken, considering what the +world is and what it generally thinks of the musical and theatrical +professions; and Mrs. Rushmore, who was quite powerless to influence +Margaret's conduct, did not at all approve of it. The girl's will had +always been strong, and her immense success had so little weakened +her belief in herself, or softened her character, that she had grown +almost too independent. The spirit of independence is not a fault in +women, but it is a defect in the eyes of men. Darwin has proved that +the dominant characteristic of male animals is vanity; and what is +to become of that if women show that they can do without us? If the +emancipation of woman had gone on as it began when we were boys, we +should by this time be importing wives for our sons from Timbuctoo or +the Friendly Islands. Happily, women are practical beings who rarely +stray far from the narrow path along which usefulness and pleasure may +still go hand in hand; for considering how much most women do that +is useful, the amount of pleasure they get out of life is perfectly +amazing; and when we try to keep up with them in the chase after +amusement we are surprised at the number of useful things they +accomplish without effort in twenty-four hours. + +But, indeed, women are to us very like the moon, which has shown the +earth only one side of herself since the beginning, though she has +watched and studied our world from all its sides through uncounted +ages. We men are alternately delighted, humiliated, and terrified when +women anticipate our wishes, perceive our weaknesses, and detect our +shortcomings, whether we be frisky young colts in the field or sober +stagers plodding along between the matrimonial shafts in harness and +blinkers. We pride ourselves on having the strength to smash the +shafts, shake off the harness, and kick the cart to pieces if we +choose, and there are men who can and do. But the man does not live +who knows what the dickens women are up to when he is going quietly +along the road, as a good horse should. Sometimes they are driving us, +and then there is no mistake about it; and sometimes they are just +sitting in the cart and dozing, and we can tell that they are behind +us by their weight; but very often we are neither driven by them nor +are we dragging them, and we really have not the faintest idea where +they are, so that we are reduced to telling ourselves, with a little +nervousness which we do not care to acknowledge, that it is noble and +beautiful to trust what we love. + +A part of the great feminine secret is the concealment of that +independence about which there has been so much talk in our time. As +for suffrage, wherever there is such a thing, the woman who does not +vote always controls far more men's votes than the woman who goes to +the polls, and has only her own vote to give. + +Margaret, the primadonna, did not want to vote for or against +anything; but she was a little too ready to assert that she could and +would lead her own life as she pleased, without danger to her good +name, because she had never done anything to be ashamed of. The +natural consequence was that she was gradually losing something +which is really much more worth having than commonplace, technical +independence. Her friend Lushington realised the change as soon as she +landed, and it hurt him to see it, because it seemed to him a great +pity that what he had thought an ideal, and therefore a natural +manifestation of art, should be losing the fine outlines that had +made it perfect to his devoted gaze. But this was not all. His rather +over-strung moral sense was offended as well as his artistic taste. +He felt that Margaret was blunting the sensibilities of her feminine +nature and wronging a part of herself, and that the delicate bloom +of girlhood was opening to a blossom that was somewhat too evidently +strong, a shade too vivid and more brilliant than beautiful. + +There were times when she reminded him of his mother, and those were +some of the most painful moments of his present life. It is true that +compared with Madame Bonanni in her prime, as he remembered her, +Margaret was as a lily of the valley to a giant dahlia; yet when he +recalled the sweet and healthy English girl he had known and loved in +Versailles three years ago, the vision was delicate and fairy-like +beside the strong reality of the successful primadonna. She was so +very sure of herself now, and so fully persuaded that she was not +accountable to any one for her doings, her tastes, or the choice of +her friends! If not actually like Madame Bonanni, she was undoubtedly +beginning to resemble two or three of her famous rivals in the +profession who were nearer to her own age. Her taste did not run in +the direction of white fox cloaks, named diamonds, and imperial jade +plates; she did not use a solid gold toothbrush with emeralds set in +the handle, like Ismail Pacha; bridge did not amuse her at all, nor +could she derive pleasure from playing at Monte Carlo; she did not +even keep an eighty-horse-power motor-car worth five thousand pounds. +Paul Griggs, who was old-fashioned, called motor-cars 'sudden-death +carts,' and Margaret was inclined to agree with him. She cared for +none of these things. + +Nevertheless there was a quiet thoroughgoing luxury in her existence, +an unseen private extravagance, such as Rufus Van Torp, the +millionaire, had never dreamt of. She had first determined to be a +singer in order to support herself, because she had been cheated of +a fortune by old Alvah Moon; but before she had actually made her +_début_ a handsome sum had been recovered for her, and though she was +not exactly what is now called rich, she was at least extremely well +off, apart from her professional earnings, which were very large +indeed. In the certainty that if her voice failed she would always +have a more than sufficient income for the rest of her life, and +considering that she was not under the obligation of supporting a +number of poor relations, it was not surprising that she should spend +a great deal of money on herself. + +It is not every one who can be lavish without going a little beyond +the finely-drawn boundary which divides luxury from extravagance; for +useless profusion is by nature as contrary to what is aesthetic as fat +in the wrong place, and is quite as sure to be seen. To spend well +what rich people are justified in expending over and above an ample +provision for the necessities and reasonable comforts of a large +existence is an art in itself, and the modest muse of good taste loves +not the rich man for his riches, nor the successful primadonna for the +thousands she has a right to throw away if she likes. + +Mr. Van Torp vaguely understood this, without at all guessing how the +great artist spent her money. He had understood at least enough to +hinder him from trying to dazzle her in the beginning of the New York +season, when he had brought siege against her. + +A week after her arrival in London, Margaret was alone at her piano +and Lushington was announced. Unlike the majority of musicians in real +fiction she had not been allowing her fingers to 'wander over the +keys,' a relaxation that not seldom leads to outer darkness, where the +consecutive fifth plays hide-and-seek with the falling sub-tonic to +superinduce gnashing of teeth in them that hear. Margaret was learning +her part in the _Elisir d'Amore_, and instead of using her voice she +was whistling from the score and playing the accompaniment. The old +opera was to be revived during the coming season with her and the +great Pompeo Stromboli, and she was obliged to work hard to have it +ready. + +The music-room had a polished wooden floor, and the furniture +consisted chiefly of a grand piano and a dozen chairs. The walls were +tinted a pale green; there were no curtains at the windows, because +they would have deadened sound, and a very small wood fire was burning +in an almost miniature fireplace quite at the other end of the room. +The sun had not quite set yet, and as the blinds were still open, +a lurid glare came in from the western sky, over the houses on the +opposite side of the wide square. There had been a heavy shower, but +the streets were already drying. One shaded electric lamp stood on the +desk of the piano, and the rest of the room was illuminated by the +yellowish daylight. + +Margaret was very much absorbed in her work, and did not hear the door +open; but the servant came slowly towards her, purposely making his +steps heard on the wooden floor in order to attract her attention. +When she stopped playing and whistling, and looked round, the man said +that Mr. Lushington was downstairs. + +'Ask him to come up,' she answered, without hesitation. + +She rose from the piano, went to the window and looked out at the +smoky sunset. + +Lushington entered the room in a few moments and saw only the outline +of her graceful figure, as if she were cut out in black against the +glare from the big window. She turned, and a little of the shaded +light from the piano fell upon her face, just enough to show him her +expression, and though her glad smile welcomed him, there was anxiety +in her brown eyes. He came forward, fair and supernaturally neat, as +ever, and much more self-possessed than in former days. It was not +their first meeting since she had landed, for he had been to see her +late in the afternoon on the day of her arrival, and she had expected +him; but she had felt a sort of constraint in his manner then, which +was new to her, and they had talked for half an hour about indifferent +things. Moreover, he had refused a second cup of tea, which was a sure +sign that something was wrong. So she had asked him to come again a +week later, naming the day, and she had been secretly disappointed +because he did not protest against being put off so long. She wondered +what had happened, for his letters, his cable to her when she had left +America, and the flowers he had managed to send on board the steamer, +had made her believe that he had not changed since they had parted +before Christmas. + +As she was near the piano she sat down on the stool, while he took a +small chair and established himself near the corner of the instrument, +at the upper end of the keyboard. The shaded lamp cast a little light +on both their faces, as the two looked at each other, and Margaret +realised that she was not only very fond of him, but that his whole +existence represented something she had lost and wished to get back, +but feared that she could never have again. For many months she had +not felt like her old self till a week ago, when he had come to see +her after she had landed. + +They had been in love with each other before she had begun her career, +and she would have married him then, but a sort of quixotism, which +was highly honourable if nothing else, had withheld him. He had felt +that his mother's son had no right to marry Margaret Donne, though she +had told him as plainly as a modest girl could that she was not of the +same opinion. Then had come Logotheti's mad attempt to carry her off +out of the theatre, after the dress rehearsal before her début, and +Madame Bonanni and Lushington between them had spirited her away just +in time. After that it had been impossible for him to keep up the +pretence of avoiding her, and a sort of intimacy had continued, which +neither of them quite admitted to be love, while neither would have +called it mere friendship. + +The most amazing part of the whole situation was that Margaret had +continued to see Logotheti as if he had not actually tried to carry +her off in his motor-car, very much against her will. And in spite of +former jealousies and a serious quarrel Logotheti and Lushington spoke +to each other when they met. Possibly Lushington consented to treat +him civilly because the plot for carrying off Margaret had so +completely failed that its author had got himself locked up on +suspicion of being a fugitive criminal. Lushington, feeling that he +had completely routed his rival on that occasion, could afford to be +generous. Yet the man of letters, who was a born English gentleman on +his father's side, and who was one altogether by his bringing up, was +constantly surprised at himself for being willing to shake hands with +a Greek financier who had tried to run away with an English girl; and +possibly, in the complicated workings of his mind and conflicting +sensibilities, half Anglo-Saxon and half Southern French, his present +conduct was due to the fact that Margaret Donne had somehow ceased to +be a 'nice English girl' when she joined the cosmopolitan legion that +manoeuvres on the international stage of 'Grand Opera.' How could a +'nice English girl' remain herself if she associated daily with +such people as Pompeo Stromboli, Schreiermeyer, Herr Tiefenbach and +Signorina Baci-Roventi, the Italian contralto who could pass for a man +so well that she was said to have fought a real duel with sabres and +wounded her adversary before he discovered that she was the very lady +he had lately left for another--a regular Mademoiselle de Maupin! Had +not Lushington once seen her kiss Margaret on both cheeks in a moment +of enthusiastic admiration? He was not the average young man who falls +in love with a singer, either; he knew the stage and its depths only +too well, for he had his own mother's life always before him, a +perpetual reproach. + +Though Margaret had at first revolted inwardly against the details of +her professional surroundings, she had grown used to them by sure and +fatal degrees, and things that would once have disgusted her were +indifferent to her now. Men who have been educated in conditions of +ordinary refinement and who have volunteered in the ranks or gone to +sea before the mast have experienced something very like what befell +Margaret; but men are not delicately nurtured beings whose bloom is +damaged by the rough air of reality, and the camp and the forecastle +are not the stage. Perhaps nothing that is necessary shocks really +sensible people; it is when disagreeable things are perfectly useless +and quite avoidable--in theory--that they are most repugnant to men +like Edmund Lushington. He had warned Margaret of what was in store +for her, before she had taken the final step; but he had not warned +himself that in spite of her bringing-up she might get used to it +all and end by not resenting it any more than the rest of the +professionals with whom she associated. It was this that chilled him. + +'I hope I'm not interrupting your work,' he said as he sat down. + +'My work?' + +'I heard you studying when they let me in.' + +'Oh!' + +His voice sounded very indifferent, and a pause followed Margaret's +mild ejaculation. + +'It's rather a thankless opera for the soprano, I always think,' he +observed. 'The tenor has it all his own way.' + +'_The Elisir d'Amore_?' + +'Yes.' + +'I've not rehearsed it yet,' said Margaret rather drearily. 'I don't +know.' + +He evidently meant to talk of indifferent things again, as at their +last meeting, and she felt that she was groping in the dark for +something she had lost. There was no sympathy in his voice, no +interest, and she was inclined to ask him plainly what was the matter; +but her pride hindered her still, and she only looked at him with an +expression of inquiry. He laid his hand on the corner of the piano, +and his eyes rested on the shaded lamp as if it attracted him. +Perhaps he wondered why he had nothing to say to her, and why she was +unwilling to help the conversation a little, since her new part might +be supposed to furnish matter for a few commonplace phrases. The smoky +sunset was fading outside and the room was growing dark. + +'When do the rehearsals begin?' he asked after a long interval, and as +if he was quite indifferent to the answer. + +'When Stromboli comes, I suppose.' + +Margaret turned on the piano stool, so as to face the desk, and she +quietly closed the open score and laid it on the little table on her +other side, as if not caring to talk of it any more, but she did not +turn to him again. + +'You had a great success in New York,' he said, after some time. + +To this she answered nothing, but she shrugged her shoulders a little, +and though he was not looking directly at her he saw the movement, +and was offended by it. Such a little shrug was scarcely a breach of +manners, but it was on the verge of vulgarity in his eyes, because +he was persuaded that she had begun to change for the worse. He had +already told himself that her way of speaking was not what it had been +last year, and he felt that if the change went on she would set +his teeth on edge some day; and that he was growing more and more +sensitive, while she was continually becoming less so. + +Margaret could not have understood that, and would have been hurt if +he had tried to explain it. She was disappointed, because his letters +had made her think that she was going to find him just as she had left +him, as indeed he had been till the moment when he saw her after her +arrival; but then he had changed at once. He had been disappointed +then, as she was now, and chilled, as she was now; he had felt that he +was shrinking from her then, as she now shrank from him. He suffered a +good deal in his quiet way, for he had never known any woman who had +moved him as she once had; but she suffered too, and in a much more +resentful way. Two years of maddening success had made her very sure +that she had a prime right to anything she wanted--within reason! If +she let him alone he would sit out his half-hour's visit, making an +idle remark now and then, and he would go away; but she would not let +him do that. It was too absurd that after a long and affectionate +intimacy they should sit there in the soft light and exchange +platitudes. + +'Tom,' she said, suddenly resolving to break the ice, 'we have +been much too good friends to behave in this way to each other. If +something has come between us, I think you ought to tell me--don't +you?' + +'I wish I could,' Lushington answered, after a moment's hesitation. + +'If you know, you can,' said Margaret, taking the upper hand and +meaning to keep it. + +'That does not quite follow.' + +'Oh yes, it does,' retorted Margaret energetically. 'I'll tell you +why. If it's anything on your side, it's not fair and honest to keep +it from me after writing to me as you have written all winter. But if +it's the other way, there's nothing you can possibly know about me +which you cannot tell me, and if you think there is, then some one has +been telling you what is not true.' + +'It's nothing against you; I assure you it's not.' + +'Then there is a woman in the case. Why should you not say so frankly? +We are not bound to each other in any way, I'm sure. I believe I once +asked you to marry me, and you refused!' She laughed rather sharply. +'That does not constitute an engagement!' + +'You put the point rather brutally, I think,' said Lushington. + +'Perhaps, but isn't it quite true? It was not said in so many words, +but you knew I meant it, and but for a quixotic scruple of yours we +should have been married. I remember asking you what we were making +ourselves miserable about, since we both cared so much. It was at +Versailles, the last time we walked together, and we had stopped, and +I was digging little round holes in the road with my parasol. I'm not +going to ask you again to marry me, so there is no reason in the world +why you should behave differently to me if you have fallen in love +with some one else.' + +'I'm not in love with any one,' said Lushington sharply. + +'Then something you have heard about me has changed you in spite of +what you say, and I have a right to know what it is, because I've done +nothing I'm ashamed of.' + +'I've not heard a word against you,' he answered, almost angrily. 'Why +do you imagine such things?' + +'Because I'm honest enough to own that your friendship has meant a +great deal to me, even at a distance; and as I see that it has broken +its neck at some fence or other, I'm natural enough to ask what the +jump was like!' + +He would not answer. He only looked at her suddenly for an instant, +with a slight pinching of the lids, and his blue eyes glittered a +little; then he turned away with a displeased air. + +'Am I just or not?' Margaret asked, almost sternly. + +'Yes, you are just,' he said, for it was impossible not to reply. + +'And do you think it is just to me to change your manner altogether, +without giving me a reason? I don't!' + +'You will force me to say something I would rather not say.' + +'That is what I am trying to do,' Margaret retorted. + +'Since you insist on knowing the truth,' answered Lushington, yielding +to what was very like necessity, 'I think you are very much changed +since I saw you last. You do not seem to me the same person.' + +For a moment Margaret looked at him with something like wonder, and +her lips parted, though she said nothing. Then they met again and shut +very tight, while her brown eyes darkened till they looked almost +black; she turned a shade paler, too, and there was something almost +tragic in her face. + +'I'm sorry,' Lushington said, watching her, 'but you made me tell +you.' + +'Yes,' she answered slowly. 'I made you tell me, and I'm glad I did. +So I have changed as much as that, have I? In two years!' + +She folded her hands on the little shelf of the empty music desk, bent +far forwards and looked down between the polished wooden bars at the +strings below, as if she were suddenly interested in the mechanism of +the piano. + +Lushington turned his eyes to the darkening windows, and both sat thus +in silence for some time. + +'Yes,' she repeated at last, 'I'm glad I made you tell me. It explains +everything very well.' + +Still Lushington said nothing, and she was still examining the +strings. Her right hand stole to the keys, and she pressed down one +note so gently that it did not strike; she watched the little hammer +that rose till it touched the string and then fell back into its +place. + +'You said I should change--I remember your words.' Her voice was quiet +and thoughtful, whatever she felt. 'I suppose there is something about +me now that grates on your nerves.' + +There was no resentment in her tone, nor the least intonation of +sarcasm. But Lushington said nothing; he was thinking of the time when +he had thought her an ideal of refined girlhood, and had believed in +his heart that she could never stand the life of the stage, and would +surely give it up in sheer disgust, no matter how successful she might +be. Yet now, she did not even seem offended by what he had told her. +So much the better, he thought; for he was far too truthful to take +back one word in order to make peace, even if she burst into tears. +Possibly, of the two, his reflections were sadder than hers just then, +but she interrupted them with a question. + +'Can you tell me of any one thing I do that jars on you?' she asked. +'Or is it what I say, or my way of speaking? I should like to know.' + +'It's nothing, and it's everything,' answered Lushington, taking +refuge in a commonplace phrase, 'and I suppose no one else would ever +notice it. But I'm so awfully sensitive about certain things. You know +why.' + +She knew why; yet it was with a sort of wonder that she asked herself +what there was in her tone or manner that could remind him of his +mother; but though she had spoken quietly, and almost humbly, a cold +and secret anger was slowly rising in her. The great artist, who held +thousands spellbound and breathless, could not submit easily to losing +in such a way the only friendship that had ever meant much to her. The +man who had just told her that she had lost her charm for him meant +that she was sinking to the level of her surroundings, and he was the +only man she had ever believed that she loved. Two years ago, and even +less, she would have been generously angry with him, and would have +spoken out, and perhaps all would have been over; but those two years +of life on the stage had given her the self-control of an actress when +she chose to exercise it, and she had acquired an artificial command +of her face and voice which had not belonged to her original frank and +simple self. Perhaps Lushington knew that too, as a part of the change +that offended his taste. At twenty-two, Margaret Donne would have +coloured, and would have given him a piece of her young mind very +plainly; Margarita da Cordova, aged twenty-four, turned a trifle +paler, shut her lips, and was frigidly angry, as if some ignorant +music-hall reporter had attacked her singing in print. She was +convinced that Lushington was mistaken, and that he was merely +yielding to that love of finding fault with what he liked which a +familiar passage in Scripture attributes to the Divinity, but with +which many of us are better acquainted in our friends; in her opinion, +such fault-finding was personal criticism, and it irritated her +vanity, over-fed with public adulation and the sincere praise of +musical critics. 'If you don't like me as I am, there are so many +people who do that you don't count!' That was the sub-conscious form +of her mental retort, and it was in the manner of Cordova, and not of +Margaret. + +Once upon a time, when his exaggerated sense of honour was driving him +away, she had said rather foolishly that if he left her she would not +answer for herself. She had felt a little desperate, but he had told +her quietly that he, who knew her, would answer for her, and her mood +had changed, and she had been herself again. But it was different this +time. He meant much more than he said; he meant that she had lowered +herself, and she was sure that he would not 'answer' for her now. On +the contrary, it was his intention to let her know that he no longer +believed in her, and perhaps no longer respected or trusted her. Yet, +little by little, during their last separation, his belief in her, and +his respect for her, had grown in her estimation, because they alone +still connected her with the maidenliness and feminine refinement in +which she had grown up. Lushington had broken a link that had been +strong. + +She was at one of the cross-roads of her life; she was at a turning +point in the labyrinth, after passing which it would be hard to come +back and find the right way. Perhaps old Griggs could help her if it +occurred to him; but that was unlikely, for he had reached the age +when men who have seen much take people as they find them. Logotheti +would certainly not help her, though she knew instinctively that she +was still to him what she had always been, and that if he ever had the +opportunity he sought, her chances of escape would be small indeed. + +Therefore she felt more lonely after Lushington had spoken than she +had ever felt since her parents had died, and much more desperate. But +nothing in the world would have induced her to let him know it, and +her anger against him rose slowly, and it was cold and enduring, as +that sort of resentment is. She was so proud that it gave her the +power to smile carelessly after a minute's silence, and she asked him +some perfectly idle questions about the news of the day. He should +not know that he had hurt her very much; he should not suspect for a +moment that she wished him to go away. + +She rose presently and turned up the lights, rang the bell, and +when the window curtains were drawn, and tea was brought, she did +everything she could to make Lushington feel at his ease; she did it +out of sheer pride, for she did not meditate any vengeance, but was +only angry, and wished to get rid of him without a scene. + +At last he rose to go away, and when he held out his hand there was a +dramatic moment. + +'I hope you're not angry with me,' he said with a cheerful smile, for +he was quite sure that she bore him no lasting grudge. + +'I?' + +She laughed so frankly and musically after pronouncing the syllable, +that he took it for a disclaimer. + +So he went away, shutting the door after him in a contented way, +not sharply as if he were annoyed with her, nor very softly and +considerately as if he were sorry for her, but with a moderate, +businesslike snap of the latch as if everything were all right. + +She went back to the piano when she was alone, and sat down on the +music-stool, but her hands did not go to the keys till she was sure +that Lushington was already far from the house. + +A few chords, and then she suddenly began to sing with the full power +of her voice, as if she were on the stage. She sang Rosina's song in +the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ as she had never sung it in her life, and +for the first time the words pleased her. + + '... una vipera sarò!' + +What 'nice English girl' ever told herself or any one else that she +would be a 'viper'? + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Two days later Margaret was somewhat surprised by an informal +invitation to dine at the Turkish Embassy. The Ambassador had lately +been transferred to London from Paris, where she had known him through +Logotheti and had met him two or three times. The latter, as a +Fanariote Greek, was a Turkish subject, and although he had once told +Margaret that the Turks had murdered his father in some insurrection, +and though he himself might have hesitated to spend much time in +Constantinople, he nevertheless maintained friendly relations with +the representatives of what was his country; and for obvious reasons, +connected with Turkish finance, they treated him with marked +consideration. On general principles and in theory Turks and Greeks +hate each other; in practice they can live very amicably side by side. +In the many cases in which Armenians have been attacked and killed by +the Turks no Greek has ever been hurt except by accident; on the other +hand, none has lifted a hand to defend an Armenian in distress, +which sufficiently proves that the question of religion has not been +concerned at all. + +Margaret accepted the Ambassador's invitation, feeling tolerably sure +of meeting Logotheti at the dinner. If there were any other women they +would be of the meteoric sort, the fragments of former social planets +that go on revolving in the old orbit, more or less divorced, +bankrupt, or otherwise unsound, though still smart, the kind of women +who are asked to fill a table on such occasions 'because they +won't mind'--that is to say, they will not object to dining with a +primadonna or an actress whose husband has become nebulous and whose +reputation is mottled. The men, of whom there might be several, would +be either very clever or overpoweringly noble, because all geniuses +and all peers are supposed to like their birds of paradise a little +high. I wonder why. I have met and talked with a good many men +of genius, from Wagner and Liszt to Zola and some still living +contemporaries, and, really, their general preference for highly +correct social gatherings has struck me as phenomenal. There are even +noblemen who seem to be quite respectable, and pretend that they would +rather talk to an honest woman at a dinner party than drink bumpers of +brut champagne out of Astarte's satin slipper. + +Mustapha Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador, was a fair, pale man of fifty, +who had spiritual features, quiet blue eyes, and a pleasant smile. His +hands were delicately made and very white, but not effeminate. He had +been educated partly in England, and spoke English without difficulty +and almost without accent, as Logotheti did. He came forward to meet +Margaret as she entered the room, and he greeted her warmly, thanking +her for being so good as to come at short notice. + +Logotheti was the next to take her hand, and she looked at him +attentively when her eyes met his, wondering whether he, too, would +think her changed. He himself was not, at all events. Mustapha Pasha, +a born Musalman and a genuine Turk, never arrested attention in an +English drawing-room by his appearance; but Constantino Logotheti, the +Greek, was an Oriental in looks as well as in character. His beautiful +eyes were almond-shaped, his lips were broad and rather flat, and the +small black moustache grew upwards and away from them so as not to +hide his mouth at all. He had an even olive complexion, and any judge +of men would have seen at a glance that he was thoroughly sound and +as strong as a professional athlete. His coat had a velvet collar; a +single emerald stud, worth several thousand pounds, diffused a green +refulgence round itself in the middle of his very shiny shirt front; +his waistcoat was embroidered and adorned with diamond buttons, his +trousers were tight, and his name, with those of three or four other +European financiers, made it alternately possible or impossible for +impecunious empires and kingdoms to raise money in England, France and +Germany. In matters of business, in the East, the Jew fears the Greek, +the Greek fears the Armenian, the Armenian fears the Persian, and +the Persian fears only Allah. One reason why the Jews do not care to +return to Palestine and Asia Minor is that they cannot get a living +amongst Christians and Mohammedans, a plain fact which those +eminent and charitable European Jews who are trying to draw their +fellow-believers eastward would do well to consider. Even in Europe +there are far more poor Jews than Christians realise; in Asia there +are hardly any rich ones. The Venetians were too much for Shylock, +and he lost his ducats and his daughter; amongst Christian Greeks, +Christian Armenians, and Musalman Persians, from Constantinople to +Tiflis, Teheran, Bagdad and Cairo, the poor man could not have saved +sixpence a year. + +This is not a mere digression, since it may serve to define +Logotheti's position in the scale of the financial forces. + +Margaret took his hand and looked at him just a little longer than she +had looked at Mustapha Pasha. He never wrote to her, and never took +the trouble to let her know where he was; but when they met his time +was hers, and when he could be with her he seemed to have no other +pre-occupation in life. + +'I came over from Paris to-day,' he said. 'When may I come and see +you?' + +That was always the first question, for he never wasted time. + +'To-morrow, if you like. Come late--about seven.' + +The Ambassador was on her other side. A little knot of men and one +lady were standing near the fire in an expectant sort of way, ready to +be introduced to Margaret. She saw the bony head of Paul Griggs, and +she smiled at him from a distance. He was talking to a very handsome +and thoroughbred looking woman in plain black velvet, who had the most +perfectly beautiful shoulders Margaret had ever seen. + +Mustapha Pasha led the Primadonna to the group. + +'Lady Maud,' he said to the beauty, 'this is my old friend Señorita da +Cordova. Countess Leven,' he added, for Margaret's benefit. + +She had not met him more than three times, but she did not resent +being called his old friend. It was well meant, she thought. + +Lady Maud held out her hand cordially. + +'I've wanted to know you ever so long,' she said, in her sweet low +voice. + +'That's very kind of you,' Margaret answered. + +It is not easy to find a proper reply to people who say they have long +hoped to meet you, but Griggs came to the rescue, as he shook hands in +his turn. + +'That was not a mere phrase,' he said with a smile. 'It's quite true. +Lady Maud wanted me to give her a letter to you a year ago.' + +'Indeed I did,' asseverated the beauty, nodding, 'but Mr. Griggs said +he didn't know you well enough!' + +'You might have asked me,' observed Logotheti. 'I'm less cautious than +Griggs.' + +'You're too exotic,' retorted Lady Maud, with a ripple in her voice. + +The adjective described the Greek so well that the others laughed. + +'Exotic,' Margaret repeated the word thoughtfully. + +'For that matter,' put in Mustapha Pasha with a smile, 'I can hardly +be called a native!' + +The Countess Leven looked at him critically. + +'You could pass for one,' she said, 'but Monsieur Logotheti couldn't.' +The other men, whom Margaret did not know, had been listening in +silence, and maintained their expectant attitude. In the pause which +followed Lady Maud's remark the Ambassador introduced them in foreign +fashion: one was a middle-aged peer who wore gold-rimmed spectacles +and looked like a student or a man of letters; another was the most +successful young playwright of the younger generation, and he wore a +very good coat and was altogether well turned out, for in his heart he +prided himself on being the best groomed man in London; a third was +a famous barrister who had a crisp and breezy way with him that made +flat calms in conversation impossible. Lastly, a very disagreeable +young man, who seemed a mere boy, was introduced to the Primadonna. + +'Mr. Feist,' said the Ambassador, who never forgot names. + +Margaret was aware of a person with an unhealthy complexion, thick +hair of a dead-leaf brown colour, and staring blue eyes that made her +think of glass marbles. The face had an unnaturally youthful look, and +yet, at the same time, there was something profoundly vicious about +it. Margaret wondered who in the world the young man might be and why +he was at the Turkish Embassy, apparently invited there to meet her. +She at once supposed that in spite of his appearance he must have some +claim to celebrity. + +'I'm a great admirer of yours, Señorita,' said Mr. Feist in a womanish +voice and with a drawl. 'I was in the Metropolitan in New York when +you sang in the dark and prevented a panic. I suppose that was about +the finest thing any singer ever did.' + +Margaret smiled pleasantly, though she felt the strongest repulsion +for the man. + +'I happened to be on the stage,' she said modestly. 'Any of the others +would have done the same.' + +'Well,' drawled Mr. Feist, 'may be. I doubt it.' + +Dinner was announced. + +'Will you keep house for me?' asked the Ambassador of Lady Maud. + +'There's something rather appropriate about your playing Ambassadress +here,' observed Logotheti. + +Margaret heard but did not understand that her new acquaintance was +a Russian subject. Mustapha Pasha held out his arm to take her in to +dinner. The spectacled peer took in Lady Maud, and the men straggled +in. At table Lady Maud sat opposite the Pasha, with the peer on her +right and the barrister on her left. Margaret was on the right of the +Ambassador, on whose other side Griggs was placed, and Logotheti +was Margaret's other neighbour. Feist and the young playwright were +together, between Griggs and the nobleman. + +Margaret glanced round the table at the people and wondered about +them. She had heard of the barrister and the novelist, and the peer's +name had a familiar sound that suggested something unusual, though she +could not quite remember what it was. It might be pictures, or the +north pole, or the divorce court, or a new idiot asylum; it would +never matter much. The new acquaintances on whom her attention fixed +itself were Lady Maud, who attracted her strongly, and Mr. Feist, +who repelled her. She wished she could speak Greek in order to ask +Logotheti who the latter was and why he was present. To judge by +appearances he was probably a rich young American who travelled and +frequented theatres a good deal, and who wished to be able to say +that he knew Cordova. He had perhaps arrived lately with a letter +of introduction to the Ambassador, who had asked him to the first +nondescript informal dinner he gave, because the man would not have +fitted in anywhere else. + +Logotheti began to talk at once, while Mustapha Pasha plunged into a +political conversation with Griggs. + +'I'm much more glad to see you than you can imagine,' the Greek said, +not in an undertone, but just so softly that no one else could hear +him. + +'I'm not good at imagining,' answered Margaret. 'But I'm glad you are +here. There are so many new faces.' + +'Happily you are not shy. One of your most enviable qualities is your +self-possession.' + +'You're not lacking in that way either,' laughed Margaret. 'Unless you +have changed very much.' + +'Neither of us has changed much since last year. I only wish you +would!' + +Margaret turned her head to look at him. + +'So you think I am not changed!' she said, with a little pleased +surprise in her tone. + +'Not a bit. If anything, you have grown younger in the last two +years.' + +'Does that mean more youthful? More frisky? I hope not!' + +'No, not at all. What I see is the natural effect of vast success on a +very, nice woman. Formerly, even after you had begun your career, +you had some doubts as to the ultimate result. The future made you +restless, and sometimes disturbed the peace of your face a little, +when you thought about it too much. That's all gone now, and you are +your real self, as nature meant you to be.' + +'My real self? You mean, the professional singer!' + +'No. A great artist, in the person of a thoroughly nice woman.' + +Margaret had thought that blushing was a thing of the past with her, +but a soft colour rose in her cheeks now, from sheer pleasure at what +he had said. + +'I hope you don't think it impertinent of me to tell you so,' said +Logotheti with a slight intonation of anxiety. + +'Impertinent!' cried Margaret. 'It's the nicest thing any one has said +to me for months, and thank goodness I'm not above being pleased.' + +Nor was Logotheti above using any art that could please her. His +instinct about women, finding no scruples in the way, had led him into +present favour by the shortest road. It is one thing to say brutally +that all women like flattery; it is quite another to foresee just what +form of flattery they will like. People who do not know professional +artistic life from the inner side are much too ready to cry out that +first-class professionals will swallow any amount of undiscriminating +praise. The ability to judge their own work is one of the gifts which +place them above the second class. + +'I said what I thought,' observed Logotheti with a sudden air of +conscientious reserve. 'For once in our acquaintance, I was not +thinking of pleasing you. And then I was afraid that I had displeased +you, as I so often have.' + +The last words were spoken with a regret that was real. + +'I have forgiven you,' said Margaret quietly; 'with conditions!' she +added, as an afterthought, and smiling. + +'Oh, I know--I'll never do it again.' + +'That's what a runaway horse seems to say when he walks quietly home, +with his head down and his ears limp, after nearly breaking one's +neck!' + +'I was a born runaway,' said Logotheti meekly, 'but you have cured +me.' + +In the pause that followed this speech, Mr. Feist leaned forward and +spoke to Margaret across the table. + +'I think we have a mutual friend, Madame,' he said. + +'Indeed?' Margaret spoke coolly; she did not like to be called +'Madame' by people who spoke English. + +'Mr. Van Torp,' explained the young man. + +'Yes,' Margaret said, after a moment's hesitation, 'I know Mr. Van +Torp; he came over on the same steamer.' + +The others at the table were suddenly silent, and seemed to be +listening. Lady Maud's clear eyes rested on Mr. Feist's face. + +'He's quite a wonderful man, I think,' observed the latter. + +'Yes,' assented the Primadonna indifferently. + +'Don't you think he is a wonderful man?' insisted Mr. Feist, with his +disagreeable drawl. + +'I daresay he is,' Margaret answered, 'but I don't know him very +well.' + +'Really? That's funny!' + +'Why?' + +'Because I happen to know that he thinks everything of you, Madame +Cordova. That's why I supposed, you were intimate friends.' + +The others had listened hitherto in a sort of mournful silence, +distinctly bored. Lady Maud's eyes now turned to Margaret, but the +latter still seemed perfectly indifferent, though she was wishing that +some one else would speak. Griggs turned to Mr. Feist, who was next to +him. + +'You mean that he is a wonderful man of business, perhaps,' he said. + +'Well, we all know he's that, anyway,' returned his neighbour. 'He's +not exactly a friend of mine, not exactly!' A meaning smile wrinkled +the unhealthy face and suddenly made it look older. 'All the same, I +think he's quite wonderful. He's not merely an able man, he's a man of +powerful intellect.' + +'A Nickel Napoleon,' suggested the barrister, who was bored to death +by this time, and could not imagine why Lady Maud followed the +conversation with so much interest. + +'Your speaking of nickel,' said the peer, at her elbow, 'reminds me of +that extraordinary new discovery--let me see--what is it?' + +'America?' suggested the barrister viciously. + +'No,' said his lordship, with perfect gravity, 'it's not that. Ah yes, +I remember! It's a process for making nitric acid out of air.' + +Lady Maud nodded and smiled, as if she knew all about it, but her eyes +were again scrutinising Mr. Feist's face. Her neighbour, whose hobby +was applied science, at once launched upon a long account of the +invention. From time to time the beauty nodded and said that she quite +understood, which was totally untrue, but well meant. + +'That young man has the head of a criminal,' said the barrister on her +other side, speaking very low. + +She bent her head very slightly, to show that she had heard, and she +continued to listen to the description of the new process. By this +time every one was talking again. Mr. Feist was in conversation with +Griggs, and showed his profile to the barrister, who quietly studied +the retreating forehead and the ill-formed jaw, the latter plainly +discernible to a practised eye, in spite of the round cheeks. The +barrister was a little mad on the subject of degeneracy, and knew that +an unnaturally boyish look in a grown man is one of the signs of it. +In the course of a long experience at the bar he had appeared in +defence of several 'high-class criminals.' By way of comparing Mr. +Feist with a perfectly healthy specimen of humanity, he turned to look +at Logotheti beside him. Margaret was talking with the Ambassador, and +the Greek was just turning to talk to his neighbour, so that their +eyes met, and each waited for the other to speak first. + +'Are you a judge of faces?' asked the barrister after a moment. + +'Men of business have to be, to some extent,' answered Logotheti. + +'So do lawyers. What should you say was the matter with that one?' + +It was impossible to doubt that he was speaking of the only abnormal +head at the table, and Logotheti looked across the wide table at Mr. +Feist for several seconds before he answered. + +'Drink,' he said in an undertone, when he had finished his +examination. + +'Yes. Anything else?' + +'May go mad any day, I should think,' observed Logotheti. + +'Do you know anything about him?' + +'Never saw him before.' + +'And we shall probably never see him again,' said the Englishman. +'That's the worst of it. One sees such heads occasionally, but one +very rarely hears what becomes of them.' + +The Greek did not care a straw what became of Mr. Feist's head, for he +was waiting to renew his conversation with Margaret. + +Mustapha Pasha told her that she should go to Constantinople some day +and sing to the Sultan, who would give her a pretty decoration in +diamonds; and she laughed carelessly and answered that it might be +very amusing. + +'I shall be very happy to show you the way,' said the Pasha. 'Whenever +you have a fancy for the trip, promise to let me know.' + +Margaret had no doubt that he was quite in earnest, and would enjoy +the holiday vastly. She was used to such kind offers and knew how to +laugh at them, though she was very well aware that they were not made +in jest. + +'I have a pretty little villa on the Bosphorus,' said the Ambassador, +'If you should ever come to Constantinople it is at your disposal, +with everything in it, as long as you care to use it.' + +'It's too good of you!' she answered. 'But I have a small house of my +own here which is very comfortable, and I like London.' + +'I know,' answered the Pasha blandly; 'I only meant to suggest a +little change.' + +He smiled pleasantly, as if he had meant nothing, and there was a +pause, of which Logotheti took advantage. + +'You are admirable,' he said. + +'I have had much more magnificent invitations,' she answered. 'You +once wished to give me your yacht as a present if I would only make +a trip to Crete--with a party of archaeologists! An archduke once +proposed to take me for a drive in a cab!' + +'If I remember,' said Logotheti, 'I offered you the owner with the +yacht. But I fancy you thought me too "exotic," as Countess Leven +calls me.' + +'Oh, much!' Margaret laughed again, and then lowered her voice, 'by +the bye, who is she?' + +'Lady Maud? Didn't you know her? She is Lord Creedmore's daughter, one +of seven or eight, I believe. She married a Russian in the diplomatic +service, four years ago--Count Leven--but everybody here calls her +Lady Maud. She hadn't a penny, for the Creedmores are poor. Leven was +supposed to be rich, but there are all sorts of stories about him, and +he's often hard up. As for her, she always wears that black velvet +gown, and I've been told that she has no other. I fancy she gets a new +one every year. But people say--' + +Logotheti broke off suddenly. + +'What do they say?' Margaret was interested. + +'No, I shall not tell you, because I don't believe it.' + +'If you say you don't believe the story, what harm can there be in +telling it?' + +'No harm, perhaps. But what is the use of repeating a bit of wicked +gossip?' + +Margaret's curiosity was roused about the beautiful Englishwoman. + +'If you won't tell me, I may think it is something far worse!' + +'I'm sure you could not imagine anything more unlikely!' + +'Please tell me! Please! I know it's mere idle curiosity, but you've +roused it, and I shall not sleep unless I know.' + +'And that would be bad for your voice.' + +'Of course! Please--' + +Logotheti had not meant to yield, but he could not resist her winning +tone. + +'I'll tell you, but I don't believe a word of it, and I hope you will +not either. The story is that her husband found her with Van Torp +the other evening in rooms he keeps in the Temple, and there was an +envelope on the table addressed to her in his handwriting, in which +there were four thousand one hundred pounds in notes.' + +Margaret looked thoughtfully at Lady Maud before she answered. + +'She? With Mr. Van Torp, and taking money from him? Oh no! Not with +that face!' + +'Besides,' said Logotheti, 'why the odd hundred? The story gives too +many details. People never know as much of the truth as that.' + +'And if it is true,' returned Margaret, 'he will divorce her, and then +we shall know.' + +'For that matter,' said the Greek contemptuously, 'Leven would not be +particular, provided he had his share of the profits.' + +'Is it as bad as that? How disgusting! Poor woman!' + +'Yes. I fancy she is to be pitied. In connection with Van Torp, may I +ask an indiscreet question?' + +'No question you can ask me about him can be indiscreet. What is it?' + +'Is it true that he once asked you to marry him and you refused him?' + +Margaret turned her pale face to Logotheti with a look of genuine +surprise. + +'Yes. It's true. But I never told any one. How in the world did you +hear it?' + +'And he quite lost his head, I heard, and behaved like a madman--' + +'Who told you that?' asked Margaret, more and more astonished, and not +at all pleased. + +'He behaved so strangely that you ran into the next room and bolted +the door, and waited till he went away--' + +'Have you been paying a detective to watch me?' + +There was anger in her eyes for a moment, but she saw at once that she +was mistaken. + +'No,' Logotheti answered with a smile, 'why should I? If a detective +told me anything against you I should not believe it, and no one could +tell me half the good I believe about you!' + +'You're really awfully nice,' laughed Margaret, for she could not help +being flattered. 'Forgive me, please!' + +'I would rather that the Nike of Samothrace should think dreadful +things of me than that she should not think of me at all!' + +'Do I still remind you of her?' asked Margaret. + +'Yes. I used to be quite satisfied with my Venus, but now I want the +Victory from the Louvre. It's not a mere resemblance. She is you, and +as she has no face. I see yours when I look at her. The other day I +stood so long on the landing where she is, that a watchman took me for +an anarchist waiting to deposit a bomb, and he called a policeman, who +asked me my name and occupation. I was very near being arrested--on +your account again! You are destined to turn the heads of men of +business!' + +At this point Margaret became aware that she and Logotheti were +talking in undertones, while the conversation at the table had become +general, and she reluctantly gave up the idea of again asking where he +had got his information about her interview with Mr. Van Torp in New +York. The dinner came to an end before long, and the men went out with +the ladies, and began to smoke in the drawing-room, standing round the +coffee. + +Lady Maud put her arm through Margaret's. + +'Cigarettes are bad for your throat, I'm sure,' she said, 'and I hate +them.' + +She led the Primadonna away through a curtained door to a small room +furnished according to Eastern ideas of comfort, and she sat down on a +low, hard divan, which was covered with a silk carpet. The walls were +hung with Persian silks, and displayed three or four texts from the +Koran, beautifully written in gold on a green ground. Two small inlaid +tables stood near the divan, one at each end, and two deep English +easy-chairs, covered with red leather, were placed symmetrically +beside them. There was no other furniture, and there were no gimcracks +about, such as Europeans think necessary in an 'oriental' room. + +With her plain black velvet, Lady Maud looked handsomer than ever in +the severely simple surroundings. + +'Do you mind?' she asked, as Margaret sat down beside her. 'I'm afraid +I carried you off rather unceremoniously!' + +'No,' Margaret answered. 'I'm glad to be quiet, it's so long since I +was at a dinner-party.' + +'I've always hoped to meet you,' said Lady Maud, 'but you're quite +different from what I expected. I did not know you were really so +young--ever so much younger than I am.' + +'Really?' + +'Oh, yes! I'm seven-and-twenty, and I've been married four years.' + +'I'm twenty-four,' said Margaret, 'and I'm not married yet.' + +She was aware that the clear eyes were studying her face, but she did +not resent their scrutiny. There was something about her companion +that inspired her with trust at first sight, and she did not even +remember the impossible story Logotheti had told her. + +'I suppose you are tormented by all sorts of people who ask things, +aren't you?' + +Margaret wondered whether the beauty was going to ask her to sing for +nothing at a charity concert. + +'I get a great many begging letters, and some very amusing ones,' she +answered cautiously. 'Young girls, of whom I never heard, write +and ask me to give them pianos and the means of getting a musical +education. I once took the trouble to have one of those requests +examined. It came from a gang of thieves in Chicago.' + +Lady Maud smiled, but did not seem surprised. + +'Millionaires get lots of letters of that sort,' she said. 'Think of +poor Mr. Van Torp!' + +Margaret moved uneasily at the name, which seemed to pursue her since +she had left New York; but her present companion was the first person +who had applied to him the adjective 'poor.' + +'Do you know him well?' she asked, by way of saying something. + +Lady Maud was silent for a moment, and seemed to be considering the +question. + +'I had not meant to speak of him,' she answered presently. 'I like +him, and from what you said at dinner I fancy that you don't, so we +shall never agree about him.' + +'Perhaps not,' said Margaret. 'But I really could not have answered +that odious man's question in any other way, could I? I meant to +be quite truthful. Though I have met Mr. Van Torp often since last +Christmas, I cannot say that I know him very well, because I have not +seen the best side of him.' + +'Few people ever do, and you have put it as fairly as possible. When +I first met him I thought he was a dreadful person, and now we're +awfully good friends. But I did not mean to talk about him!' + +'I wish you would,' protested Margaret. 'I should like to hear the +other side of the case from some one who knows him well.' + +'It would take all night to tell even what I know of his story,' said +Lady Maud. 'And as you've never seen me before you probably would not +believe me,' she added with philosophical calm. 'Why should you? The +other side of the case, as I know it, is that he is kind to me, and +good to people in trouble, and true to his friends.' + +'You cannot say more than that of any man,' Margaret observed gravely. + +'I could say much more, but I want to talk to you about other things.' + +Margaret, who was attracted by her, and who was sure that the story +Logotheti had told was a fabrication, as he said it was, wished that +her new acquaintance would leave other matters alone and tell her what +she knew about Van Torp. + +'It all comes of my having mentioned him accidentally,' said Lady +Maud. 'But I often do--probably because I think about him a good +deal.' + +Margaret thought her amazingly frank, but nothing suggested itself in +the way of answer, so she remained silent. + +'Did you know that your father and my father were friends at Oxford?' +Lady Maud asked, after a little pause. + +'Really?' Margaret was surprised. + +'When they were undergrads. Your name is Donne, isn't it? Margaret +Donne? My father was called Foxwell then. That's our name, you know. +He didn't come into the title till his uncle died, a few years ago.' + +'But I remember a Mr. Foxwell when I was a child,' said Margaret. 'He +came to see us at Oxford sometimes. Do you mean to say that he was +your father?' + +'Yes. He is alive, you know--tremendously alive!--and he remembers you +as a little girl, and wants me to bring you to see him. Do you mind +very much? I told him I was to meet you this evening.' + +'I should be very glad indeed,' said Margaret. + +'He would come to see you,' said Lady Maud, rather apologetically, +'but he sprained his ankle the other day. He was chivvying a cat +that was after the pheasants at Creedmore--he's absurdly young, you +know--and he came down at some hurdles.' + +'I'm so sorry! Of course I shall be delighted to go.' + +'It's awfully good of you, and he'll be ever so pleased. May I come +and fetch you? When? To-morrow afternoon about three? Are you quite +sure you don't mind?' + +Margaret was quite sure; for the prospect of seeing an old friend of +her father's, and one whom she herself remembered well, was pleasant +just then. She was groping for something she had lost, and the merest +thread was worth following. + +'If you like I'll sing for him,' she said. + +'Oh, he simply hates music!' answered Lady Maud, with unconscious +indifference to the magnificence of such an offer from the greatest +lyric soprano alive. + +Margaret laughed in spite of herself. + +'Do you hate music too?' she asked. + +'No, indeed! I could listen to you for ever. But my father is quite +different. I believe he hears half a note higher with one ear than +with the other. At all events the effect of music on him is dreadful. +He behaves like a cat in a thunderstorm. If you want to please him, +talk to him about old bindings. Next to shooting he likes bindings +better than anything in the world--in fact he's a capital bookbinder +himself.' + +At this juncture Mustapha Pasha's pale and spiritual face appeared +between the curtains of the small room, and he interrupted the +conversation by a single word. + +'Bridge?' + +Lady Maud was on her feet in an instant. + +'Rather!' + +'Do you play?' asked the Ambassador, turning to Margaret, who rose +more slowly. + +'Very badly. I would rather not.' + +The diplomatist looked disappointed, and she noticed his expression, +and suspected that he would feel himself obliged to talk to her +instead of playing. + +'I'm very fond of looking on,' she added quickly, 'if you will let me +sit beside you.' + +They went back to the drawing-room, and presently the celebrated +Señorita da Cordova, who was more accustomed to being the centre of +interest than she realised, felt that she was nobody at all, as +she sat at her host's elbow watching the game through a cloud of +suffocating cigarette smoke. Even old Griggs, who detested cards, +had sacrificed himself in order to make up the second table. As for +Logotheti, he was too tactful to refuse a game in which every one knew +him to be a past master, in order to sit out and talk to her the whole +evening. + +Margaret watched the players with some little interest at first. The +disagreeable Mr. Feist lost and became even more disagreeable, and +Margaret reflected that whatever he might be he was certainly not an +adventurer, for she had seen a good many of the class. The Ambassador +lost even more, but with the quiet indifference of a host who plays +because his guests like that form of amusement. Lady Maud and the +barrister were partners, and seemed to be winning a good deal; the +peer whose hobby was applied science revoked and did dreadful things +with his trumps, but nobody seemed to care in the least, except the +barrister, who was no respecter of persons, and had fought his way to +celebrity by terrorising juries and bullying the Bench. + +At last Margaret let her head rest against the back of her comfortable +chair, and when she closed her eyes because the cigarette smoke made +them smart, she forgot to open them again, and went sound asleep; for +she was a healthy young person, and had eaten a good dinner, and on +evenings when she did not sing she was accustomed to go to bed at ten +o'clock, if not earlier. + +No one even noticed that she was sleeping, and the game went on till +nearly midnight, when she was awakened by the sound of voices, and +sprang to her feet with the impression of having done something +terribly rude. Every one was standing, the smoke was as thick as ever, +and it was tempered by a smell of Scotch whisky. The men looked more +or less tired, but Lady Maud had not turned a hair. + +The peer, holding a tall glass of weak whisky and soda in his hand, +and blinking through his gold-rimmed spectacles, asked her if she were +going anywhere else. + +'There's nothing to go to yet,' she said rather regretfully. + +'There are women's clubs,' suggested Logotheti. + +'That's the objection to them,' answered the beauty with more sarcasm +than grammatical sequence. + +'Bridge till all hours, though,' observed the barrister. + +'I'd give something to spend an evening at a smart women's club,' said +the playwright in a musing tone. 'Is it true that the Crown Prince of +Persia got into the one in Mayfair as a waiter?' + +'They don't have waiters,' said Lady Maud. 'Nothing is ever true. I +must be going home.' + +Margaret was only too glad to go too. When they were downstairs she +heard a footman ask Lady Maud if he should call a hansom for her. He +evidently knew that she had no carriage. + +'May I take you home?' Margaret asked. + +'Oh, please do!' answered the beauty with alacrity. 'It's awfully good +of you!' + +It was raining as the two handsome women got into the singer's +comfortable brougham. + +'Isn't there room for me too?' asked Logotheti, putting his head in +before the footman could shut the door. + +'Don't be such a baby,' answered Lady Maud in a displeased tone. + +The Greek drew back with a laugh and put up his umbrella; Lady Maud +told the footman where to go, and the carriage drove away. + +'You must have had a dull evening,' she said. + +'I was sound asleep most of the time,' Margaret answered. 'I'm afraid +the Ambassador thought me very rude.' + +'Because you went to sleep? I don't believe he even noticed it. And if +he did, why should you mind? Nobody cares what anybody does nowadays. +We've simplified life since the days of our fathers. We think more of +the big things than they did, and much less of the little ones.' + +'All the same, I wish I had kept awake!' + +'Nonsense!' retorted Lady Maud. 'What is the use of being famous if +you cannot go to sleep when you are sleepy? This is a bad world as +it is, but it would be intolerable if one had to keep up one's +school-room manners all one's life, and sit up straight and spell +properly, as if Society, with a big S, were a governess that could +send us to bed without our supper if we didn't!' + +Margaret laughed a little, but there was no ripple in Lady Maud's +delicious voice as she made these singular statements. She was +profoundly in earnest. + +'The public is my schoolmistress,' said Margaret. 'I'm so used to +being looked at and listened to on the stage that I feel as if people +were always watching me and criticising me, even when I go out to +dinner.' + +'I've no right at all to give you my opinion, because I'm nobody in +particular,' answered Lady Maud, 'and you are tremendously famous and +all that! But you'll make yourself miserable for nothing if you get +into the way of caring about anybody's opinion of you, except on the +stage. And you'll end by making the other people uncomfortable too, +because you'll make them think that you mean to teach them manners!' + +'Heaven forbid!' Margaret laughed again. + +The carriage stopped, and Lady Maud thanked her, bade her good-night, +and got out. + +'No,' she said, as the footman was going to ring the bell, 'I have a +latch-key, thank you.' + +It was a small house in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, and the +windows were quite dark. There was not even a light in the hall when +Margaret saw Lady Maud open the front door and disappear within. + +Margaret went over the little incidents of the evening as she drove +home alone, and felt better satisfied with herself than she had been +since Lushington's visit, in spite of having deliberately gone to +sleep in Mustapha Pasha's drawing-room. No one had made her feel that +she was changed except for the better, and Lady Maud, who was most +undoubtedly a smart woman of the world, had taken a sudden fancy to +her. Margaret told herself that this would be impossible if she were +ever so little vulgarised by her stage life, and in this reflection +she consoled herself for what Lushington had said, and nursed her +resentment against him. + +The small weaknesses of celebrities are sometimes amazing. There was a +moment that evening, as she stood before her huge looking-glass before +undressing and scrutinised her face in it, when she would have given +her fame and her fortune to be Lady Maud, who trusted to a passing +hansom or an acquaintance's carriage for getting home from an Embassy, +who let herself into a dark and cheerless little house with a +latch-key, who was said to be married to a slippery foreigner, and +about whom the gossips invented unedifying tales. + +Margaret wondered whether Lady Maud would ever think of changing +places with her, to be a goddess for a few hours every week, to have +more money than she could spend on herself, and to be pursued with +requests for autographs and grand pianos, not to mention invitations +to supper from those supernal personages whose uneasy heads wear +crowns or itch for them; and Señorita da Cordova told herself rather +petulantly that Lady Maud would rather starve than be the most +successful soprano that ever trilled on the high A till the house +yelled with delight, and the royalties held up their stalking-glasses +to watch the fluttering of her throat, if perchance they might see how +the pretty noise was made. + +But at this point Margaret Donne was a little ashamed of herself, and +went to bed; and she dreamt that Edmund Lushington had suddenly taken +to wearing a little moustache, very much turned up and flattened on +his cheeks, and a single emerald for a stud, which cast a greenish +refulgence round it upon a shirt-front that was hideously shiny; +and the effect of these changes in his appearance was to make him +perfectly odious. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Lord Creedmore had begun life as a poor barrister, with no particular +prospects, had entered the House of Commons early, and had been a +hard-working member of Parliament till he had inherited a title and a +relatively exiguous fortune when he was over fifty by the unexpected +death of his uncle and both the latter's sons within a year. He had +married young; his wife was the daughter of a Yorkshire country +gentleman, and had blessed him with ten children, who were all alive, +and of whom Lady Maud was not the youngest. He was always obliged to +make a little calculation to remember how old she was, and whether +she was the eighth or the ninth. There were three sons and seven +daughters. The sons were all in the army, and all stood between +six and seven feet in their stockings; the daughters were all +good-looking, but none was as handsome as Maud; they were all married, +and all but she had children. Lady Creedmore had been a beauty too, +but at the present time she was stout and gouty, had a bad temper, and +alternately soothed and irritated her complaint and her disposition by +following cures or committing imprudences. Her husband, who was now +over sixty, had never been ill a day in his life; he was as lean and +tough as a greyhound and as active as a schoolboy, a good rider, and a +crack shot. + +His connection with this tale, apart from the friendship which grew +up between Margaret and Lady Maud, lies in the fact that his land +in Derbyshire adjoined the estate which Mr. Van Torp had bought and +re-named after himself. It was here that Lady Maud and the American +magnate had first met, two years after her marriage, when she had come +home on a long visit, very much disillusionised as to the supposed +advantages of the marriage bond as compared with the freedom of a +handsome English girl of three-and-twenty, who is liked in her set and +has the run of a score of big country houses without any chaperonial +encumbrance. For the chaperon is going down to the shadowy kingdom of +the extinct, and is already reckoned with dodos, stagecoaches, muzzle +loaders, crinolines, Southey's poems, the Thirty-nine Articles, +Benjamin Franklin's reputation, the British workman, and the late +Herbert Spencer's philosophy. + +On the previous evening Lady Maud had not told Margaret that Lord +Creedmore lived in Surrey, having let his town house since his +youngest daughter had married. She now explained that it would be +absurd to think of driving such a distance when one could go almost +all the way by train. The singer was rather scared at the prospect of +possibly missing trains, waiting in draughty stations, and getting wet +by a shower; she was accustomed to think nothing of driving twenty +miles in a closed carriage to avoid the slightest risk of a wetting. + +But Lady Maud piloted her safely, and showed an intimate knowledge +of the art of getting about by public conveyances which amazed her +companion. She seemed to know by instinct the difference between one +train and another, when all looked just alike, and when she had to +ask a question of a guard or a porter her inquiry was met with +business-like directness and brevity, and commanded the respect which +all officials feel for people who do not speak to them without a +really good reason--so different from their indulgent superiority when +we enter into friendly conversation with them. + +The journey ended in a walk of a quarter of a mile from the station to +the gate of the small park in which the house stood. Lady Maud said +she was sorry she had forgotten to telephone for a trap to be sent +down, but added cheerfully that the walk would do Margaret good. + +'You know your way wonderfully well,' Margaret said. + +'Yes,' answered her companion carelessly. 'I don't think I could lose +myself in London, from Limehouse to Wormwood Scrubs.' + +She spoke quite naturally, as if it were not in the least surprising +that a smart woman of the world should possess such knowledge. + +'You must have a marvellous memory for places,' Margaret ventured to +say. + +'Why? Because I know my way about? I walk a great deal, that's all.' + +Margaret wondered whether the Countess Leven habitually took her walks +in the direction of Limehouse in the east or Shepherd's Bush in the +west; and if so, why? As for the distance, the thoroughbred looked +as if she could do twenty miles without turning a hair, and Margaret +wished she would not walk quite so fast, for, like all great singers, +she herself easily got out of breath if she was hurried; it was not +the distance that surprised her, however, but the fact that Lady Maud +should ever visit such regions. + +They reached the house and found Lord Creedmore in the library, his +lame foot on a stool and covered up with a chudder. His clear brown +eyes examined Margaret's face attentively while he held her hand in +his. + +'So you are little Margery,' he said at last, with a very friendly +smile. 'Do you remember me at all, my dear? I suppose I have changed +almost more than you have.' + +Margaret remembered him very well indeed as Mr. Foxwell, who used +always to bring her certain particularly delicious chocolate wafers +whenever he came to see her father in Oxford. She sat down beside him +and looked at his face--clean-shaven, kindly, and energetic--the face +of a clever lawyer and yet of a keen sportsman, a type you will hardly +find out of England. + +Lady Maud left the two alone after a few minutes, and Margaret found +herself talking of her childhood and her old home, as if nothing very +much worth mentioning had happened in her life during the last ten or +a dozen years. While she answered her new friend's questions and +asked others of him she unconsciously looked about the room. The +writing-table was not far from her, and she saw on it two photographs +in plain ebony frames; one was of her father, the other was a likeness +of Lady Maud. Little by little she understood that her father had been +Lord Creedmore's best friend from their schoolboy days till his death. +Yet although they had constantly exchanged short visits, the one +living in Oxford and the other chiefly in town, their wives had hardly +known each other, and their children had never met. + +'Take him all in all,' said the old gentleman gravely, 'Donne was the +finest fellow I ever knew, and the only real friend I ever had.' + +His eyes turned to the photograph on the table with a far-away manly +regret that went to Margaret's heart. Her father had been a reticent +man, and as there was no reason why he should have talked much about +his absent friend Foxwell, it was not surprising that Margaret should +never have known how close the tie was that bound them. But now, +coming unawares upon the recollection of that friendship in the man +who had survived, she felt herself drawn to him as if he were of +her own blood, and she thought she understood why she had liked his +daughter so much at first sight. + +They talked for more than half an hour, and Margaret did not even +notice that he had not once alluded to her profession, and that she +had so far forgotten herself for the time as not to miss the usual +platitudes about her marvellous voice and her astoundingly successful +career. + +'I hope you'll come and stop with us in Derbyshire in September,' +he said at last. 'I'm quite ashamed to ask you there, for we are +dreadfully dull people; but it would give us a great deal of +pleasure.' + +'You are very kind indeed,' Margaret said. 'I should be delighted to +come.' + +'Some of our neighbours might interest you,' said Lord Creedmore. +'There's Mr. Van Torp, for instance, the American millionaire. His +land joins mine.' + +'Really?' + +Margaret wondered if she should ever again go anywhere without hearing +of Mr. Van Torp. + +'Yes. He bought Oxley Paddox some time ago and promptly re-christened +it Torp Towers. But he's not a bad fellow. Maud likes him, though Lady +Creedmore calls him names. He has such a nice little girl--at least, +it's not exactly his child, I believe,' his lordship ran on rather +hurriedly; 'but he's adopted her, I understand--at least, I fancy so. +At all events she was born deaf, poor little thing; but he has had her +taught to speak and to understand from the lips. Awfully pretty child! +Maud delights in her. Nice governess, too--I forget her name; but +she's a faithful sort of woman. It's a dreadfully hard position, don't +you know, to be a governess if you're young and good-looking, and +though Van Torp is rather a decent sort, I never feel quite sure--Maud +likes him immensely, it's true, and that is a good sign; but Maud is +utterly mad about a lot of things, and besides, she's singularly well +able to take care of herself.' + +'Yes,' said Margaret; but she thought of the story Logotheti had told +her on the previous evening. 'I know Mr. Van Torp, and the little girl +and Miss More,' she said after a moment. 'We came over in the same +steamer.' + +She thought it was only fair to say that she had met the people of +whom he had been speaking. There was no reason why Lord Creedmore +should be surprised by this, and he only nodded and smiled pleasantly. + +'All the better. I shall set Maud on you to drag you down to +Derbyshire in September,' he said. 'Women never have anything to do in +September. Let me see--you're an actress, aren't you, my dear?' + +Margaret laughed. It was positively delightful to feel that he had +never heard of her theatrical career. + +'No; I'm a singer,' she said. 'My stage name is Cordova.' + +'Oh yes, yes,' answered Lord Creedmore, very vaguely. 'It's the same +thing--you cannot possibly have anything to do in September, can you?' + +'We shall see. I hope not, this year.' + +'If it's not very indiscreet of me, as an old friend, you know, do you +manage to make a living by the stage?' + +'Oh--fair!' Margaret almost laughed again. + +Lady Maud returned at this juncture, and Margaret rose to go, feeling +that she had stayed long enough. + +'Margery has half promised to come to us in September,' said Lord +Creedmore to his daughter, 'You don't mind if I call you Margery, do +you?' he asked, turning to Margaret. 'I cannot call you Miss Donne +since you really remember the chocolate wafers! You shall have some as +soon as I can go to see you!' + +Margaret loved the name she had been called by as a child. Mrs. +Rushmore had severely eschewed diminutives. + +'Margery,' repeated Lady Maud thoughtfully. 'I like the name awfully +well. Do you mind calling me Maud? We ought to have known each other +when we were in pinafores!' + +In this way it happened that Margaret found herself unexpectedly +on something like intimate terms with her father's friend and the +latter's favourite child less than twenty-four hours after meeting +Lady Maud, and this was how she was asked to their place in the +country for the month of September. But that seemed very far away. + +Lady Maud took Margaret home, as she had brought her, without making +her wait more than three minutes for a train, without exposing her to +a draught, and without letting her get wet, all of which would seem +easy enough to an old Londoner, but was marvellous in the eyes of the +young Primadonna, and conveyed to her an idea of freedom that was +quite new to her. She remembered that she used to be proud of her +independence when she first went into Paris from Versailles alone for +her singing lessons; but that trip, contrasted with the one from her +own house to Lord Creedmore's on the Surrey side, was like going out +for an hour's sail in a pleasure-boat on a summer's afternoon compared +with working a sea-going vessel safely through an intricate and +crowded channel at night. + +Margaret noticed, too, that although Lady Maud was a very striking +figure, she was treated with respect in places where the singer knew +instinctively that if she herself had been alone she would have been +afraid that men would speak to her. She knew very well how to treat +them if they did, and was able to take care of herself if she chose +to travel alone; but she ran the risk of being annoyed where the +beautiful thoroughbred was in no danger at all. That was the +difference. + +Lady Maud left her at her own door and went off on foot, though the +hansom that had brought them from the Baker Street Station was still +lurking near. + +Margaret had told Logotheti to come and see her late in the afternoon, +and as she entered the hall she was surprised to hear voices upstairs. +She asked the servant who was waiting. + +With infinite difficulty in the matter of pronunciation the man +informed her that the party consisted of Monsieur Logotheti, Herr +Schreiermeyer, Signor Stromboli, the Signorina Baci-Roventi, and +Fräulein Ottilie Braun. The four professionals had come at the very +moment when Logotheti had gained admittance on the ground that he had +an appointment, which was true, and they had refused to be sent away. +In fact, unless he had called the police the poor footman could not +have kept them out. The Signorina Baci-Roventi alone, black-browed, +muscular, and five feet ten in her shoes, would have been almost a +match for him alone; but she was backed by Signor Pompeo Stromboli, +who weighed fifteen stone in his fur coat, was as broad as he was +long, and had been seen to run off the stage with Madame Bonanni +in his arms while he yelled a high G that could have been heard in +Westminster if the doors had been open. Before the onslaught of such +terrific foreigners a superior London footman could only protest with +dignity and hold the door open for them to pass. Braver men than +he had quailed before Schreiermeyer's stony eye, and gentle little +Fräulein Ottilie slipped in like a swallow in the track of a storm. + +Margaret felt suddenly inclined to shut herself up in her room +and send word that she had a headache and could not see them. But +Schreiermeyer was there. He would telephone for three doctors, and +would refuse to leave the house till they signed an assurance that she +was perfectly well and able to begin rehearsing the _Elisir d'Amore_ +the next morning. That was what Schreiermeyer would do, and when she +next met him he would tell her that he would have 'no nonsense, no +stupid stuff,' and that she had signed an engagement and must sing or +pay. + +She had never shammed an illness, either, and she did not mean to +begin now. It was only that for two blessed hours and more, with her +dead father's best friend and Maud, she had felt like her old self +again, and had dreamt that she was with her own people. She had even +disliked the prospect of seeing Logotheti after that, and she felt a +much stronger repugnance for her theatrical comrades. She went to her +own room before meeting them, and she sighed as she stood before the +tall looking-glass for a moment after taking off her coat and hat. In +pulling out the hat-pins her hair had almost come down, and Alphonsine +proposed to do it over again, but Margaret was impatient. + +'Give me something--a veil, or anything,' she said impatiently. 'They +are waiting for me.' + +The maid instantly produced from a near drawer a peach-coloured veil +embroidered with green and gold. It was a rather vivid modern Turkish +one given her by Logotheti, and she wrapped it quickly over her +disordered hair, like a sort of turban, tucking one end in, and +left the room almost without glancing at the glass again. She was +discontented with herself now for having dreamt of ever again being +anything but what she was--a professional singer. + +The little party greeted her noisily as she entered the music-room. +Her comrades had not seen her since she had left them in New York, and +the consequence was that Signorina Baci-Roventi kissed her on both +cheeks with dramatic force, and she kissed Fräulein Ottilie on both +cheeks, and Pompeo Stromboli offered himself for a like favour and had +to be fought off, while Schreiermeyer looked on gravely, very much as +a keeper at the Zoo watches the gambols of the animals in his charge; +but Logotheti shook hands very quietly, well perceiving that his +chance of pleasing her just then lay in being profoundly respectful +while the professionals were overpoweringly familiar. His +almond-shaped eyes asked her how in the world she could stand it all, +and she felt uncomfortable at the thought that she was used to it. + +Besides, these good people really liked her. The only members of the +profession who hated her were the other lyric sopranos. Schreiermeyer, +rapacious and glittering, had a photograph of her hideously enamelled +in colours inside the cover of his watch, and the facsimile of her +autograph was engraved across the lid of his silver cigarette-case. +Pompeo Stromboli carried some of her hair in a locket which he wore on +his chain between two amulets against the Evil Eye. Fräulein Ottilie +treasured a little water-colour sketch of her as Juliet on which +Margaret had written a few friendly words, and the Baci-Roventi +actually went to the length of asking her advice about the high notes +the contralto has to sing in such operas as _Semiramide_. It would be +hard to imagine a more sincere proof of affection and admiration than +this. + +Margaret knew that the greeting was genuine and that she ought to be +pleased, but at the first moment the noise and the kissing and the +rough promiscuity of it all disgusted her. + +Then she saw that all had brought her little presents, which were +arranged side by side on the piano, and she suddenly remembered that +it was her birthday. They were small things without value, intended +to make her laugh. Stromboli had sent to Italy for a Neapolitan clay +figure of a shepherd, cleverly modelled and painted, and vaguely +resembling himself--he had been a Calabrian goatherd. The contralto, +who came from Bologna, the city of sausages, gave Margaret a tiny pig +made of silver with holes in his back, in which were stuck a number of +quill toothpicks. + +'You will think of me when you use them at table,' she said, +charmingly unconscious of English prejudices. + +Schreiermeyer presented her with a bronze statuette of Shylock +whetting his knife upon his thigh. + +'It will encourage you to sign our next agreement,' he observed +with stony calm. 'It is the symbol of business. We are all symbolic +nowadays.' + +Fräulein Ottilie Braun had wrought a remarkable little specimen of +German sentiment. She had made a little blue pin-cushion and had +embroidered some little flowers on it in brown silk. Margaret had no +difficulty in looking pleased, but she also looked slightly puzzled. + +'They are forget-me-nots,' said the Fräulein, 'but because my name is +Braun I made them brown. You see? So you will remember your little +Braun forget-me-not!' + +Margaret laughed at the primitively simple little jest, but she was +touched too, and somehow she felt that her eyes were not quite dry +as she kissed the good little woman again. But Logotheti could not +understand at all, and thought it all extremely silly. He did not like +Margaret's improvised turban, either, though he recognised the veil as +one he had given her. The headdress was not classic, and he did not +think it becoming to the Victory of Samothrace. + +He also had remembered her birthday and he had a small offering in +his pocket, but he could not give it to her before the others. +Schreiermeyer would probably insist on looking at it and would guess +its value, whereas Logotheti was sure that Margaret would not. He +would give it to her when they were alone, and would tell her that it +was nothing but a seal for her writing-case, a common green stone of +some kind with a little Greek head on it; and she would look at it and +think it pretty, and take it, because it did not look very valuable to +her unpractised eye. But the 'common green stone' was a great emerald, +and the 'little Greek head' was an intaglio of Anacreon, cut some two +thousand and odd hundred years ago by an art that is lost; and the +setting had been made and chiselled for Maria de' Medici when she +married Henry the Fourth of France. Logotheti liked to give Margaret +things vastly more rare than she guessed them to be. + +Margaret offered her visitors tea, and she and Logotheti took theirs +while the others looked on or devoured the cake and bread and butter. + +'Tea?' repeated Signor Stromboli. 'I am well. Why should I take tea? +The tea is for to perspire when I have a cold.' + +The Signorina Baci-Roventi laughed at him. + +'Do you not know that the English drink tea before dinner to give +themselves an appetite?' she asked. 'It is because they drink tea that +they eat so much.' + +'All the more,' answered Stromboli. 'Do you not see that I am fat? Why +should I eat more? Am I to turn into a monument of Victor Emanuel?' + +'You eat too much bread,' said Schreiermeyer in a resentful tone. + +'It is my vice,' said the tenor, taking up four thin slices of bread +and butter together and popping them all into his mouth without the +least difficulty. 'When I see bread, I eat it. I eat all there is.' + +'We see you do,' returned Schreiermeyer bitterly. + +'I cannot help it. Why do they bring bread? They are in league to make +me fat. The waiters know me. I go into the Carlton; the head-waiter +whispers; a waiter brings a basket of bread; I eat it all. I go into +Boisin's, or Henry's; the head-waiter whispers; it is a basket of +bread; while I eat a few eggs, a chicken, a salad, a tart or two, some +fruit, cheese, the bread is all gone. I am the tomb of all the bread +in the world. So I get fat. There,' he concluded gravely, 'it is as I +tell you. I have eaten all.' + +And in fact, while talking, he had punctuated each sentence with a +tiny slice or two of thin bread and butter, and everybody laughed, +except Schreiermeyer, as the huge singer gravely held up the empty +glass dish and showed it. + +'What do you expect of me?' he asked. 'It is a vice, and I am not +Saint Anthony, to resist temptation.' + +'Perhaps,' suggested Fräulein Ottilie timidly, 'if you exercised a +little strength of character--' + +'Exercise?' roared Stromboli, not understanding her, for they spoke +a jargon of Italian, German, and English. 'Exercise? The more I +exercise, the more I eat! Ha, ha, ha! Exercise, indeed! You talk like +crazy!' + +'You will end on wheels,' said Schreiermeyer with cold contempt. 'You +will stand on a little truck which will be moved about the stage from +below. You will be lifted to Juliet's balcony by a hydraulic crane. +But you shall pay for the machinery. Oh yes, oh yes! I will have it +in the contract! You shall be weighed. So much flesh to move, so much +money.' + +'Shylock!' suggested Logotheti, glancing at the statuette and +laughing. + +'Yes, Shylock and his five hundred pounds of flesh,' answered +Schreiermeyer, with a faint smile that disappeared again at once. + +'But I meant character--' began Fräulein Ottilie, trying to go back +and get in a word. + +'Character!' cried the Baci-Roventi with a deep note that made the +open piano vibrate. 'His stomach is his heart, and his character is +his appetite!' + +She bent her heavy brows and fixed her gleaming black eyes on him with +a tragic expression. + +'"Let them cant about decorum who have characters to lose,"' quoted +Logotheti softly. + +This delicate banter went on for twenty minutes, very much to +Schreiermeyer's inward satisfaction, for it proved that at least four +members of his company were on good terms with him and with each +other; for when they had a grudge against him, real or imaginary, they +became sullen and silent in his presence, and eyed him with the coldly +ferocious expression of china dogs. + +At last they all rose and went away in a body, leaving Margaret with +Logotheti. + +'I had quite forgotten that it was my birthday,' she said, when they +were gone. + +'I've brought you a little seal,' he answered, holding out the +intaglio. + +She took it and looked at it. + +'How pretty!' she exclaimed. 'It's awfully kind of you to have +remembered to-day, and I wanted a seal very much.' + +'It's a silly little thing, just a head on some sort of green stone. +But I tried it on sealing-wax, and the impression is not so bad. I +shall be very happy if it's of any use, for I'm always puzzling my +brain to find something you may like.' + +'Thanks very much. It's the thought I care for.' She laid the seal on +the table beside her empty cup. 'And now that we are alone,' she went +on, 'please tell me.' + +'What?' + +'How you found out what you told me at dinner last night.' + +She leant back in the chair, raising her arms and joining her hands +above her head against the high top of the chair, and stretching +herself a little. The attitude threw the curving lines of her figure +into high relief, and was careless enough, but the tone in which she +spoke was almost one of command, and there was a sort of expectant +resentfulness in her eyes as they watched his face while she waited +for his answer. She believed that he had paid to have her watched by +some one who had bribed her servants. + +'I did not find out anything,' he said quietly. 'I received an +anonymous letter from New York giving me all the details of the scene. +The letter was written with the evident intention of injuring Mr. Van +Torp. Whoever wrote it must have heard what you said to each other, +and perhaps he was watching you through the keyhole. It is barely +possible that by some accident he overheard the scene through the +local telephone, if there was one in the room. Should you care to see +that part of the letter which concerns you? It is not very delicately +worded!' + +Margaret's expression had changed; she had dropped her hands and was +leaning forward, listening with interest. + +'No,' she said, 'I don't care to see the letter, but who in the world +can have written it? You say it was meant to injure Mr. Van Torp--not +me.' + +'Yes. There is nothing against you in it. On the contrary, the writer +calls attention to the fact that there never was a word breathed +against your reputation, in order to prove what an utter brute Van +Torp must be.' + +'Tell me,' Margaret said, 'was that story about Lady Maud in the same +letter?' + +'Oh dear, no! That is supposed to have happened the other day, but I +got the letter last winter.' + +'When?' + +'In January, I think.' + +'He came to see me soon after New Year's Day,' said Margaret.' I wish +I knew who told--I really don't believe it was my maid.' + +'I took the letter to one of those men who tell character by +handwriting,' answered Logotheti. 'I don't know whether you believe in +that, but I do a little. I got rather a queer result, considering that +I only showed half-a-dozen lines, which could not give any idea of the +contents.' + +'What did the man say?' + +'He said the writer appeared to be on the verge of insanity, if not +actually mad; that he was naturally of an accurate mind, with ordinary +business capacities, such as a clerk might have, but that he had +received a much better education than most clerks get, and must at one +time have done intellectual work. His madness, the man said, would +probably take some violent form.' + +'There's nothing very definite about all that,' Margaret observed. +'Why in the world should the creature have written to you, of all +people, to destroy Mr. Van Torp's character?' + +'The interview with you was only an incident,' answered Logotheti. +'There were other things, all tending to show that he is not a safe +person to deal with.' + +'Why should you ever deal with him?' + +Logotheti smiled. + +'There are about a hundred and fifty men in different countries who +are regarded as the organs of the world's financial body. The very big +ones are the vital organs. Van Torp has grown so much of late that he +is probably one of them. Some people are good enough to think that I'm +another. The blood of the financial body--call it gold, or credit, or +anything you like--circulates through all the organs, and if one of +the great vital ones gets out of order the whole body is likely to +suffer. Suppose that Van Torp wished to do something with the Nickel +Trust in Paris, and that I had private information to the effect that +he was not a man to be trusted, and that I believed this information, +don't you see that I should naturally warn my friends against him, and +that our joint weight would be an effective obstacle in his way?' + +'Yes, I see that. But, dear me! do you mean to say that all financiers +must be strictly virtuous, like little woolly white lambs?' + +Margaret laughed carelessly. If Lushington had heard her, his teeth +would have been set on edge, but Logotheti did not notice the shade of +expression and tone. + +'I repeat that the account of the interview with you was a mere +incident, thrown in to show that Van Torp occasionally loses his head +and behaves like a madman.' + +'I don't want to see the letter,' said Margaret, 'but what sort of +accusations did it contain? Were they all of the same kind?' + +'No. There was one other thing--something about a little girl called +Ida, who is supposed to be the daughter of that old Alvah Moon who +robbed your mother. You can guess the sort of thing the letter said +without my telling you.' + +Margaret leaned forward and poked the small wood fire with a pair of +unnecessarily elaborate gilt tongs, and she nodded, for she remembered +how Lord Creedmore had mentioned the child that afternoon. He had +hesitated a little, and had then gone on speaking rather hurriedly. +She watched the sparks fly upward each time she touched the log, and +she nodded slowly. + +'What are you thinking of?' asked Logotheti. + +But she did not answer for nearly half a minute. She was reflecting on +a singular little fact which made itself clear to her just then. She +was certainly not a child; she was not even a very young girl, at +twenty-four; she had never been prudish, and she did not affect the +pre-Serpentine innocence of Eve before the fall. Yet it was suddenly +apparent to her that because she was a singer men treated her as if +she were a married woman, and would have done so if she had been +even five years younger. Talking to her as Margaret Donne, in Mrs. +Rushmore's house, two years earlier, Logotheti would not have +approached such a subject as little Ida Moon's possible relation to +Mr. Van Torp, because the Greek had been partly brought up in England +and had been taught what one might and might not say to a 'nice +English girl.' Margaret now reflected that since the day she had set +foot upon the stage of the Opera she had apparently ceased to be a +'nice English girl' in the eyes of men of the world. The profession of +singing in public, then, presupposed that the singer was no longer the +more or less imaginary young girl, the hothouse flower of the social +garden, whose perfect bloom the merest breath of worldly knowledge +must blight for ever. Margaret might smile at the myth, but she could +not ignore the fact that she was already as much detached from it in +men's eyes as if she had entered the married state. The mere fact of +realising that the hothouse blossom was part of the social legend +proved the change in herself. + +'So that is the secret about the little girl,' she said at last. Then +she started a little, as if she had made a discovery. 'Good heavens!' +she exclaimed, poking the fire sharply. 'He cannot be as bad as +that--even he!' + +'What do you mean?' asked Logotheti, surprised. + +'No--really--it's too awful,' Margaret said slowly, to herself. +'Besides,' she added, 'one has no right to believe an anonymous +letter.' + +'The writer was well informed about you, at least,' observed +Logotheti. 'You say that the details are true.' + +'Absolutely. That makes the other thing all the more dreadful.' + +'It's not such a frightful crime, after all,' Logotheti answered with +a little surprise. 'Long before he fell in love with you he may have +liked some one else! Such things may happen in every man's life.' + +'That one thing--yes, no doubt. But you either don't know, or you +don't realise just what all the rest has been, up to the death of that +poor girl in the theatre in New York.' + +'He was engaged to her, was he not?' + +'Yes.' + +'I forget who she was.' + +'His partner's daughter. She was called Ida Bamberger.' + +'Ida? Like the little girl?' + +'Yes. Bamberger divorced his wife, and she married Senator Moon. Don't +you see?' + +'And the girls were half-sisters--and--?' Logotheti stopped and +stared. + +'Yes.' Margaret nodded slowly again and poked the fire. + +'Good heavens!' The Greek knew something of the world's wickedness, +but his jaw dropped. 'Oedipus!' he ejaculated. + +'It cannot be true,' Margaret said, quite in earnest. 'I detest him, +but I cannot believe that of him.' + +For in her mind all that she knew and that Griggs had told her, and +that Logotheti did not know yet, rose up in orderly logic, and joined +what was now in her mind, completing the whole hideous tale of +wickedness that had ended in the death of Ida Bamberger, who had +been murdered, perhaps, in desperation to avert a crime even more +monstrous. The dying girl's faint voice came back to Margaret across +the ocean. + +'He did it--' + +And there was the stain on Paul Griggs' hand; and there was little +Ida's face on the steamer, when she had looked up and had seen Van +Torp's lips moving, and had understood what he was saying to himself, +and had dragged Margaret away in terror. And not least, there was the +indescribable fear of him which Margaret felt when he was near her for +a few minutes. + +On the other side, what was there to be said for him? Miss More, +quiet, good, conscientious Miss More, devoting her life to the child, +said that he was one of the kindest men living. There was Lady Maud, +with her clear eyes, her fearless ways, and her knowledge of the world +and men, and she said that Van Torp was kind, and good to people in +trouble and true to his friends. Lord Creedmore, the intimate friend +of Margaret's father, a barrister half his life, and as keen as a +hawk, said that Mr. Van Torp was a very decent sort of man, and he +evidently allowed his daughter to like the American. It was true that +a scandalous tale about Lady Maud and the millionaire was already +going from mouth to mouth, but Margaret did not believe it. If she +had known that the facts were accurately told, whatever their meaning +might be, she would have taken them for further evidence against the +accused. As for Miss More, she was guided by her duty to her employer, +or her affection for little Ida, and she seemed to be of the +charitable sort, who think no evil; but after what Lord Creedmore had +said, Margaret had no doubt but that it was Mr. Van Torp who provided +for the child, and if she was his daughter, the reason for Senator +Moon's neglect of her was patent. + +Then Margaret thought of Isidore Bamberger, the hard-working man of +business who was Van Torp's right hand and figure-head, as Griggs had +said, and who had divorced the beautiful, half-crazy mother of the two +Idas because Van Torp had stolen her from him--Van Torp, his partner, +and once his trusted friend. She remembered the other things Griggs +had told her: how old Bamberger must surely have discovered that his +daughter had been murdered, and that he meant to keep it a secret till +he caught the murderer. Even now the detectives might be on the right +scent, and if he whose child had been killed, and whose wife had been +stolen from him by the man he had once trusted, learnt the whole truth +at last, he would not be easily appeased. + +'You have had some singular offers of marriage,' said Logotheti in a +tone of reflection. 'You will probably marry a beggar some day--a +nice beggar, who has ruined himself like a gentleman, but a beggar +nevertheless!' + +'I don't know,' Margaret said carelessly. 'Of one thing I am sure. I +shall not marry Mr. Van Torp.' + +Logotheti laughed softly. + +'Remember the French proverb,' he said. '"Say not to the fountain, I +will not drink of thy water."' + +'Proverbs,' returned Margaret, 'are what Schreiermeyer calls stupid +stuff. Fancy marrying that monster!' + +'Yes,' assented Logotheti, 'fancy!' + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Three weeks later, when the days were lengthening quickly and London +was beginning to show its better side to the cross-grained people who +abuse its climate, the gas was lighted again in the dingy rooms in +Hare Court. No one but the old woman who came to sweep had visited +them since Mr. Van Torp had gone into the country in March, after Lady +Maud had been to see him on the evening of his arrival. + +As then, the fire was laid in the grate, but the man in black who sat +in the shabby arm-chair had not put a match to the shavings, and the +bright copper kettle on the movable hob shone coldly in the raw glare +from the incandescent gaslight. The room was chilly, and the man had +not taken off his black overcoat or his hat, which had a broad band +on it. His black gloves lay on the table beside him. He wore patent +leather boots with black cloth tops, and he turned in his toes as he +sat. His aquiline features were naturally of the melancholic type, and +as he stared at the fireplace his expression was profoundly sad. He +did not move for a long time, but suddenly he trembled, as a man does +who feels the warning chill in a malarious country when the sun goes +down, and two large bright tears ran down his lean dark cheeks and +were quickly lost in his grizzled beard. Either he did not feel them, +or he would not take the trouble to dry them, for he sat quite still +and kept his eyes on the grate. + +Outside it was quite dark and the air was thick, so that the +chimney-pots on the opposite roof were hardly visible against the +gloomy sky. It was the time of year when spring seems very near in +broad daylight, but as far away as in January when the sun goes down. + +Mr. Isidore Bamberger was waiting for a visitor, as his partner Mr. +Van Torp had waited in the same place a month earlier, but he made no +preparations for a cheerful meeting, and the cheap japanned tea-caddy, +with the brown teapot and the chipped cups and saucers, stood +undisturbed in the old-fashioned cupboard in the corner, while the +lonely man sat before the cold fireplace and let the tears trickle +down his cheeks as they would. + +At the double stroke of the spring door-bell, twice repeated, his +expression changed as if he had been waked from a dream. He dried his +cheeks roughly with the back of his hand, and his very heavy black +eyebrows were drawn down and together, as if the tension of the man's +whole nature had been relaxed and was now suddenly restored. The look +of sadness hardened to an expression that was melancholy still, but +grim and unforgiving, and the grizzled beard, clipped rather close at +the sides, betrayed the angles of the strong jaw as he set his teeth +and rose to let in his visitor. He was round-shouldered and slightly +bow-legged when he stood up; he was heavily and clumsily built, but he +was evidently strong. + +He went out into the dark entry and opened the door, and a moment +later he came back with Mr. Feist, the man with the unhealthy +complexion whom Margaret had seen at the Turkish Embassy. Isidore +Bamberger sat down in the easy-chair again without ceremony, leaving +his guest to bring up a straight-backed chair for himself. + +Mr. Feist was evidently in a very nervous condition. His hand shook +perceptibly as he mopped his forehead after sitting down, and he moved +his chair uneasily twice because the incandescent light irritated his +eyes. He did not wait for Bamberger to question him, however. + +'It's all right,' he said, 'but he doesn't care to take steps till +after this season is over. He says the same thing will happen again to +a dead certainty, and that the more evidence he has the surer he'll be +of the decree. I think he's afraid Van Torp has some explanation up +his sleeve that will swing things the other way.' + +'Didn't he catch her here?' asked the elder man, evidently annoyed. +'Didn't he find the money on this table in an envelope addressed +to her? Didn't he have two witnesses with him? Or is all that an +invention?' + +'It happened just so. But he's afraid there's some explanation--' + +'Feist,' said Isidore Bamberger slowly, 'find out what explanation the +man's afraid of, pretty quick, or I'll get somebody who will. It's my +belief that he's just a common coward, who takes money from his wife +and doesn't care how she gets it. I suppose she refused to pay one +day, so he strengthened his position by catching her; but he doesn't +want to divorce the goose that lays the golden egg as long as he's +short of cash. That's about the measure of it, you may depend.' + +'She may be a goose,' answered Feist, 'but she's a wild one, and +she'll lead us a chase too. She's up to all sorts of games, I've +ascertained. She goes out of the house at all hours and comes home +when she's ready, and it isn't to meet your friend either, for he's +not been in London again since he landed.' + +'Then who else is it?' asked Bamberger. + +Feist smiled in a sickly way. + +'Don't know,' he said. 'Can't find out.' + +'I don't like people who don't know and can't find out,' answered the +other. 'I'm in a hurry, I tell you. I'm employing you, and paying you +a good salary, and taking a great deal of trouble to have you pushed +with letters of introduction where you can see her, and now you come +here and tell me you don't know and you can't find out. It won't do, +Feist. You're no better than you used to be when you were my secretary +last year. You're a pretty bright young fellow when you don't drink, +but when you do you're about as useful as a painted clock--and even a +painted clock is right twice in twenty-four hours. It's more than you +are. The only good thing about you is that you can hold your tongue, +drunk or sober. I admit that.' + +Having relieved himself of this plain opinion Isidore Bamberger waited +to hear what Feist had to say, keeping his eyes fixed on the unhealthy +face. + +'I've not been drinking lately, anyhow,' he answered, 'and I'll tell +you one thing, Mr. Bamberger, and that is, that I'm just as anxious as +you can be to see this thing through, every bit.' + +'Well, then, don't waste time! I don't care a cent about the divorce, +except that it will bring the whole affair into publicity. As soon as +all the papers are down on him, I'll start in on the real thing. I +shall be ready by that time. I want public opinion on both sides of +the ocean to run strong against him, as it ought to, and it's just +that it should. If I don't manage that, he may get off in the end in +spite of your evidence.' + +'Look here, Mr. Bamberger,' said Feist, waking up, 'if you want my +evidence, don't talk of dropping me as you did just now, or you won't +get it, do you understand? You've paid me the compliment of telling me +that I can hold my tongue. All right. But it won't suit you if I hold +my tongue in the witness-box, will it? That's all, Mr. Bamberger. I've +nothing more to say about that.' + +There was a sudden vehemence in the young man's tone which portrayed +that in spite of his broken nerves he could still be violent. But +Isidore Bamberger was not the man to be brow-beaten by any one he +employed. He almost smiled when Feist stopped speaking. + +'That's all right,' he said half good-naturedly and half +contemptuously. 'We understand each other. That's all right.' + +'I hope it is,' Feist answered in a dogged way. 'I only wanted you to +know.' + +'Well, I do, since you've told me. But you needn't get excited like +that. It's just as well you gave up studying medicine and took to +business, Feist, for you haven't got what they call a pleasant bedside +manner.' + +Mr. Feist had once been a medical student, but had given up the +profession on inheriting a sum of money with which he at once began to +speculate. After various vicissitudes he had become Mr. Bamberger's +private secretary, and had held that position some time in spite of +his one failing, because he had certain qualities which made him +invaluable to his employer until his nerves began to give away. One of +those qualities was undoubtedly his power of holding his tongue +even when under the influence of drink; another was his really +extraordinary memory for details, and especially for letters he had +written under dictation, and for conversations he had heard. He was +skilful, too, in many ways when in full possession of his faculties; +but though Isidore Bamberger used him, he despised him profoundly, +as he despised every man who preferred present indulgence to future +profit. + +Feist lit a cigarette and blew a vast cloud of smoke round him, but +made no answer to his employer's last observation. + +'Now this is what I want you to do,' said the latter. 'Go to this +Count Leven and tell him it's a cash transaction or nothing, and that +he runs no risk. Find out what he'll really take, but don't come +talking to me about five thousand pounds or anything of that kind, for +that's ridiculous. Tell him that if proceedings are not begun by the +first of May his wife won't get any more money from Van Torp, and he +won't get any more from his wife. Use any other argument that strikes +you. That's your business, because that's what I pay you for. What I +want is the result, and that's justice and no more, and I don't care +anything about the means. Find them and I'll pay. If you can't find +them I'll pay somebody who can, and if nobody can I'll go to the end +without. Do you understand?' + +'Oh, I understand right enough,' answered Feist, with his bad smile.' +If I can hit on the right scheme I won't ask you anything extra +for it, Mr. Bamberger! By the bye, I wrote you I met Cordova, the +Primadonna, at the Turkish Embassy, didn't I? She hates him as much +as the other woman likes him, yet she and the other have struck up a +friendship. I daresay I shall get something out of that too.' + +'Why does Cordova hate him?' asked Bamberger. + +'Don't quite know. Thought perhaps you might.' + +'No.' + +'He was attentive to her last winter,' Feist said. 'That's all I know +for certain. He's a brutal sort of man, and maybe he offended her +somehow.' + +'Well,' returned Isidore Bamberger, 'maybe; but singers aren't often +offended by men who have money. At least, I've always understood so, +though I don't know much about that side of life myself.' + +'It would be just one thing more to break his character if Cordova +would say something against him,' suggested Feist. 'Her popularity is +something tremendous, and people always believe a woman who says that +a man has insulted her. In those things the bare word of a pretty lady +who's no better than she should be is worth more than an honest man's +character for thirty years.' + +'That's so,' said Bamberger, looking at him attentively. 'That's quite +true. Whatever you are, Feist, you're no fool. We may as well have the +pretty lady's bare word, anyway.' + +'If you approve, I'm nearly sure I can get it,' Feist answered. 'At +least, I can get a statement which she won't deny if it's published +in the right way. I can furnish the materials for an article on her +that's sure to please her--born lady, never a word against her, highly +connected, unassailable private life, such a contrast to several other +celebrities on the stage, immensely charitable, half American, half +English--every bit of that all helps, you see--and then an anecdote or +two thrown in, and just the bare facts about her having had to escape +in a hurry from a prominent millionaire in a New York hotel--fairly +ran for her life and turned the key against him. Give his name if you +like. If he brings action for libel, you can subpoena Cordova herself. +She'll swear to it if it's true, and then you can unmask your big guns +and let him have it hot.' + +'No doubt, no doubt. But how do you propose to find out if it is +true?' + +'Well, I'll see; but it will answer almost as well if it's not true,' +said Feist cynically. 'People always believe those things.' + +'It's only a detail,' said Bamberger, 'but it's worth something, +and if we can make this man Leven begin a suit against his wife, +everything that's against Van Torp will be against her too. That's not +justice, Feist, but it's fact. A woman gets considerably less pity for +making mistakes with a blackguard than for liking an honest man too +much, Feist.' + +Mr. Bamberger, who had divorced his own wife, delivered these opinions +thoughtfully, and, though she had made no defence, he might be +supposed to know what he was talking about. + +Presently he dismissed his visitor with final injunctions to lose no +time, and to 'find out' if Lady Maud was interested in any one besides +Van Torp, and if not, what was at the root of her eccentric hours. + +Mr. Feist went away, apparently prepared to obey his employer with +all the energy he possessed. He went down the dimly-lighted stairs +quickly, but he glanced nervously upwards, as if he fancied that +Isidore Bamberger might have silently opened the door again to look +over the banister and watch him from above. In the dark entry below he +paused a moment, and took a satisfactory pull at a stout flask before +going out into the yellowish gloom that had settled on Hare Court. + +When he was in the narrow alley he stopped again and laughed, without +making any sound, so heartily that he had to stand still till the fit +passed; and the expression of his unhealthy face just then would have +disturbed even Mr. Bamberger, who knew him well. + +But Mr. Bamberger was sitting in the easy-chair before the fireplace, +and his eyes were fixed on the bright point at which the shiny copper +kettle reflected the gaslight. His head had fallen slightly forward, +so that his bearded chin was out of sight below the collar of his +overcoat, leaving his eagle nose and piercing eyes above it. He was +like a bird of prey looking down over the edge of its nest. He had not +taken off his hat for Mr. Feist, and it was pushed back from his bony +forehead now, giving his face a look that would have been half comic +if it had not been almost terrifying: a tall hat set on a skull, a +little back or on one side, produces just such an effect. + +There was no moisture in the keen eyes now. In the bright spot on the +copper kettle they saw the vision of the end towards which he was +striving with all his strength, and all his heart, and all his wealth. +It was a grim little picture, and the chief figure in it was a +thick-set man who had a queer cap drawn down over his face and his +hands tied; and the eyes that saw it were sure that under the cap +there were the stony features of a man who had stolen his friend's +wife and killed his friend's daughter, and was going to die for what +he had done. + +Then Isidore Bamberger's right hand disappeared inside the breast of +his coat and closed lovingly upon a full pocket-book; but there was +only a little money in it, only a few banknotes folded flat against +a thick package of sheets of notepaper all covered with clear, close +writing, some in ink and some in pencil; and if what was written there +was all true, it was enough to hang Mr. Rufus Van Torp. + +There were other matters, too, not written there, but carefully +entered in the memory of the injured man. There was the story of his +marriage with a beautiful, penniless girl, not of his own faith, whom +he had taken in the face of strong opposition from his family. She +had been an exquisite creature, fair and ethereal, as degenerates +sometimes are; she had cynically married him for his money, deceiving +him easily enough, for he was willing to be blinded; but differences +had soon arisen between them, and had turned to open quarrelling, and +Mr. Van Torp had taken it upon himself to defend her and to reconcile +them, using the unlimited power his position gave him over his partner +to force the latter to submit to his wife's temper and caprice, as the +only alternative to ruin. Her friendship for Van Torp grew stronger, +till they spent many hours of every day together, while her husband +saw little of her, though he was never altogether estranged from her +so long as they lived under one roof. + +But the time came at last when Bamberger had power too, and Van Torp +could no longer hold him in check with a threat that had become vain; +for he was more than indispensable, he was a part of the Nickel Trust, +he was the figure-head of the ship, and could not be discarded at +will, to be replaced by another. + +As soon as he was sure of this and felt free to act, Isidore Bamberger +divorced his wife, in a State where slight grounds are sufficient. For +the sake of the Nickel Trust Van Torp's name was not mentioned. Mrs. +Bamberger made no defence, the affair was settled almost privately, +and Bamberger was convinced that she would soon marry Van Torp. +Instead, six weeks had not passed before she married Senator Moon, +a man whom her husband had supposed she scarcely knew, and to +Bamberger's amazement Van Torp's temper was not at all disturbed by +the marriage. He acted as if he had expected it, and though he hardly +ever saw her after that time, he exchanged letters with her during +nearly two years. + +Bamberger's little daughter Ida had never been happy with her +beautiful mother, who had alternately spoilt her and vented her temper +on her, according to the caprice of the moment. At the time of the +divorce the child had been only ten years old; and as Bamberger was +very kind to her and was of an even disposition, though never very +cheerful, she had grown up to be extremely fond of him. She never +guessed that he did not love her in return, for though he was cynical +enough in matters of business, he was just according to his lights, +and he would not let her know that everything about her recalled her +mother, from her hair to her tone of voice, her growing caprices, and +her silly fits of temper. He could not believe in the affection of a +daughter who constantly reminded him of the hell in which he had +lived for years. If what Van Torp told Lady Maud of his own pretended +engagement to Ida was true, it was explicable only on that ground, so +far as her father was concerned. Bamberger felt no affection for +his daughter, and saw no reason why she should not be used as an +instrument, with her own consent, for consolidating the position of +the Nickel Trust. + +As for the former Mrs. Bamberger, afterwards Mrs. Moon, she had gone +to Europe in the autumn, not many months after her marriage, leaving +the Senator in Washington, and had returned after nearly a year's +absence, bringing her husband a fine little girl, whom she had +christened Ida, like her first child, without consulting him. It soon +became apparent that the baby was totally deaf; and not very long +after this discovery, Mrs. Moon began to show signs of not being quite +sane. Three years later she was altogether out of her mind, and as +soon as this was clear the child was sent to the East to be taught. +The rest has already been told. Bamberger, of course, had never seen +little Ida, and had perhaps never heard of her existence, and Senator +Moon did not see her again before he died. + +Bamberger had not loved his own daughter in her life, but since her +tragic death she had grown dear to him in memory, and he reproached +himself unjustly with having been cold and unkind to her. Below the +surface of his money-loving nature there was still the deep and +unsatisfied sentiment to which his wife had first appealed, and by +playing on which she had deceived him into marrying her. Her treatment +of him had not killed it, and the memory of his fair young daughter +now stirred it again. He accused himself of having misunderstood her. +What had been unreal and superficial in her mother had perhaps been +true and deep in her. He knew that she had loved him; he knew it now, +and it was the recollection of that one being who had been devoted to +him for himself, since he had been a grown man, that sometimes brought +the tears from his eyes when he was alone. It would have been a +comfort, now, to have loved her in return while she lived, and to have +trusted in her love then, instead of having been tormented by the +belief that she was as false as her mother had been. + +But he had been disappointed of his heart's desire; for, strange as it +may seem to those who have not known such men as Isidore Bamberger, +his nature was profoundly domestic, and the ideal of his youth had +been to grow old in his own home, with a loving wife at his side, +surrounded by children and grandchildren who loved both himself and +her. Next to that, he had desired wealth and the power money gives; +but that had been first, until the hope of it was gone. Looking back +now, he was sure that it had all been destroyed from root to branch, +the hope and the possibility, and even the memory that might have +still comforted him, by Rufus Van Torp, upon whom he prayed that he +might live to be revenged. He sought no secret vengeance, either, no +pitfall of ruin dug in the dark for the man's untimely destruction; +all was to be in broad daylight, by the evidence of facts, under the +verdict of justice, and at the hands of the law itself. + +It had not been very hard to get what he needed, for his former +secretary, Mr. Feist, had worked with as much industry and +intelligence as if the case had been his own, and in spite of the +vice that was killing him had shown a wonderful power of holding his +tongue. It is quite certain that up to the day when Feist called on +his employer in Hare Court, Mr. Van Torp believed himself perfectly +safe. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +A fortnight later Count Leven informed his wife that he was going home +on a short leave, but that she might stay in London if she pleased. An +aunt of his had died in Warsaw, he said, leaving him a small property, +and in spite of the disturbed state of his own country it was +necessary that he should go and take possession of the land without +delay. + +Lady Maud did not believe a word of what he said, until it became +apparent that he had the cash necessary for his journey without +borrowing of her, as he frequently tried to do, with varying success. +She smiled calmly as she bade him good-bye and wished him a pleasant +journey; he made a magnificent show of kissing her hand at parting, +and waved his hat to the window when he was outside the house, before +getting into the four-wheeler, on the roof of which his voluminous +luggage made a rather unsafe pyramid. She was not at the window, and +he knew it; but other people might be watching him from theirs, and +the servant stood at the open door. It was always worth while, in +Count Leven's opinion, to make an 'effect' if one got a chance. + +Three days later Lady Maud received a document from the Russian +Embassy informing her that her husband had brought an action to obtain +a divorce from her in the Ecclesiastical Court of the Patriarch of +Constantinople, on the ground of her undue intimacy with Rufus Van +Torp of New York, as proved by the attested depositions of detectives. +She was further informed that unless she appeared in person or by +proxy before the Patriarch of Constantinople within one month of the +date of the present notice, to defend herself against the charges made +by her husband, judgment would go by default, and the divorce would be +pronounced. + +At first Lady Maud imagined this extraordinary document to be a stupid +practical joke, invented by some half-fledged cousin to tease her. +She had a good many cousins, among whom were several beardless +undergraduates and callow subalterns in smart regiments, who would +think it no end of fun to scare 'Cousin Maud.' There was no mistaking +the official paper on which the document was written, and it bore +the seal of the Chancery of the Russian Embassy; but in Lady Maud's +opinion the mention of the Patriarch of Constantinople stamped it as +an egregious hoax. + +On reflection, however, she decided that it must have been perpetrated +by some one in the Embassy for the express purpose of annoying her, +since no outsider could have got at the seal, even if he could have +obtained possession of the paper and envelope. As soon as this view +presented itself, she determined to ascertain the truth directly, and +to bring down the ambassadorial wrath on the offender. + +Accordingly she took the paper to the Russian clerk who was in charge +of the Chancery, and inquired who had dared to concoct such a paper +and to send it to her. + +To her stupefaction, the man smiled politely and informed her that the +document was genuine. What had the Patriarch to do with it? That was +very simple. Had she not been married to a Russian subject by the +Greek rite in Paris? Certainly. Very well. All marriages of Russian +subjects out of their own country took place under the authority of +the Patriarch of Constantinople, and all suits for divorcing persons +thus married came under his jurisdiction. That was all. It was such a +simple matter that every Russian knew all about it. The clerk asked +if he could be of service to her. He had been stationed in +Constantinople, and knew just what to do; and, moreover, he had a +friend at the Chancery there, who would take charge of the case if the +Countess desired it. + +Lady Maud thanked him coldly, replaced the document in its envelope, +and left the Embassy with the intention of never setting foot in it +again. + +She understood why Leven had suddenly lost an aunt of whom she had +never heard, and had got out of the way on pretence of an imaginary +inheritance. The dates showed plainly that the move had been prepared +before he left, and that he had started when the notice of the suit +was about to be sent to her. The only explanation that occurred to her +was that her husband had found some very rich woman who was willing to +marry him if he could free himself; and this seemed likely enough. + +She hesitated as to how she should act. Her first impulse was to go +to her father, who was a lawyer and would give her good advice, but a +moment's thought showed her that it would be a mistake to go to him. +Being no longer immobilised by a sprained ankle, Lord Creedmore would +probably leave England instantly in pursuit of Leven himself, and no +one could tell what the consequences might be if he caught him; they +would certainly be violent, and they might be disastrous. + +Then Lady Maud thought of telegraphing to Mr. Van Torp to come to town +to see her about an urgent matter; but she decided against that course +too. Whatever her relations were with the American financier this was +not the moment to call attention to them. She would write to him, and +in order to see him conveniently she would suggest to her father to +have a week-end house party in the country, and to ask his neighbour +over from Oxley Paddox. Nobody but Mr. Van Torp and the post-office +called the place Torp Towers. + +She had taken a hansom to the Embassy, but she walked back to Charles +Street because she was angry, and she considered nothing so good for a +rage as a stiff walk. By the time she reached her own door she was as +cool as ever, and her clear eyes looked upon the wicked world with +their accustomed calm. + +As she laid her hand on the door-bell, a smart brougham drove up +quickly and stopped close to the pavement, and as she turned her head +Margaret was letting herself out, before the footman could get round +from the other side to open the door of the carriage. + +'May I come in?' asked the singer anxiously, and Lady Maud saw that +she seemed much disturbed, and had a newspaper in her hand. 'I'm so +glad I just caught you,' Margaret added, as the door opened. + +They went in together. The house was very small and narrow, and Lady +Maud led the way into a little sitting-room on the right of the hall, +and shut the door. + +'Is it true?' Margaret asked as soon as they were alone. + +'What?' + +'About your divorce--' + +Lady Maud smiled rather contemptuously. + +'Is it already in the papers?' she asked, glancing at the one Margaret +had brought. 'I only heard of it myself an hour ago!' + +'Then it's really true! There's a horrid article about it--' + +Margaret was evidently much more disturbed than her friend, who sat +down in a careless attitude and smiled at her. + +'It had to come some day. And besides,' added Lady Maud, 'I don't +care!' + +'There's something about me too,' answered Margaret, 'and I cannot +help caring.' + +'About you?' + +'Me and Mr. Van Torp--the article is written by some one who hates +him--that's clear!--and you know I don't like him; but that's no +reason why I should be dragged in.' + +She was rather incoherent, and Lady Maud took the paper from her hand +quietly, and found the article at once. It was as 'horrid' as the +Primadonna said it was. No names were given in full, but there could +not be the slightest mistake about the persons referred to, who were +all clearly labelled by bits of characteristic description. It was all +in the ponderously airy form of one of those more or less true stories +of which some modern weeklies seem to have an inexhaustible supply, +but it was a particularly vicious specimen of its class so far as +Mr. Van Torp was concerned. His life was torn up by the roots and +mercilessly pulled to pieces, and he was shown to the public as a +Leicester Square Lovelace or a Bowery Don Juan. His baleful career was +traced from his supposed affair with Mrs. Isidore Bamberger and her +divorce to the scene at Margaret's hotel in New York, and from that +to the occasion of his being caught with Lady Maud in Hare Court by a +justly angry husband; and there was, moreover, a pretty plain allusion +to little Ida Moon. + +Lady Maud read the article quickly, but without betraying any emotion. +When she had finished she raised her eyebrows a very little, and gave +the paper back to Margaret. + +'It is rather nasty,' she observed quietly, as if she were speaking of +the weather. + +'It's utterly disgusting,' Margaret answered with emphasis. 'What +shall you do?' + +'I really don't know. Why should I do anything? Your position is +different, for you can write to the papers and deny all that concerns +you if you like--though I'm sure I don't know why you should care. +It's not to your discredit.' + +'I could not very well deny it,' said the Primadonna thoughtfully. +Almost before the words had left her lips she was sorry she had +spoken. + +'Does it happen to be true?' asked Lady Maud, with an encouraging +smile. + +'Well, since you ask me--yes.' Margaret felt uncomfortable. + +'Oh, I thought it might be,' answered Lady Maud. 'With all his good +qualities he has a very rough side. The story about me is perfectly +true too.' + +Margaret was amazed at her friend's quiet cynicism. + +'Not that about the--the envelope on the table--' + +She stopped short. + +'Oh yes! There were four thousand one hundred pounds in it. My husband +counted the notes.' + +The singer leaned back in her chair and stared in unconcealed +surprise, wondering how in the world she could have been so completely +mistaken in her judgment of a friend who had seemed to her the best +type of an honest and fearless Englishwoman. Margaret Donne had not +been brought up in the gay world; she had, however, seen some aspects +of it since she had been a successful singer, and she did not +exaggerate its virtues; but somehow Lady Maud had seemed to be above +it, while living in it, and Margaret would have put her hand into the +fire for the daughter of her father's old friend, who now acknowledged +without a blush that she had taken four thousand pounds from Rufus Van +Torp. + +'I suppose it would go against me even in an English court,' said Lady +Maud in a tone of reflection. 'It looks so badly to take money, you +know, doesn't it? But if I must be divorced, it really strikes me +as delightfully original to have it done by the Patriarch of +Constantinople! Doesn't it, my dear?' + +'It's not usual, certainly,' said Margaret gravely. + +She was puzzled by the other's attitude, and somewhat horrified. + +'I suppose you think I'm a very odd sort of person,' said Lady Maud, +'because I don't mind so much as most women might. You see, I never +really cared for Leven, though if I had not thought I had a fancy for +him I wouldn't have married him. My people were quite against it. The +truth is, I couldn't have the husband I wanted, and as I did not mean +to break my heart about it, I married, as so many girls do. That's my +little story! It's not long, is it?' + +She laughed, but she very rarely did that, even when she was amused, +and now Margaret's quick ear detected here and there in the sweet +ripple a note that did not ring quite like the rest. The intonation +was not false or artificial, but only sad and regretful, as genuine +laughter should not be. Margaret looked at her, still profoundly +mystified, and still drawn to her by natural sympathy, though +horrified almost to disgust at what seemed her brutal cynicism. + +'May I ask one question? We've grown to be such good friends that +perhaps you won't mind.' + +Lady Maud nodded. + +'Of course,' she said. 'Ask me anything you please. I'll answer if I +can.' + +'You said that you could not marry the man you liked. Was he--Mr. Van +Torp?' + +Lady Maud was not prepared for the question. + +'Mr. Van Torp?' she repeated slowly. 'Oh dear no! Certainly not! What +an extraordinary idea!' She gazed into Margaret's eyes with a look of +inquiry, until the truth suddenly dawned upon her. 'Oh, I see!' she +cried. 'How awfully funny!' + +There was no minor note of sadness or regret in her rippling laughter +now. It was so exquisitely true and musical that the great soprano +listened to it with keen delight, and wondered whether she herself +could produce a sound half so delicious. + +'No, my dear,' said Lady Maud, as her mirth subsided. 'I never was in +love with Mr. Van Torp. But it really is awfully funny that you should +have thought so! No wonder you looked grave when I told you that I was +really found in his rooms! We are the greatest friends, and no man was +ever kinder to a woman than he has been to me for the last two years. +But that's all. Did you really think the money was meant for me? That +wasn't quite nice of you, was it?' + +The bright smile was still on her face as she spoke the last words, +for her nature was far too big to be really hurt; but the little +rebuke went home sharply, and Margaret felt unreasonably ashamed of +herself, considering that Lady Maud had not taken the slightest pains +to explain the truth to her. + +'I'm so sorry,' she said contritely. 'I'm dreadfully sorry. It was +abominably stupid of me!' + +'Oh no. It was quite natural. This is not a pretty world, and there's +no reason why you should think me better than lots of other women. And +besides, I don't care!' + +'But surely you won't let your husband get a divorce for such a reason +as that without making a defence?' + +'Before the Patriarch of Constantinople?' Lady Maud evidently thought +the idea very amusing. 'It sounds like a comic opera,' she added. 'Why +should I defend myself? I shall be glad to be free; and as for the +story, the people who like me will not believe any harm of me, and the +people who don't like me may believe what they please. But I'm very +glad you showed me that article, disgusting as it is.' + +'I was beginning to be sorry I had brought it.' + +'No. You did me a service, for I had no idea that any one was going to +take advantage of my divorce to make a cowardly attack on my friend--I +mean Mr. Van Torp. I shall certainly not make any defence before the +Patriarch, but I shall make a statement which will go to the right +people, saying that I met Mr. Van Torp in a lawyer's chambers in +the Temple, that is, in a place of business, and about a matter of +business, and that there was no secret about it, because my husband's +servant called the cab that took me there, and gave the cabman the +address. I often do go out without telling any one, and I let myself +in with a latch-key when I come home, but on that particular occasion +I did neither. Will you say that if you hear me talked about?' + +'Of course I will.' + +Nevertheless, Margaret thought that Lady Maud might have given her a +little information about the 'matter of business' which had +involved such a large sum of money, and had produced such important +consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Mr. Van Torp was walking slowly down the Elm Walk in the park at Oxley +Paddox. The ancient trees were not in full leaf yet, but there were +myriads of tiny green feather points all over the rough brown branches +and the smoother twigs, and their soft colour tinted the luminous +spring air. High overhead all sorts and conditions of little birds +were chirping and trilling and chattering together and by turns, and +on the ground the sparrows were excessively busy and talkative, while +the squirrels made wild dashes across the open, and stopped suddenly +to sit bolt upright and look about them, and then dashed on again. + +Little Ida walked beside the millionaire in silence, trustfully +holding one of his hands, and as she watched the sparrows she tried +to make out what sort of sound they could be making when they hopped +forward and opened their bills so wide that she could distinctly see +their little tongues. Mr. Van Torp's other hand held a newspaper, and +he was reading the article about himself which Margaret had shown to +Lady Maud. He did not take that particular paper, but a marked copy +had been sent to him, and in due course had been ironed and laid on +the breakfast-table with those that came regularly. The article was +marked in red pencil. + +He read it slowly with a perfectly blank expression, as if it +concerned some one he did not know. Once only, when he came upon +the allusion to the little girl, his eyes left the page and glanced +quietly down at the large red felt hat with its knot of ribbands +that moved along beside him, and hid all the child's face except the +delicate chin and the corner of the pathetic little mouth. She did not +know that he looked down at her, for she was intent on the sparrows, +and he went back to the article and read to the end. + +Then, in order to fold the paper, he gently let go of Ida's hand, and +she looked up into his face. He did not speak, but his lips moved +a little as he doubled the sheet to put it into his pocket; and +instantly the child's expression changed, and she looked hurt and +frightened, and stretched up her hand quickly to cover his mouth, as +if to hide the words his lips were silently forming. + +'Please, please!' she said, in her slightly monotonous voice. 'You +promised me you wouldn't any more!' + +'Quite right, my dear,' answered Mr. Van Torp, smiling, 'and I +apologise. You must make me pay a forfeit every time I do it. What +shall the forfeit be? Chocolates?' + +She watched his lips, and understood as well as if she had heard. + +'No,' she answered demurely. 'You mustn't laugh. When I've done +anything wicked and am sorry, I say the little prayer Miss More taught +me. Perhaps you'd better learn it too.' + +'If you said it for me,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely, 'it would be +more likely to work.' + +'Oh no! That wouldn't do at all! You must say it for yourself. I'll +teach it to you if you like. Shall I?' + +'What must I say?' asked the financier. + +'Well, it's made up for me, you see, and besides, I've shortened it a +wee bit. What I say is: "Dear God, please forgive me this time, and +make me never want to do it again. Amen." Can you remember that, do +you think?' + +'I think I could,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'Please forgive me and make me +never do it again.' + +'Never want to do it again,' corrected little Ida with emphasis. 'You +must try not even to want to say dreadful things. And then you must +say "Amen." That's important.' + +'Amen,' repeated the millionaire. + +At this juncture the discordant toot of an approaching motor-car was +heard above the singing of the birds. Mr. Van Torp turned his +head quickly in the direction of the sound, and at the same time +instinctively led the little girl towards one side of the road. She +apparently understood, for she asked no questions. There was a turn in +the drive a couple of hundred yards away, where the Elm Walk ended, +and an instant later an enormous white motor-car whizzed into sight, +rushed furiously towards the two, and was brought to a standstill in +an uncommonly short time, close beside them. An active man, in the +usual driver's disguise of the modern motorist, jumped down, and at +the same instant pushed his goggles up over the visor of his cap +and loosened the collar of his wide coat, displaying the face of +Constantino Logotheti. + +'Oh, it's you, is it?' Mr. Van Torp asked the wholly superfluous +question in a displeased tone. 'How did you get in? I've given +particular orders to let in no automobiles.' + +'I always get in everywhere,' answered Logotheti coolly. 'May I see +you alone for a few minutes?' + +'If it's business, you'd better see Mr. Bamberger,' said Van Torp. +'I came here for a rest. Mr. Bamberger has come over for a few days. +You'll find him at his chambers in Hare Court.' + +'No,' returned Logotheti, 'it's a private matter. I shall not keep you +long.' + +'Then run us up to the house in your new go-cart.' + +Mr. Van Torp lifted little Ida into the motor as if she had been a +rather fragile china doll instead of a girl nine years old and quite +able to get up alone, and before she could sit down he was beside her. +Logotheti jumped up beside the chauffeur and the machine ran up the +drive at breakneck speed. Two minutes later they all got out more than +a mile farther on, at the door of the big old house. Ida ran away to +find Miss More; the two men entered together, and went into the study. + +The room had been built in the time of Edward Sixth, had been +decorated afresh under Charles the Second, the furniture was of the +time of Queen Anne, and the carpet was a modern Turkish one, woven +in colours as fresh as paint to fit the room, and as thick as a down +quilt: it was the sort of carpet which has come into existence with +the modern hotel. + +'Well?' Mr. Van Torp uttered the monosyllable as he sat down in his +own chair and pointed to a much less comfortable one, which Logotheti +took. + +'There's an article about you,' said the latter, producing a paper. + +'I've read it,' answered Mr. Van Torp in a tone of stony indifference. + +'I thought that was likely. Do you take the paper?' + +'No. Do you?' + +'No, it was sent to me,' Logotheti answered. 'Did you happen to glance +at the address on the wrapper of the one that came to you?' + +'My valet opens all the papers and irons them.' + +Mr. Van Torp looked very bored as he said this, and he stared stonily +at the pink and green waistcoat which his visitor's unfastened coat +exposed to view. Hundreds of little gold beads were sewn upon it at +the intersections of the pattern. It was a marvellous creation. + +'I had seen the handwriting on the one addressed to me before,' +Logotheti said. + +'Oh, you had, had you?' + +Mr. Van Torp asked the question in a dull tone without the slightest +apparent interest in the answer. + +'Yes,' Logotheti replied, not paying any attention to his host's +indifference. 'I received an anonymous letter last winter, and the +writing of the address was the same.' + +'It was, was it?' + +The millionaire's tone did not change in the least, and he continued +to admire the waistcoat. His manner might have disconcerted a person +of less assurance than the Greek, but in the matter of nerves the two +financiers were well matched. + +'Yes,' Logotheti answered, 'and the anonymous letter was about you, +and contained some of the stories that are printed in this article.' + +'Oh, it did, did it?' + +'Yes. There was an account of your interview with the Primadonna at a +hotel in New York. I remember that particularly well.' + +'Oh, you do, do you?' + +'Yes. The identity of the handwriting and the similarity of the +wording make it look as if the article and the letter had been written +by the same person.' + +'Well, suppose they were--I don't see anything funny about that.' + +Thereupon Mr. Van Torp turned at last from the contemplation of the +waistcoat and looked out of the bay-window at the distant trees, as if +he were excessively weary of Logotheti's talk. + +'It occurred to me,' said the latter, 'that you might like to stop any +further allusions to Miss Donne, and that if you happened to recognize +the handwriting you might be able to do so effectually.' + +'There's nothing against Madame Cordova in the article,' answered Mr. +Van Torp, and his aggressive blue eyes turned sharply to his visitor's +almond-shaped brown ones. 'You can't say there's a word against her.' + +'There may be in the next one,' suggested Logotheti, meeting the look +without emotion. 'When people send anonymous letters about broadcast +to injure men like you and me, they are not likely to stick at such a +matter as a woman's reputation.' + +'Well--maybe not.' Mr. Van Torp turned his sharp eyes elsewhere. 'You +seem to take quite an interest in Madame Cordova, Mr. Logotheti,' he +observed, in an indifferent tone. + +'I knew her before she went on the stage, and I think I may call +myself a friend of hers. At all events, I wish to spare her any +annoyance from the papers if I can, and if you have any regard for her +you will help me, I'm sure.' + +'I have the highest regard for Madame Cordova,' said Mr. Van Torp, and +there was a perceptible change in his tone; 'but after this, I guess +the best way I can show it is to keep out of her track. That's about +all there is to do. You don't suppose I'm going to bring an action +against that paper, do you?' + +'Hardly!' Logotheti smiled. + +'Well, then, what do you expect me to do, Mr. Logotheti?' + +Again the eyes of the two men met. + +'I'll tell you,' answered the Greek. 'The story about your visit to +Miss Donne in New York is perfectly true.' + +'You're pretty frank,' observed the American. + +'Yes, I am. Very good. The man who wrote the letter and the article +knows you, and that probably means that you have known him, though you +may never have taken any notice of him. He hates you, for some reason, +and means to injure you if he can. Just take the trouble to find out +who he is and suppress him, will you? If you don't, he will throw more +mud at honest women. He is probably some underling whose feelings you +have hurt, or who has lost money by you, or both.' + +'There's something in that,' answered Mr. Van Torp, showing a little +more interest. 'Do you happen to have any of his writing about you? +I'll look at it.' + +Logotheti took a letter and a torn piece of brown paper from his +pocket and handed both to his companion. + +'Read the letter, if you like,' he said. 'The handwriting seems to be +the same as that on the wrapper.' + +Mr. Van Torp first compared the address, and then proceeded to read +the anonymous letter. Logotheti watched his face quietly, but it did +not change in the least. When he had finished, he folded the sheet, +replaced it in the envelope, and returned it with the bit of paper. + +'Much obliged,' he said, and he looked out of the window again and was +silent. + +Logotheti leaned back in his chair as he put the papers into his +pocket again, and presently, as Mr. Van Torp did not seem inclined to +say anything more, he rose to go. The American did not move, and still +looked out of the window. + +'You originally belonged to the East, Mr. Logotheti, didn't you?' he +asked suddenly. + +'Yes. I'm a Greek and a Turkish subject.' + +'Do you happen to know the Patriarch of Constantinople?' + +Logotheti stared in surprise, taken off his guard for once. + +'Very well indeed,' he answered after an instant. 'He is my uncle.' + +'Why, now, that's quite interesting!' observed Mr. Van Torp, rising +deliberately and thrusting his hands into his pockets. + +Logotheti, who knew nothing about the details of Lady Maud's pending +divorce, could not imagine what the American was driving at, and +waited for more. Mr. Van Torp began to walk up and down, with his +rather clumsy gait, digging his heels into vivid depths of the new +Smyrna carpet at every step. + +'I wasn't going to tell you,' he said at last, 'but I may just as +well. Most of the accusations in that letter are lies. I didn't blow +up the subway. I know it was done on purpose, of course, but I had +nothing to do with it, and any man who says I had, takes me for a +fool, which you'll probably allow I'm not. You're a man of business, +Mr. Logotheti. There had been a fall in Nickel, and for weeks before +the explosion I'd been making a considerable personal sacrifice to +steady things. Now you know as well as I do that all big accidents +are bad for the market when it's shaky. Do you suppose I'd have +deliberately produced one just then? Besides, I'm not a criminal. I +didn't blow up the subway any more than I blew up the Maine to bring +on the Cuban war! The man's a fool.' + +'I quite agree with you,' said the Greek, listening with interest. + +'Then there's another thing. That about poor Mrs. Moon, who's gone +out of her mind. It's nonsense to say I was the reason of Bamberger's +divorcing his wife. In the first place, there are the records of the +divorce, and my name was never mentioned. I was her friend, that's +all, and Bamberger resented it--he's a resentful sort of man anyway. +He thought she'd marry me as soon as he got the divorce. Well, she +didn't. She married old Alvah Moon, who was the only man she ever +cared for. The Lord knows how it was, but that wicked old scarecrow +made all the women love him, to his dying day. I had a high regard for +Mrs. Bamberger, and I suppose she was right to marry him if she liked +him. Well, she married him in too much of a hurry, and the child that +was born abroad was Bamberger's and not his, and when he found it out +he sent the girl East and would never see her again, and didn't leave +her a cent when he died. That's the truth about that, Mr. Logotheti. I +tell you because you've got that letter in your pocket, and I'd rather +have your good word than your bad word in business any day.' + +'Thank you,' answered Logotheti. 'I'm glad to know the facts in the +case, though I never could see what a man's private life can have to +do with his reputation in the money market!' + +'Well, it has, in some countries. Different kinds of cats have +different kinds of ways. There's one thing more, but it's not in the +letter, it's in the article. That's about Countess Leven, and it's the +worst lie of the lot, for there's not a better woman than she is from +here to China. I'm not at liberty to tell you anything of the matter +she's interested in and on which she consults me. But her father is +my next neighbour here, and I seem to be welcome at his house; he's a +pretty sensible man, and that makes for her, it seems to me. As for +that husband of hers, we've a good name in America for men like him. +We'd call him a skunk over there. I suppose the English word is +polecat, but it doesn't say as much. I don't think there's anything +else I want to tell you.' + +'You spoke of my uncle, the Patriarch,' observed Logotheti. + +'Did I? Yes. Well, what sort of a gentleman is he, anyway?' + +The question seemed rather vague to the Greek. + +'How do you mean?' he inquired, buttoning his coat over the wonderful +waistcoat. + +'Is he a friendly kind of a person, I mean? Obliging, if you take him +the right way? That's what I mean. Or does he get on his ear right +away?' + +'I should say,' answered Logotheti, without a smile, 'that he gets on +his ear right away--if that means the opposite of being friendly and +obliging. But I may be prejudiced, for he does not approve of me.' + +'Why not, Mr. Logotheti?' + +'My uncle says I'm a pagan, and worship idols.' + +'Maybe he means the Golden Calf,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely. + +Logotheti laughed. + +'The other deity in business is the Brazen Serpent, I believe,' he +retorted. + +'The two would look pretty well out there on my lawn,' answered Mr. +Van Torp, his hard face relaxing a little. + +'To return to the point. Can I be of any use to you with the +Patriarch? We are not on bad terms, though he does think me a heathen. +Is there anything I can do?' + +'Thank you, not at present. Much obliged. I only wanted to know.' + +Logotheti's curiosity was destined to remain unsatisfied. He refused +Mr. Van Torp's not very pressing invitation to stay to luncheon, given +at the very moment when he was getting into his motor, and a few +seconds later he was tearing down the avenue. + +Mr. Van Torp stood on the steps till he was out of sight and then came +down himself and strolled slowly away towards the trees again, his +hands behind him and his eyes constantly bent upon the road, three +paces ahead. + +He was not always quite truthful. Scruples were not continually +uppermost in his mind. For instance, what he had told Lady Maud about +his engagement to poor Miss Bamberger did not quite agree with what he +had said to Margaret on the steamer. + +In certain markets in New York, three kinds of eggs are offered for +sale, namely, Eggs, Fresh Eggs, and Strictly Fresh Eggs. I have seen +the advertisement. Similarly in Mr. Van Torp's opinion there were +three sorts of stories, to wit, Stories, True Stories, and Strictly +True Stories. Clearly, each account of his engagement must have +belonged to one of these classes, as well as the general statement he +had made to Logotheti about the charges brought against him in the +anonymous letter. The reason why he had made that statement was plain +enough; he meant it to be repeated to Margaret because he really +wished her to think well of him. Moreover, he had recognised the +handwriting at once as that of Mr. Feist, Isidore Bamberger's former +secretary, who knew a good many things and might turn out a dangerous +enemy. + +But Logotheti, who knew something of men, and had dealt with some +very accomplished experts in fraud from New York and London to +Constantinople, had his doubts about the truth of what he had heard, +and understood at once why the usually reticent American had talked +so much about himself. Van Torp, he was sure, was in love with the +singer; that was his weak side, and in whatever affected her he might +behave like a brute or a baby, but would certainly act with something +like rudimentary simplicity in either case. In Logotheti's opinion +Northern and English-speaking men might be as profound as Persians in +matters of money, and sometimes were, but where women were concerned +they were generally little better than sentimental children, unless +they were mere animals. Not one in a thousand cared for the society +of women, or even of one particular woman, for its own sake, for the +companionship, and the exchange of ideas about things of which women +know how to think. To the better sort, that is, to the sentimental +ones, a woman always seemed what she was not, a goddess, a saint, or +a sort of glorified sister; to the rest, she was an instrument of +amusement and pleasure, more or less necessary and more or less +purchasable. Perhaps an Englishman or an American, judging Greeks from +what he could learn about them in ordinary intercourse, would get +about as near the truth as Logotheti did. In his main conclusion the +latter was probably right; Mr. Van Torp's affections might be of such +exuberant nature as would admit of being divided between two or three +objects at the same time, or they might not. But when he spoke of +having the 'highest regard' for Madame Cordova, without denying the +facts about the interview in which he had asked her to marry him and +had lost his head because she refused, he was at least admitting that +he was in love with her, or had been at that time. + +Mr. Van Torp also confessed that he had entertained a 'high regard' +for the beautiful Mrs. Bamberger, now unhappily insane. It was +noticeable that he had not used the same expression in speaking of +Lady Maud. Nevertheless, as in the Bamberger affair, he appeared as +the chief cause of trouble between husband and wife. Logotheti was +considered 'dangerous' even in Paris, and his experiences had not +been dull; but, so far, he had found his way through life without +inadvertently stepping upon any of those concealed traps through which +the gay and unwary of both sexes are so often dropped into the divorce +court, to the surprise of everybody. It seemed the more strange to +him that Rufus Van Torp, only a few years his senior, should now find +himself in that position for the second time. Yet Van Torp was not +a ladies' man; he was hard-featured, rough of speech, and clumsy of +figure, and it was impossible to believe that any woman could think +him good-looking or be carried away by his talk. The case of Mrs. +Bamberger could be explained; she might have had beauty, but she +could have had little else that would have appealed to such a man as +Logotheti. But there was Lady Maud, an acknowledged beauty in London, +thoroughbred, aristocratic, not easily shocked perhaps, but easily +disgusted, like most women of her class; and there was no doubt but +that her husband had found her under extremely strange circumstances, +in the act of receiving from Van Torp a large sum of money for which +she altogether declined to account. Van Torp had not denied that story +either, so it was probably true. Yet Logotheti, whom so many women +thought irresistible, had felt instinctively that she was one of those +who would smile serenely upon the most skilful and persistent besieger +from the security of an impregnable fortress of virtue. Logotheti did +not naturally feel unqualified respect for many women, but since he +had known Lady Maud it had never occurred to him that any one could +take the smallest liberty with her. On the other hand, though he was +genuinely in love with Margaret and desired nothing so much as to +marry her, he had never been in the least afraid of her, and he had +deliberately attempted to carry her off against her will; and if she +had looked upon his conduct then as anything more serious than a mad +prank, she had certainly forgiven it very soon. + +The only reason for his flying visit to Derbyshire had been his desire +to keep Margaret's name out of an impending scandal in which he +foresaw that Mr. Van Torp and Lady Maud were to be the central +figures, and he believed that he had done something to bring about +that result, if he had started the millionaire on the right scent. He +judged Van Torp to be a good hater and a man of many resources, who +would not now be satisfied till he had the anonymous writer of the +letter and the article in his power. Logotheti had no means of +guessing who the culprit was, and did not care to know. + +He reached town late in the afternoon, having covered something like +three hundred miles since early morning. About seven o'clock he +stopped at Margaret's door, in the hope of finding her at home and of +being asked to dine alone with her, but as he got out of his hansom +and sent it away he heard the door shut and he found himself face to +face with Paul Griggs. + +'Miss Donne is out,' said the author, as they shook hands. 'She's been +spending the day with the Creedmores, and when I rang she had just +telephoned that she would not be back for dinner!' + +'What a bore!' exclaimed Logotheti. + +The two men walked slowly along the pavement together, and for some +time neither spoke. Logotheti had nothing to do, or believed so +because he was disappointed in not finding Margaret in. The elder man +looked preoccupied, and the Greek was the first to speak. + +'I suppose you've seen that shameful article about Van Torp,' he said. + +'Yes. Somebody sent me a marked copy of the paper. Do you know whether +Miss Donne has seen it?' + +'Yes. She got a marked copy too. So did I. What do you think of it?' + +'Just what you do, I fancy. Have you any idea who wrote it?' + +'Probably some underling in the Nickel Trust whom Van Torp has +offended without knowing it, or who has lost money by him.' + +Griggs glanced at his companion's face, for the hypothesis struck him +as being tenable. + +'Unless it is some enemy of Countess Leven's,' he suggested. 'Her +husband is really going to divorce her, as the article says.' + +'I suppose she will defend herself,' said Logotheti. + +'If she has a chance.' + +'What do you mean?' + +'Do you happen to know what sort of man the present Patriarch of +Constantinople is?' + +Logotheti's jaw dropped, and he slackened his pace. + +'What in the world--' he began, but did not finish the sentence. +'That's the second time to-day I've been asked about him.' + +'That's very natural,' said Griggs calmly. 'You're one of the very few +men in town who are likely to know him.' + +'Of course I know him,' answered Logotheti, still mystified. 'He's my +uncle.' + +'Really? That's very lucky!' + +'Look here, Griggs, is this some silly joke?' + +'A joke? Certainly not. Lady Maud's husband can only get a divorce +through the Patriarch because he married her out of Russia. You know +about that law, don't you?' + +Logotheti understood at last. + +'No,' he said, 'I never heard of it. But if that is the case I may +be able to do something--not that I'm considered orthodox at the +Patriarchate! The old gentleman has been told that I'm trying to +revive the worship of the Greek gods and have built a temple to +Aphrodite Xenia in the Place de la Concorde!' + +'You're quite capable of it,' observed Griggs. + +'Oh, quite! Only, I've not done it yet. I'll see what I can do. Are +you much interested in the matter?' + +'Only on general principles, because I believe Lady Maud is perfectly +straight, and it is a shame that such a creature as Leven should be +allowed to divorce an honest Englishwoman. By the bye--speaking of her +reminds me of that dinner at the Turkish Embassy--do you remember a +disagreeable-looking man who sat next to me, one Feist, a countryman +of mine?' + +'Rather! I wondered how he came there.' + +'He had a letter of introduction from the Turkish Minister in +Washington. He is full of good letters of introduction.' + +'I should think they would need to be good,' observed Logotheti. +'With that face of his he would need an introduction to a Port Said +gambling-hell before they would let him in.' + +'I agree with you. But he is well provided, as I say, and he goes +everywhere. Some one has put him down at the Mutton Chop. You never go +there, do you?' + +'I'm not asked,' laughed Logotheti. 'And as for becoming a member, +they say it's impossible.' + +'It takes ten or fifteen years,' Griggs answered, 'and then you won't +be elected unless every one likes you. But you may be put down as +a visitor there just as at any other club. This fellow Feist, for +instance--we had trouble with him last night--or rather this morning, +for it was two o'clock. He has been dropping in often of late, towards +midnight. At first he was more or less amusing with his stories, for +he has a wonderful memory. You know the sort of funny man who rattles +on as if he were wound up for the evening, and afterwards you cannot +remember a word he has said. It's all very well for a while, but you +soon get sick of it. Besides, this particular specimen drinks like a +whale.' + +'He looks as if he did.' + +'Last night he had been talking a good deal, and most of the men who +had been there had gone off. You know there's only one room at the +Mutton Chop, with a long table, and if a man takes the floor there's +no escape. I had come in about one o'clock to get something to eat, +and Feist poured out a steady stream of stories as usual, though only +one or two listened to him. Suddenly his eyes looked queer, and he +stammered, and rolled off his chair, and lay in a heap, either dead +drunk or in a fit, I don't know which.' + +'And I suppose you carried him downstairs,' said Logotheti, for Griggs +was known to be stronger than other men, though no longer young. + +'I did,' Griggs answered. 'That's usually my share of the proceedings. +The last person I carried--let me see--I think it must have been that +poor girl who died at the Opera in New York. We had found Feist's +address in the visitors' book, and we sent him home in a hansom. I +wonder whether he got there!' + +'I should think the member who put him down would be rather annoyed,' +observed Logotheti. + +'Yes. It's the first time anything of that sort ever happened at the +Mutton Chop, and I fancy it will be the last. I don't think we shall +see Mr. Feist again.' + +'I took a particular dislike to his face,' Logotheti said. 'I remember +thinking of him when I went home that night, and wondering who he was +and what he was about.' + +'At first I took him for a detective,' said Griggs. 'But detectives +don't drink.' + +'What made you think he might be one?' + +'He has a very clever way of leading the conversation to a point and +then asking an unexpected question.' + +'Perhaps he is an amateur,' suggested Logotheti. 'He may be a spy. Is +Feist an American name?' + +'You will find all sorts of names in America. They prove nothing in +the way of nationality, unless they are English, Dutch, or French, and +even then they don't prove much. I'm an American myself, and I feel +sure that Feist either is one or has spent many years in the country, +in which case he is probably naturalised. As for his being a spy, I +don't think I ever came across one in England.' + +'They come here to rest in time of peace, or to escape hanging in +other countries in time of war,' said the Greek. 'His being at the +Turkish Embassy, of all places in the world, is rather in favour of +the idea. Do you happen to remember the name of his hotel?' + +'Are you going to call on him?' Griggs asked with a smile. + +'Perhaps. He begins to interest me. Is it indiscreet to ask what sort +of questions he put to you?' + +'He's stopping at the Carlton--if the cabby took him there! We gave +the man half-a-crown for the job, and took his number, so I suppose +it was all right. As for the questions he asked me, that's another +matter.' + +Logotheti glanced quickly at his companion's rather grim face, and was +silent for a few moments. He judged that Mr. Feist's inquiries must +have concerned a woman, since Griggs was so reticent, and it required +no great ingenuity to connect that probability with one or both of the +ladies who had been at the dinner where Griggs and Feist had first +met. + +'I think I shall go and ask for Mr. Feist,' he said presently. 'I +shall say that I heard he was ill and wanted to know if I could do +anything for him.' + +'I've no doubt he'll be much touched by your kindness!' said Griggs. +'But please don't mention the Mutton Chop Club, if you really see +him.' + +'Oh no! Besides, I shall let him do the talking.' + +'Then take care that you don't let him talk you to death!' + +Logotheti smiled as he hailed a passing hansom; he nodded to his +companion, told the man to go to the Carlton, and drove away, leaving +Griggs to continue his walk alone. + +The elderly man of letters had not talked about Mr. Feist with any +special intention, and was very far from thinking that what he had +said would lead to any important result. He liked the Greek, because +he liked most Orientals, under certain important reservations and at a +certain distance, and he had lived amongst them long enough not to be +surprised at anything they did. Logotheti had been disappointed in not +finding the Primadonna at home, and he was not inclined to put up with +the usual round of an evening in London during the early part of the +season as a substitute for what he had lost. He was the more put out, +because, when he had last seen Margaret, three or four days earlier, +she had told him that if he came on that evening at about seven +o'clock he would probably find her alone. Having nothing that looked +at all amusing to occupy him, he was just in the mood to do anything +unusual that presented itself. + +Griggs guessed at most of these things, and as he walked along he +vaguely pictured to himself the interview that was likely to take +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Opinion was strongly against Mr. Van Torp. A millionaire is almost +as good a mark at which to throw mud as a woman of the world whose +reputation has never before been attacked, and when the two can be +pilloried together it is hardly to be expected that ordinary people +should abstain from pelting them and calling them bad names. + +Lady Maud, indeed, was protected to some extent by her father and +brothers, and by many loyal friends. It is happily still doubtful how +far one may go in printing lies about an honest woman without getting +into trouble with the law, and when the lady's father is not only a +peer, but has previously been a barrister of reputation and a popular +and hard-working member of the House of Commons during a long time, +it is generally safer to use guarded language; the advisability of +moderation also increases directly as the number and size of the +lady's brothers, and inversely as their patience. Therefore, on the +whole, Lady Maud was much better treated by the society columns than +Margaret at first expected. + +On the other hand, they vented their spleen and sharpened their +English on the American financier, who had no relations and scarcely +any friends to stand by him, and was, moreover, in a foreign country, +which always seems to be regarded as an aggravating circumstance when +a man gets into any sort of trouble. Isidore Bamberger and Mr. Feist +had roused and let loose upon him a whole pack of hungry reporters and +paragraph writers on both sides of the Atlantic. + +The papers did not at first print his name except in connection with +the divorce of Lady Maud. But this was a landmark, the smallest +reference to which made all other allusions to him quite clear. It +was easy to speak of Mr. Van Torp as the central figure in a _cause +célèbre_: newspapers love the French language the more as they +understand it the less; just as the gentle amateur in literature tries +to hide his cloven hoof under the thin elegance of italics. + +Particular stress was laid upon the millionaire's dreadful hypocrisy. +He taught in the Sunday Schools at Nickelville, the big village which +had sprung up at his will and which was the headquarters of his +sanctimonious wickedness. He was compared to Solomon, not for his +wisdom, but on account of his domestic arrangements. He was indeed a +father to his flock. It was a touching sight to see the little ones +gathered round the knees of this great and good man, and to note +how an unconscious and affectionate imitation reflected his face +in theirs. It was true that there was another side to this truly +patriarchal picture. In a city of the Far West, wrote an eloquent +paragraph writer, a pale face, once divinely beautiful, was often seen +at the barred window of a madhouse, and eyes that had once looked too +tenderly into those of the Nickelville Solomon stared wildly at +the palm-trees in the asylum grounds. This paragraph was rich in +sentiment. + +There were a good many mentions of the explosion in New York, too, and +hints, dark, but uncommonly straight, that the great Sunday School +teacher had been the author and stage-manager of an awful comedy +designed expressly to injure a firm of contractors against whom he had +a standing grudge. In proof of the assertion, the story went on to say +that he had written four hours before the 'accident' happened to give +warning of it to the young lady whom he was about to marry. She was +a neurasthenic young lady, and in spite of the warning she died very +suddenly at the theatre from shock immediately after the explosion, +and his note was found on her dressing-table when she was brought home +dead. Clearly, if the explosion had not been his work, and if he had +been informed of it beforehand, he would have warned the police and +the Department of Public Works at the same time. The young lady's +untimely death had not prevented him from sailing for Europe three or +four days later, and on the trip he had actually occupied alone the +same 'thousand dollar suite' which he had previously engaged for +himself and his bride. From this detail the public might form some +idea of the Nickelville magnate's heartless character. In fact, if +one-half of what was written, telegraphed, and printed about Rufus Van +Torp on both sides of the Atlantic during the next fortnight was to be +believed, he had no character at all. + +To all this he answered nothing, and he did not take the trouble to +allude to the matter in the few letters he wrote to his acquaintances. +Day after day numbers of marked papers were carefully ironed and laid +on the breakfast-table, after having been read and commented on in the +servants' hall. The butler began to look askance at him, Mrs. Dubbs, +the housekeeper, talked gloomily of giving warning, and the footmen +gossiped with the stable hands; but the men all decided that it was +not derogatory to their dignity to remain in the service of a master +who was soon to be exhibited in the divorce court beside such a 'real +lady' as Lord Creedmore's daughter; the housemaids agreed in this +view, and the housekeeper consulted Miss More. For Mrs. Dubbs was an +imposing person, morally and physically, and had a character to lose; +and though the place was a very good one for her old age, because the +master only spent six weeks or two months at Oxley Paddox each year, +and never found fault, yet Mrs. Dubbs was not going to have her name +associated with that of a gentleman who blew up underground works and +took Solomon's view of the domestic affections. She came of very good +people in the north; one of her brothers was a minister, and the other +was an assistant steward on a large Scotch estate. + +Miss More's quiet serenity was not at all disturbed by what was +happening, for it could hardly be supposed that she was ignorant of +the general attack on Mr. Van Torp, though he did not leave the papers +lying about, where little Ida's quick eyes might fall on a marked +passage. The housekeeper waited for an occasion when Mr. Van Torp +had taken the child for a drive, as he often did, and Miss More was +established in her favourite corner of the garden, just out of sight +of the house. Mrs. Dubbs first exposed the situation, then expressed +a strong opinion as to her own respectability, and finally asked Miss +More's advice. + +Miss More listened attentively, and waited till her large and sleek +interlocutor had absolutely nothing more to say. Then she spoke. + +'Mrs. Dubbs,' she said, 'do you consider me a respectable young +woman?' + +'Oh, Miss More!' cried the housekeeper. 'You! Indeed, I'd put my hand +into the fire for you any day!' + +'And I'm an American, and I've known Mr. Van Torp several years, +though this is the first time you have seen me here. Do you think I +would let the child stay an hour under his roof, or stay here myself, +if I believed one word of all those wicked stories the papers are +publishing? Look at me, please. Do you think I would?' + +It was quite impossible to look at Miss More's quiet healthy face and +clear eyes and to believe she would. There are some women of whom +one is sure at a glance that they are perfectly trustworthy in every +imaginable way, and above even the suspicion of countenancing any +wrong. + +'No,' answered Mrs. Dubbs, with honest conviction, 'I don't, indeed.' + +'I think, then,' said Miss More, 'that if I feel I can stay here, you +are safe in staying too. I do not believe any of these slanders, and +I am quite sure that Mr. Van Torp is one of the kindest men in the +world.' + +'I feel as if you must be right, Miss More,' replied the housekeeper. +'But they do say dreadful things about him, indeed, and he doesn't +deny a word of it, as he ought to, in my humble opinion, though it's +not my business to judge, of course, but I'll say this, Miss More, and +that is, that if the butler's character was publicly attacked in the +papers, in the way Mr. Van Torp's is, and if I were Mr. Van Torp, +which of course I'm not, I'd say "Crookes, you may be all right, but +if you're going to be butler here any longer, it's your duty to defend +yourself against these attacks upon you in the papers, Crookes, +because as a Christian man you must not hide your light under a +bushel, Crookes, but let it shine abroad." That's what I'd say, Miss +More, and I should like to know if you don't think I should be right.' + +'If the English and American press united to attack the butler's +character,' answered Miss More without a smile, 'I think you would +be quite right, Mrs. Dubbs. But as regards Mr. Van Torp's present +position, I am sure he is the best judge of what he ought to do.' + +These words of wisdom, and Miss More's truthful eyes, greatly +reassured the housekeeper, who afterwards upbraided the servants for +paying any attention to such wicked falsehoods; and Mr. Crookes, the +butler, wrote to his aged mother, who was anxious about his situation, +to say that Mr. Van Torp must be either a real gentleman or a very +hardened criminal indeed, because it was only forgers and real +gentlemen who could act so precious cool; but that, on the whole, he, +Crookes, and the housekeeper, who was a highly respectable person and +the sister of a minister, as he wished his mother to remember, had +made up their minds that Mr. V.T. was Al, copper-bottomed--Mrs. +Crookes was the widow of a seafaring man, and lived at Liverpool, +and had heard Lloyd's rating quoted all her life--and that they, the +writer and Mrs. Dubbs, meant to see him through his troubles, though +he was a little trying at his meals, for he would have butter on +the table at his dinner, and he wanted two and three courses served +together, and drank milk at his luncheon, like no Christian gentleman +did that Mr. Crookes had ever seen. + +The financier might have been amused if he could have read this +letter, which contained no allusion to the material attractions +of Torp Towers as a situation; for like a good many American +millionaires, Mr. Van Torp had a blind spot on his financial retina. +He could deal daringly and surely with vast sums, or he could screw +twice the normal quantity of work out of an underpaid clerk; but the +household arithmetic that lies between the two was entirely beyond his +comprehension. He 'didn't want to be bothered,' he said; he maintained +that he 'could make more money in ten minutes than he could save in a +year by checking the housekeeper's accounts'; he 'could live on coffee +and pie,' but if he chose to hire the chef of the Cafe Anglais to cook +for him at five thousand dollars a year he 'didn't want to know the +price of a truffled pheasant or a chaudfroid of ortolans.' That was +his way, and it was good enough for him. What was the use of having +made money if you were to be bothered? And besides, he concluded, 'it +was none of anybody's blank blank business what he did.' + +Mr. Van Torp did not hesitate to borrow similes from another world +when his rather limited command of refined language was unequal to the +occasion. + +But at the present juncture, though his face did not change, and +though he slept as soundly and had as good an appetite as usual, no +words with which he was acquainted could express his feelings at all. +He had, indeed, consigned the writer of the first article to perdition +with some satisfaction; but after his interview with Logotheti, +when he had understood that a general attack upon him had begun, he +gathered his strength in silence and studied the position with all the +concentration of earnest thought which his exceptional nature could +command. + +He had recognised Feist's handwriting, and he remembered the man as +his partner's former secretary. Feist might have written the letter +to Logotheti and the first article, but Van Torp did not believe +him capable of raising a general hue and cry on both sides of the +Atlantic. It undoubtedly happened sometimes that when a fire had been +smouldering long unseen a single spark sufficed to start the blaze, +but Mr. Van Torp was too well informed as to public opinion about him +to have been in ignorance of any general feeling against him, if it +had existed; and the present attack was of too personal a nature to +have been devised by financial rivals. Besides, the Nickel Trust had +recently absorbed all its competitors to such an extent that it had no +rivals at all, and the dangers that threatened it lay on the one hand +in the growing strength of the Labour Party in its great movement +against capital, and on the other in its position with regard to +recent American legislation about Trusts. From the beginning Mr. Van +Torp had been certain that the campaign of defamation had not been +begun by the Unions, and by its nature it could have no connection +with the legal aspect of his position. It was therefore clear that +war had been declared upon him by one or more individuals on purely +personal grounds, and that Mr. Feist was but the chief instrument in +the hands of an unknown enemy. + +But at first sight it did not look as if his assailant were Isidore +Bamberger. The violent attack on him might not affect the credit of +the Nickel Trust, but it was certainly not likely to improve it and +Mr. Van Torp believed that if his partner had a grudge against him, +any attempt at revenge would be made in a shape that would not affect +the Trust's finances. Bamberger was a resentful sort of man, but on +the other hand he was a man of business, and his fortune depended on +that of his great partner. + +Mr. Van Torp walked every morning in the park, thinking over these +things, and little Ida tripped along beside him watching the squirrels +and the birds, and not saying much; but now and then, when she felt +the gentle pressure of his hand on hers, which usually meant that he +was going to speak to her, she looked up to watch his lips, and they +did not move; only his eyes met hers, and the faint smile that came +into his face then was not at all like the one which most people saw +there. So she smiled back, happily, and looked at the squirrels again, +sure that a rabbit would soon make a dash over the open and cross the +road, and hoping for the rare delight of seeing a hare. And the tame +red and fallow deer looked at her suspiciously from a distance, as if +she might turn into a motor-car. In those morning walks she did not +again see his lips forming words that frightened her, and she began to +be quite sure that he had stopped swearing to himself because she had +spoken to him so seriously. + +Once he looked at her so long and with so much earnestness that she +asked him what he was thinking of, and he gently pushed back the +broad-brimmed hat she wore, so as to see her forehead and beautiful +golden hair. + +'You are growing very like your mother,' he said, after a little +while. + +They had stopped in the broad drive, and little Ida gazed gravely up +at him for a moment. Then she put up her arms. + +'I think I want to give you a kiss, Mr. Van Torp,' she said with the +utmost gravity. 'You're so good to me.' + +Mr. Van Torp stooped, and she put her arms round his short neck and +kissed the hard, flat cheek once, and he kissed hers rather awkwardly. + +'Thank you, my dear,' he said, in an odd voice, as he straightened +himself. + +He took her hand again to walk on, and the great iron mouth was drawn +a little to one side, and it looked as if the lips might have trembled +if they had not been so tightly shut. Perhaps Mr. Van Torp had never +kissed a child before. + +She was very happy and contented, for she had spent most of her life +in a New England village alone with Miss More, and the great English +country-house was full of wonder and mystery for her, and the park was +certainly the Earthly Paradise. She had hardly ever been with other +children and was rather afraid of them, because they did not always +understand what she said, as most grown people did; so she was not at +all lonely now. On the contrary, she felt that her small existence +was ever so much fuller than before, since she now loved two people +instead of only one, and the two people seemed to agree so well +together. In America she had only seen Mr. Van Torp at intervals, when +he had appeared at the cottage near Boston, the bearer of toys and +chocolates and other good things, and she had not been told till after +she had landed in Liverpool that she was to be taken to stop with him +in the country while he remained in England. Till then he had always +called her 'Miss Ida,' in an absurdly formal way, but ever since she +had arrived at Oxley Paddox he had dropped the 'Miss,' and had never +failed to spend two or three hours alone with her every day. Though +his manner had not changed much, and he treated her with a sort of +queer formality, much as he would have behaved if she had been twenty +years old instead of nine, she had been growing more and more sure +that he loved her and would give her anything in the world she asked +for, though there was really nothing she wanted; and in return she +grew gratefully fond of him by quick degrees, till her affection +expressed itself in her solemn proposal to 'give him a kiss.' + +Not long after that Mr. Van Torp found amongst his letters one from +Lady Maud, of which the envelope was stamped with the address of her +father's country place, 'Craythew.' He read the contents carefully, +and made a note in his pocket-book before tearing the sheet and the +envelope into a number of small bits. + +There was nothing very compromising in the note, but Mr. Van Torp +certainly did not know that his butler regularly offered first and +second prizes in the servants' hall, every Saturday night, for the +'best-put-together letters' of the week--to those of his satellites, +in other words, who had been most successful in piecing together +scraps from the master's wastepaper basket. In houses where the +post-bag has a patent lock, of which the master keeps the key, this +diversion has been found a good substitute for the more thrilling +entertainment of steaming the letters and reading them before taking +them upstairs. If Mrs. Dubbs was aware of Mr. Crookes' weekly +distribution of rewards she took no notice of it; but as she rarely +condescended to visit the lower regions, and only occasionally asked +Mr. Crookes to dine in her own sitting-room, she may be allowed the +benefit of the doubt; and, besides, she was a very superior person. + +On the day after he had received Lady Maud's note, Mr. Van Torp rode +out by himself. No one, judging from his looks, would have taken him +for a good rider. He rode seldom, too, never talked of horses, and was +never seen at a race. When he rode he did not even take the trouble to +put on gaiters, and, after he had bought Oxley Paddox, the first time +that his horse was brought to the door, by a groom who had never seen +him, the latter could have sworn that the millionaire had never been +on a horse before and was foolishly determined to break his neck. On +that occasion Mr. Van Torp came down the steps, with a big cigar in +his mouth, in his ordinary clothes, without so much as a pair of +straps to keep his trousers down, or a bit of a stick in his hand. The +animal was a rather ill-tempered black that had arrived from Yorkshire +two days previously in charge of a boy who gave him a bad character. +As Mr. Van Torp descended the steps with his clumsy gait, the horse +laid his ears well back for a moment and looked as if he meant to +kick anything within reach. Mr. Van Torp looked at him in a dull way, +puffed his cigar, and made one remark in the form of a query. + +'He ain't a lamb, is he?' + +'No, sir,' answered the groom with sympathetic alacrity, 'and if I was +you, sir, I wouldn't--' + +But the groom's good advice was checked by an unexpected phenomenon. +Mr. Van Torp was suddenly up, and the black was plunging wildly as +was only to be expected; what was more extraordinary was that Mr. Van +Torp's expression showed no change whatever, the very big cigar was +stuck in his mouth at precisely the same angle as before, and he +appeared to be glued to the saddle. He sat perfectly erect, with his +legs perpendicularly straight, and his hands low and quiet. + +The next moment the black bolted down the drive, but Mr. Van Torp did +not seem the least disturbed, and the astonished groom, his mouth wide +open and his arms hanging down, saw that the rider gave the beast his +head for a couple of hundred yards, and then actually stopped him +short, bringing him almost to the ground on his haunches. + +'My Gawd, 'e's a cowboy!' exclaimed the groom, who was a Cockney, +and had seen a Wild West show and recognised the real thing. 'And +me thinkin' 'e was goin' to break his precious neck and wastin' my +bloomin' sympathy on 'im!' + +Since that first day Mr. Van Torp had not ridden more than a score of +times in two years. He preferred driving, because it was less trouble, +and partly because he could take little Ida with him. It was therefore +always a noticeable event in the monotonous existence at Torp Towers +when he ordered a horse to be saddled, as he did on the day after he +had got Lady Maud's note from Craythew. + +He rode across the hilly country at a leisurely pace, first by lanes +and afterwards over a broad moor, till he entered a small beech wood +by a bridle-path not wide enough for two to ride together, and lined +with rhododendrons, lilacs, and laburnum. A quarter of a mile from +the entrance a pretty glade widened to an open lawn, in the middle +of which stood a ruin, consisting of the choir and chancel arch of a +chapel. Mr. Van Torp drew rein before it, threw his right leg over the +pommel before him, and remained sitting sideways on the saddle, for +the very good reason that he did not see anything to sit on if he got +down, and that it was of no use to waste energy in standing. His horse +might have resented such behaviour on the part of any one else, but +accepted the western rider's eccentricities quite calmly and proceeded +to crop the damp young grass at his feet. + +Mr. Van Torp had come to meet Lady Maud. The place was lonely and +conveniently situated, being about half-way between Oxley Paddox and +Craythew, on Mr. Van Torp's land, which was so thoroughly protected +against trespassers and reporters by wire fences and special watchmen +that there was little danger of any one getting within the guarded +boundary. On the side towards Craythew there was a gate with a patent +lock, to which Lady Maud had a key. + +Mr. Van Torp was at the meeting-place at least a quarter of an hour +before the appointed time. His horse only moved a short step every now +and then, eating his way slowly across the grass, and his rider sat +sideways, resting his elbows on his knees and staring at nothing +particular, with that perfectly wooden expression of his which +indicated profound thought. + +But his senses were acutely awake, and he caught the distant sound of +hoofs on the soft woodland path just a second before his horse lifted +his head and pricked his ears. Mr. Van Torp did not slip to the +ground, however, and he hardly changed his position. Half a dozen +young pheasants hurled themselves noisily out of the wood on the other +side of the ruin, and scattered again as they saw him, to perch on +the higher boughs of the trees not far off instead of settling on +the sward. A moment later Lady Maud appeared, on a lanky and elderly +thoroughbred that had been her own long before her marriage. Her +old-fashioned habit was evidently of the same period too; it had been +made before the modern age of skirted coats, and fitted her figure in +a way that would have excited open disapproval and secret admiration +in Rotten Row. But she never rode in town, so that it did not matter; +and, besides, Lady Maud did not care. + +Mr. Van Torp raised his hat in a very un-English way, and at the same +time, apparently out of respect for his friend, he went so far as to +change his seat a little by laying his right knee over the pommel and +sticking his left foot into the stirrup, so that he sat like a woman. +Lady Maud drew up on his off side and they shook hands. + +'You look rather comfortable,' she said, and the happy ripple was in +her voice. + +'Why, yes. There's nothing else to sit on, and the grass is wet. Do +you want to get off?' + +'I thought we might make some tea presently,' answered Lady Maud. +'I've brought my basket.' + +'Now I call that quite sweet!' Mr. Van Torp seemed very much pleased, +and he looked down at the shabby little brown basket hanging at her +saddle. + +He slipped to the ground, and she did the same before he could go +round to help her. The old thoroughbred nosed her hand as if expecting +something good, and she produced a lump of sugar from the tea-basket +and gave it to him. + +Mr. Van Torp pulled a big carrot from the pocket of his tweed jacket +and let his horse bite it off by inches. Then he took the basket from +Lady Maud and the two went towards the ruin. + +'We can sit on the Earl,' said Lady Maud, advancing towards a low tomb +on which was sculptured a recumbent figure in armour. 'The horses +won't run away from such nice grass.' + +So the two installed themselves on each side of the stone knight's +armed feet, which helped to support the tea-basket, and Lady Maud took +out her spirit-lamp and a saucepan that just held two cups, and a tin +bottle full of water, and all the other things, arranging them neatly +in order. + +'How practical women are!' exclaimed Mr. Van Torp, looking on. 'Now I +would never have thought of that.' + +But he was really wondering whether she expected him to speak first of +the grave matters that brought them together in that lonely place. + +'I've got some bread and butter,' she said, opening a small +sandwich-box, 'and there is a lemon instead of cream.' + +'Your arrangements beat Hare Court hollow,' observed the millionaire. +'Do you remember the cracked cups and the weevilly biscuits?' + +'Yes, and how sorry you were when you had burnt the little beasts! Now +light the spirit-lamp, please, and then we can talk.' + +Everything being arranged to her satisfaction, Lady Maud looked up at +her companion. + +'Are you going to do anything about it?' she asked. + +'Will it do any good if I do? That's the question.' + +'Good? What is good in that sense?' She looked at him a moment, but +as he did not answer she went on. 'I cannot bear to see you abused in +print like this, day after day, when I know the truth, or most of it.' + +'It doesn't matter about me. I'm used to it. What does your father +say?' + +'He says that when a man is attacked as you are, it's his duty to +defend himself.' + +'Oh, he does, does he?' + +Lady Maud smiled, but shook her head in a reproachful way. + +'You promised me that you would never give me your business answer, +you know!' + +'I'm sorry,' said Mr. Van Torp, in a tone of contrition. 'Well, you +see, I forgot you weren't a man. I won't do it again. So your father +thinks I'd better come out flat-footed with a statement to the press. +Now, I'll tell you. I'd do so, if I didn't feel sure that all this +circus about me isn't the real thing yet. It's been got up with an +object, and until I can make out what's coming I think I'd best keep +still. Whoever's at the root of this is counting on my losing my +temper and hitting out, and saying things, and then the real attack +will come from an unexpected quarter. Do you see that? Under the +circumstances, almost any man in my position would get interviewed and +talk back, wouldn't he?' + +'I fancy so,' answered Lady Maud. + +'Exactly. If I did that, I might be raising against another man's +straight flush, don't you see? A good way in a fight is never to do +what everybody else would do. But I've got a scheme for getting behind +the other man, whoever he is, and I've almost concluded to try it.' + +'Will you tell me what it is?' + +'Don't I always tell you most things?' + +Lady Maud smiled at the reservation implied in 'most.' + +'After all you have done for me, I should have no right to complain if +you never told me anything,' she answered. 'Do as you think best. You +know that I trust you.' + +'That's right, and I appreciate it,' answered the millionaire. 'In +the first place, you're not going to be divorced. I suppose that's +settled.' + +Lady Maud opened her clear eyes in surprise. + +'You didn't know that, did you?' asked Mr. Van Torp, enjoying her +astonishment. + +'Certainly not, and I can hardly believe it,' she answered. + +'Look here, Maud,' said her companion, bending his heavy brows in a +way very unusual with him, 'do you seriously think I'd let you be +divorced on my account? That I'd allow any human being to play tricks +with your good name by coupling it with mine in any sort of way? If +I were the kind of man about whom you had a right to think that, I +wouldn't deserve your friendship.' + +It was not often that Rufus Van Torp allowed his face to show feeling, +but the look she saw in his rough-hewn features for a moment almost +frightened her. There was something Titanic in it. + +'No, Rufus--no!' she cried, earnestly. 'You know how I have believed +in you and trusted you! It's only that I don't see how--' + +'That's a detail,' answered the American. 'The "how" don't matter +when a man's in earnest.' The look was gone again, for her words had +appeased him instantly. 'Well,' he went on, in his ordinary tone, +'you can take it for granted that the divorce will come to nothing. +There'll be a clear statement in all the best papers next week, saying +that your husband's suit for a divorce has been dismissed with costs +because there is not the slightest evidence of any kind against you. +It will be stated that you came to my partner's chambers in Hare Court +on a matter of pure business, to receive certain money, which was due +to you from me in the way of business, for which you gave me the usual +business acknowledgment. So that's that! I had a wire yesterday to say +it's as good as settled. The water's boiling.' + +The steam was lifting the lid of the small saucepan, which stood +securely on the spirit-lamp between the marble knight's greaved shins. +But Lady Maud took no notice of it. + +'It's like you,' said she. 'I cannot find anything else to say!' + +'It doesn't matter about saying anything,' returned Mr. Van Torp. 'The +water's boiling.' + +'Will you blow out the lamp?' As she spoke she dropped a battered +silver tea-ball into the water, and moved it about by its little +chain. + +Mr. Van Torp took off his hat, and bent down sideways till his flat +cheek rested on the knight's stone shin, and he blew out the flame +with one well-aimed puff. Lady Maud did not look at the top of his +head, nor steal a furtive glance at the strong muscles and sinews of +his solid neck. She did nothing of the kind. She bobbed the tea-ball +up and down in the saucepan by its chain, and watched how the hot +water turned brown. + +'But I did not give you a "business acknowledgment," as you call it,' +she said thoughtfully. 'It's not quite truthful to say I did, you +know.' + +'Does that bother you? All right.' + +He produced his well-worn pocket-book, found a scrap of white paper +amongst the contents, and laid it on the leather. Then he took his +pencil and wrote a few words. + +'Received of R. Van Torp £4100 to balance of account.' + +He held out the pencil, and laid the pocket-book on his palm for her +to write. She read the words with out moving. + +'"To balance of account"--what does that mean?' + +'It means that it's a business transaction. At the time you couldn't +make any further claim against me. That's all it means.' + +He put the pencil to the paper again, and wrote the date of the +meeting in Hare Court. + +'There! If you sign your name to that, it just means that you had no +further claim against me on that day. You hadn't, anyway, so you may +just as well sign!' + +He held out the paper, and Lady Maud took it with a smile and wrote +her signature. + +'Thank you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'Now you're quite comfortable, I +suppose, for you can't deny that you have given me the usual business +acknowledgment. The other part of it is that I don't care to keep that +kind of receipt long, so I just strike a match and burn it.' He did +so, and watched the flimsy scrap turn black on the stone knight's +knee, till the gentle breeze blew the ashes away. 'So there!' he +concluded. 'If you were called upon to swear in evidence that you +signed a proper receipt for the money, you couldn't deny it, could +you? A receipt's good if given at any time after the money has been +paid. What's the matter? Why do you look as if you doubted it? What is +truth, anyhow? It's the agreement of the facts with the statement of +them, isn't it? Well, I don't see but the statement coincides with the +facts all right now.' + +While he had been talking Lady Maud had poured out the tea, and had +cut some thin slices from the lemon, glancing at him incredulously now +and then, but smiling in spite of herself. + +'That's all sophistry,' she said, as she handed him his cup. + +'Thanks,' he answered, taking it from her. 'Look here! Can you deny +that you have given me a formal dated receipt for four thousand one +hundred pounds?' + +'No--' + +'Well, then, what can't be denied is the truth; and if I choose to +publish the truth about you, I don't suppose you can find fault with +it.' + +'No, but--' + +'Excuse me for interrupting, but there is no "but." What's good in law +is good enough for me, and the Attorney-General and all his angels +couldn't get behind that receipt now, if they tried till they were +black in the face.' + +Mr. Van Torp's similes were not always elegant. + +'Tip-top tea,' he remarked, as Lady Maud did not attempt to say +anything more. 'That was a bright idea of yours, bringing the lemon, +too.' + +He took several small sips in quick succession, evidently appreciating +the quality of the tea as a connoisseur. + +'I don't know how you have managed to do it,' said Lady Maud at last. +'As you say, the "how" does not matter very much. Perhaps it's just as +well that I should not know how you got at the Patriarch. I couldn't +be more grateful if I knew the whole story.' + +'There's no particular story about it. When I found he was the man to +be seen, I sent a man to see him. That's all.' + +'It sounds very simple,' said Lady Maud, whose acquaintance with +American slang was limited, even after she had known Mr. Van Torp +intimately for two years. 'You were going to tell me more. You said +you had a plan for catching the real person who is responsible for +this attack on you.' + +'Well, I have a sort of an idea, but I'm not quite sure how the land +lays. By the bye,' he said quickly, correcting himself, 'isn't that +one of the things I say wrong? You told me I ought to say how the land +"lies," didn't you? I always forget.' + +Lady Maud laughed as she looked at him, for she was quite sure that he +had only taken up his own mistake in order to turn the subject from +the plan of which he did not mean to speak. + +'You know that I'm not in the least curious,' she said, 'so don't +waste any cleverness in putting me off! I only wish to know whether I +can help you to carry out your plan. I had an idea too. I thought of +getting my father to have a week-end party at Craythew, to which you +would be asked, by way of showing people that he knows all about our +friendship, and approves of it in spite of what my husband has been +trying to do. Would that suit you? Would it help you or not?' + +'It might come in nicely after the news about the divorce appears,' +answered Mr. Van Torp approvingly. 'It would be just the same if I +went over to dinner every day, and didn't sleep in the house, wouldn't +it?' + +'I'm not sure,' Lady Maud said. 'I don't think it would, quite. It +might seem odd that you should dine with us every day, whereas if you +stop with us people cannot but see that my father wants you.' + +'How about Lady Creedmore?' + +'My mother is on the continent. Why in the world do you not want to +come?' + +'Oh, I don't know,' answered Mr. Van Torp vaguely. 'Just like that, +I suppose. I was thinking. But it'll be all right, and I'll come any +way, and please tell your father that I highly appreciate the kind +invitation. When is it to be?' + +'Come on Thursday next week and stay till Tuesday. Then you will be +there when the first people come and till the last have left. That +will look even better.' + +'Maybe they'll say you take boarders,' observed Mr. Van Torp +facetiously. 'That other piece belongs to you.' + +While talking they had finished their tea, and only one slice of bread +and butter was left in the sandwich-box. + +'No,' answered Lady Maud, 'it's yours. I took the first.' + +'Let's go shares,' suggested the millionaire. + +'There's no knife.' + +'Break it.' + +Lady Maud doubled the slice with conscientious accuracy, gently +pulled the pieces apart at the crease, and held out one half to her +companion. He took it as naturally as if they had been children, and +they ate their respective shares in silence. As a matter of fact Mr. +Van Torp had been unconsciously and instinctively more interested in +the accuracy of the division than in the very beautiful white fingers +that performed it. + +'Who are the other people going to be?' he asked when he had finished +eating, and Lady Maud was beginning to put the tea-things back into +the basket. + +'That depends on whom we can get. Everybody is awfully busy just now, +you know. The usual sort of set, I suppose. You know the kind of +people who come to us--you've met lots of them. I thought of asking +Miss Donne if she is free. You know her, don't you?' + +'Why, yes, I do. You've read those articles about our interview in New +York, I suppose.' + +Lady Maud, who had been extremely occupied with her own affairs of +late, had almost forgotten the story, and was now afraid that she had +made a mistake, but she caught at the most evident means of setting it +right. + +'Yes, of course. All the better, if you are seen stopping in the same +house. People will see that it's all right.' + +'Well, maybe they would. I'd rather, if it'll do her any good. But +perhaps she doesn't want to meet me. She wasn't over-anxious to talk +to me on the steamer, I noticed, and I didn't bother her much. She's a +lovely woman!' + +Lady Maud looked at him, and her beautiful mouth twitched as if she +wanted to laugh. + +'Miss Donne doesn't think you're a "lovely" man at all,' she said. + +'No,' answered Mr. Van Torp, in a tone of child-like and almost +sheepish regret, 'she doesn't, and I suppose she's right. I didn't +know how to take her, or she wouldn't have been so angry.' + +'When? Did you really ask her to marry you?' Lady Maud was smiling +now. + +'Why, yes, I did. Why shouldn't I? I guess it wasn't very well done, +though, and I was a fool to try and take her hand after she'd said +no.' + +'Oh, you tried to take her hand?' + +'Yes, and the next thing I knew she'd rushed out of the room and +bolted the door, as if I was a dangerous lunatic and she'd just found +it out. That's what happened--just that. It wasn't my fault if I was +in earnest, I suppose.' + +'And just after that you were engaged to poor Miss Bamberger,' said +Lady Maud in a tone of reflection. + +'Yes,' answered Mr. Van Torp slowly. 'Nothing mattered much just then, +and the engagement was the business side. I told you about all that in +Hare Court.' + +'You're a singular mixture of several people all in one! I shall never +quite understand you.' + +'Maybe not. But if you don't, nobody else is likely to, and I mean to +be frank to you every time. I suppose you think I'm heartless. +Perhaps I am. I don't know. You have to know about the business side +sometimes; I wish you didn't, for it's not the side of myself I like +best.' + +The aggressive blue eyes softened a little as he spoke, and there was +a touch of deep regret in his harsh voice. + +'No,' answered Lady Maud, 'I don't like it either. But you are not +heartless. Don't say that of yourself, please--please don't! You +cannot fancy how it would hurt me to think that your helping me was +only a rich man's caprice, that because a few thousand pounds are +nothing to you it amused you to throw the money away on me and my +ideas, and that you would just as soon put it on a horse, or play with +it at Monte Carlo!' + +'Well, you needn't worry,' observed Mr. Van Torp, smiling in a +reassuring way. 'I'm not given to throwing away money. In fact, the +other people think I'm too much inclined to take it. And why shouldn't +I? People who don't know how to take care of money shouldn't have it. +They do harm with it. It is right to take it from them since they +can't keep it and haven't the sense to spend it properly. However, +that's the business side of me, and we won't talk about it, unless you +like.' + +'I don't "like"!' Lady Maud smiled too. + +'Precisely. You're not the business side, and you can have anything +you like to ask for. Anything I've got, I mean.' + +The beautiful hands were packing the tea-things. + +'Anything in reason,' suggested Lady Maud, looking into the shabby +basket. + +'I'm not talking about reason,' answered Mr. Van Torp, gouging his +waistcoat pockets with his thick thumbs, and looking at the top of her +old grey felt hat as she bent her head. 'I don't suppose I've done +much good in my life, but maybe you'll do some for me, because you +understand those things and I don't. Anyhow, you mean to, and I want +you to, and that constitutes intention in both parties, which is the +main thing in law. If it happens to give you pleasure, so much the +better. That's why I say you can have anything you like. It's an +unlimited order.' + +'Thank you,' said Lady Maud, still busy with the things. 'I know you +are in earnest, and if I needed more money I would ask for it. But +I want to make sure that it is really the right way--so many people +would not think it was, you know, and only time can prove that I'm +not mistaken. There!' She had finished packing the basket, and she +fastened the lid regretfully. 'I'm afraid we must be going. It was +awfully good of you to come!' + +'Wasn't it? I'll be just as good again the day after to-morrow, if +you'll ask me!' + +'Will you?' rippled the sweet voice pleasantly. 'Then come at the same +time, unless it rains really hard. I'm not afraid of a shower, you +know, and the arch makes a very fair shelter here. I never catch cold, +either.' + +She rose, taking up the basket in one hand and shaking down the folds +of her old habit with the other. + +'All the same, I'd bring a jacket next time if I were you,' said her +companion, exactly as her mother might have made the suggestion, and +scarcely bestowing a glance on her almost too visibly perfect figure. + +The old thoroughbred raised his head as they crossed the sward, and +made two or three steps towards her of his own accord. Her foot rested +a moment on Mr. Van Torp's solid hand, and she was in the saddle. The +black was at first less disposed to be docile, but soon yielded at the +sight of another carrot. Mr. Van Torp did not take the trouble to +put his foot into the stirrup, but vaulted from the ground with no +apparent effort. Lady Maud smiled approvingly, but not as a woman +who loves a man and feels pride in him when he does anything very +difficult. It merely pleased and amused her to see with what ease and +indifference the rather heavily-built American did a thing which many +a good English rider, gentleman or groom, would have found it hard to +do at all. But Mr. Van Torp had ridden and driven cattle in California +for his living before he had been twenty. + +He wheeled and came to her side, and held out his hand. + +'Day after to-morrow, at the same time,' he said as she took it. +'Good-bye!' + +'Good-bye, and don't forget Thursday!' + +They parted and rode away in opposite directions, and neither turned, +even once, to look back at the other. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The _Elisir d'Amore_ was received with enthusiasm, but the tenor +had it all his own way, as Lushington had foretold, and when Pompeo +Stromboli sang 'Una furtiva lacrima' the incomparable Cordova was for +once eclipsed in the eyes of a hitherto faithful public. Covent Garden +surrendered unconditionally. Metaphorically speaking, it rolled over +on its back, with its four paws in the air, like a small dog that has +got the worst of a fight and throws himself on the bigger dog's mercy. + +Margaret was applauded, but as a matter of course. There was no +electric thrill in the clapping of hands; she got the formal applause +which is regularly given to the sovereign, but not the enthusiasm +which is bestowed spontaneously on the conqueror. When she buttered +her face and got the paint off, she was a little pale, and her +eyes were not kind. It was the first time that she had not carried +everything before her since she had begun her astonishing career, and +in her first disappointment she had not philosophy enough to console +herself with the consideration that it would have been infinitely +worse to be thrown into the shade by another lyric soprano, instead +of by the most popular lyric tenor on the stage. She was also +uncomfortably aware that Lushington had predicted what had happened, +and she was informed that he had not even taken the trouble to come +to the first performance of the opera. Logotheti, who knew everything +about his old rival, had told her that Lushington was in Paris that +week, and was going on to see his mother in Provence. + +The Primadonna was put out with herself and with everybody, after the +manner of great artists when a performance has not gone exactly as +they had hoped. The critics said the next morning that the Señorita da +Cordova had been in good voice and had sung with excellent taste and +judgment, but that was all: as if any decent soprano might not do as +well! They wrote as if she might have been expected to show neither +judgment nor taste, and as if she were threatened with a cold. Then +they went on to praise Pompeo Stromboli with the very words they +usually applied to her. His voice was full, rich, tender, vibrating, +flexible, soft, powerful, stirring, natural, cultivated, superb, +phenomenal, and perfectly fresh. The critics had a severe attack of +'adjectivitis.' + +Paul Griggs had first applied the name to that inflammation of +language to which many young writers are subject when cutting their +literary milk-teeth, and from which musical critics are never quite +immune. Margaret could no longer help reading what was written about +her; that was one of the signs of the change that had come over her, +and she disliked it, and sometimes despised herself for it, though +she was quite unable to resist the impulse. The appetite for flattery +which comes of living on it may be innocent, but it is never harmless. +Dante consigned the flatterers to Inferno, and more particularly to a +very nasty place there: it is true that there were no musical critics +in his day; but he does not say much about the flattered, perhaps +because they suffer enough when they find out the truth, or lose the +gift for which they have been over-praised. + +The Primadonna was in a detestably uncomfortable state of mind on the +day after the performance of the revived opera. Her dual nature was +hopelessly mixed; Cordova was in a rage with Stromboli, Schreiermeyer, +Baci-Roventi, and the whole company, not to mention Signor Bambinelli +the conductor, the whole orchestra, and the dead composer of the +_Elisir d'Amore_; but Margaret Donne was ashamed of herself for +caring, and for being spoilt, and for bearing poor Lushington a grudge +because he had foretold a result that was only to be expected with +such a tenor as Stromboli; she despised herself for wickedly wishing +that the latter had cracked on the final high note and had made +himself ridiculous. But he had not cracked at all; in imagination she +could hear the note still, tremendous, round, and persistently drawn +out, as if it came out of a tenor trombone and had all the world's +lungs behind it. + +In her mortification Cordova was ready to give up lyric opera and +study Wagner, in order to annihilate Pompeo Stromboli, who did not +even venture _Lohengrin_. Schreiermeyer had unkindly told him that if +he arrayed his figure in polished armour he would look like a silver +teapot; and Stromboli was very sensitive to ridicule. Even if he had +possessed a dramatic voice, he could never have bounded about the +stage in pink tights and the exiguous skin of an unknown wild animal +as Siegfried, and in the flower scene of _Parsifal_ he would have +looked like Falstaff in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. But Cordova +could have made herself into a stately Brunhilde, a wild and lovely +Kundry, or a fair and fateful Isolde, with the very least amount of +artificial aid that theatrical illusion admits. + +Margaret Donne, disgusted with Cordova, said that her voice was about +as well adapted for one of those parts as a sick girl's might be for +giving orders at sea in a storm. Cordova could not deny this, and fell +back upon the idea of having an opera written for her, expressly to +show off her voice, with a _crescendo_ trill in every scene and a high +D at the end; and Margaret Donne, who loved music for its own sake, +was more disgusted than ever, and took up a book in order to get rid +of her professional self, and tried so hard to read that she almost +gave herself a headache. + +Pompeo Stromboli was really the most sweet-tempered creature in the +world, and called during the afternoon with the idea of apologising +for having eclipsed her, but was told that she was resting and would +see no one. Fräulein Ottilie Braun also came, and Margaret would +probably have seen her, but had not given any special orders, so the +kindly little person trotted off, and Margaret knew nothing of her +coming; and the day wore on quickly; and when she wanted to go out, it +at once began to rain furiously; and, at last, in sheer impatience at +everything, she telephoned to Logotheti, asking him to come and dine +alone with her if he felt that he could put up with her temper, which, +she explained, was atrocious. She heard the Greek laugh gaily at the +other end of the wire. + +'Will you come?' she asked, impatient that anybody should be in a good +humour when she was not. + +'I'll come now, if you'll let me,' he answered readily. + +'No. Come to dinner at half-past eight.' She waited a moment and then +went on. 'I've sent down word that I'm not at home for any one, and I +don't like to make you the only exception.' + +'Oh, I see,' answered Logotheti's voice. 'But I've always wanted to be +the only exception. I say, does half-past eight mean a quarter past +nine?' + +'No. It means a quarter past eight, if you like. Good-bye!' + +She cut off the communication abruptly, being a little afraid that if +she let him go on chattering any longer she might yield and allow him +to come at once. In her solitude she was intensely bored by her own +bad temper, and was nearer to making him the 'only exception' than she +had often been of late. She said to herself that he always amused her, +but in her heart she was conscious that he was the only man in the +world who knew how to flatter her back into a good temper, and would +take the trouble to do so. It was better than nothing to look forward +to a pleasant evening, and she went back to her novel and her cup of +tea already half reconciled with life. + +It rained almost without stopping. At times it poured, which really +does not happen often in much-abused London; but even heavy rain +is not so depressing in spring as it is in winter, and when the +Primadonna raised her eyes from her book and looked out of the big +window, she was not thinking of the dreariness outside but of what +she should wear in the evening. To tell the truth, she did not often +trouble herself much about that matter when she was not going to sing, +and all singers and actresses who habitually play 'costume parts' are +conscious of looking upon stage-dressing and ordinary dressing from +totally different points of view. By far the larger number of them +have their stage clothes made by a theatrical tailor, and only an +occasional eccentric celebrity goes to Worth or Doucet to be dressed +for a 'Juliet,' a 'Tosca,' or a 'Doña Sol.' + +Margaret looked at the rain and decided that Logotheti should not find +her in a tea-gown, not because it would look too intimate, but because +tea-gowns suggest weariness, the state of being misunderstood, and a +craving for sympathy. A woman who is going to surrender to fate puts +on a tea-gown, but a well-fitting body indicates strength of character +and virtuous firmness. + +I remember a smart elderly Frenchwoman who always bestowed unusual +care on every detail of her dress, visible and invisible, before going +to church. Her niece was in the room one Sunday while she was dressing +for church, and asked why she took so much trouble. + +'My dear,' was the answer, 'Satan is everywhere, and one can never +know what may happen.' + +Margaret was very fond of warm greys, and fawn tints, and dove colour, +and she had lately got a very pretty dress that was exactly to her +taste, and was made of a newly invented thin material of pure silk, +which had no sheen and cast no reflections of light, and was slightly +elastic, so that it fitted as no ordinary silk or velvet ever could. +Alphonsine called the gown a 'legend,' but a celebrated painter who +had lately seen it said it was an 'Indian twilight,' which might mean +anything, as Paul Griggs explained, because there is no twilight to +speak of in India. The dress-maker who had made it called the colour +'fawn's stomach,' which was less poetical, and the fabric, 'veil of +nun in love,' which showed little respect for monastic institutions. +As for the way in which the dress was made, it is folly to rush into +competition with tailors and dress-makers, who know what they are +talking about, and are able to say things which nobody can understand. + +The plain fact is that the Primadonna began to dress early, out of +sheer boredom, had her thick brown hair done in the most becoming way +in spite of its natural waves, which happened to be unfashionable just +then, and she put on the new gown with all the care and consideration +which so noble a creation deserved. + +'Madame is adorable,' observed Alphonsine. 'Madame is a dream. Madame +has only to lift her little finger, and kings will fall into ecstasy +before her.' + +'That would be very amusing,' said Margaret, looking at herself in the +glass, and less angry with the world than she had been. 'I have never +seen a king in ecstasy.' + +'The fault is Madame's,' returned Alphonsine, possibly with truth. + +When Margaret went into the drawing-room Logotheti was already there, +and she felt a thrill of pleasure when his expression changed at sight +of her. It is not easy to affect the pleased surprise which the sudden +appearance of something beautiful brings into the face of a man who is +not expecting anything unusual. + +'Oh, I say!' exclaimed the Greek. 'Let me look at you!' + +And instead of coming forward to take her hand, he stepped back in +order not to lose anything of the wonderful effect by being too near. +Margaret stood still and smiled in the peculiar way which is a woman's +equivalent for a cat's purring. Then, to Logotheti's still greater +delight, she slowly turned herself round, to be admired, like a statue +on a pivoted pedestal, quite regardless of a secret consciousness that +Margaret Donne would not have done such a thing for him, and probably +not for any other man. + +'You're really too utterly stunning!' he cried. + +In moments of enthusiasm he sometimes out-Englished Englishmen. + +'I'm glad you like it,' Margaret said. 'This is the first time I've +worn it.' + +'If you put it on for me, thank you! If not, thank you for putting it +on! I'm not asking, either. I should think you would wear it if you +were alone for the mere pleasure of feeling like a goddess.' + +'You're very nice!' + +She was satisfied, and for a moment she forgot Pompeo Stromboli, the +_Elisir d'Amore_, the public, and the critics. It was particularly +'nice' of him, too, not to insist upon being told that she had put on +the new creation solely for his benefit. Next to not assuming rashly +that a woman means anything of the sort expressly for him, it is wise +of a man to know when she really does, without being told. At least, +so Margaret thought just then; but it is true that she wanted him to +amuse her and was willing to be pleased. + +She executed the graceful swaying movement which only a well-made +woman can make just before sitting down for the first time in a +perfectly new gown. It is a slightly serpentine motion; and as there +is nothing to show that Eve did not meet the Serpent again after she +had taken to clothes, she may have learnt the trick from him. There is +certainly something diabolical about it when it is well done. + +Logotheti's almond-shaped eyes watched her quietly, and he stood +motionless till she was established on her chair. Then he seated +himself at a little distance. + +'I hope I was not rude,' he said, in artful apology, 'but it's not +often that one's breath is taken away by what one sees. Horrid weather +all day, wasn't it? Have you been out at all?' + +'No. I've been moping. I told you that I was in a bad humour, but I +don't want to talk about it now that I feel better. What have you been +doing? Tell me all sorts of amusing things, where you have been, whom +you have seen, and what people said to you.' + +'That might be rather dull,' observed the Greek. + +'I don't believe it. You are always in the thick of everything that's +happening.' + +'We have agreed to-day to lend Russia some more money. But that +doesn't interest you, does it? There's to be a European conference +about the Malay pirates, but there's nothing very funny in that. It +would be more amusing to hear the pirates' view of Europeans. Let me +see. Some one has discovered a conspiracy in Italy against Austria, +and there is another in Austria against the Italians. They are the +same old plots that were discovered six months ago, but people had +forgotten about them, so they are as good as new. Then there is the +sad case of that Greek.' + +'What Greek? I've not heard about that. What has happened to him?' + +'Oh, nothing much. It's only a love-story--the same old thing.' + +'Tell me.' + +'Not now, for we shall have to go to dinner just when I get to +the most thrilling part of it, I'm sure.' Logotheti laughed. 'And +besides,' he added, 'the man isn't dead yet, though he's not expected +to live. I'll tell you about your friend Mr. Feist instead. He has +been very ill too.' + +'I would much rather know about the Greek love-story,' Margaret +objected. 'I never heard of Mr. Feist.' + +She had quite forgotten the man's existence, but Logotheti recalled +to her memory the circumstances under which they had met, and Feist's +unhealthy face with its absurdly youthful look, and what he had +said about having been at the Opera in New York on the night of the +explosion. + +'Why do you tell me all this?' Margaret asked. 'He was a +disgusting-looking man, and I never wish to see him again. Tell me +about the Greek. When we go to dinner you can finish the story in +French. We spoke French the first time we met, at Madame Bonanni's. Do +you remember?' + +'Yes, of course I do. But I was telling you about Mr. Feist--' + +'Dinner is ready,' Margaret said, rising as the servant opened the +door. + +To her surprise the man came forward. He said that just as he was +going to announce dinner Countess Leven had telephoned that she was +dining out, and would afterwards stop on her way to the play in the +hope of seeing Margaret for a moment. She had seemed to be in a hurry, +and had closed the communication before the butler could answer. And +dinner was served, he added. + +Margaret nodded carelessly, and the two went into the dining-room. +Lady Maud could not possibly come before half-past nine, and there was +plenty of time to decide whether she should be admitted or not. + +'Mr. Feist has been very ill,' Logotheti said as they sat down to +table under the pleasant light, 'and I have been taking care of him, +after a fashion.' + +Margaret raised her eyebrows a little, for she was beginning to be +annoyed at his persistency, and was not much pleased at the prospect +of Lady Maud's visit. + +'How very odd!' she said, rather coldly. 'I cannot imagine anything +more disagreeable.' + +'It has been very unpleasant,' Logotheti answered, 'but he seemed to +have no particular friends here, and he was all alone at an hotel, and +really very ill. So I volunteered.' + +'I've no objection to being moderately sorry for a young man who falls +ill at an hotel and has no friends,' Margaret said, 'but are you going +in for nursing? Is that your latest hobby? It's a long way from art, +and even from finance!' + +'Isn't it?' + +'Yes. I'm beginning to be curious!' + +'I thought you would be before long,' Logotheti answered coolly, but +suddenly speaking French. 'One of the most delightful things in life +is to have one's curiosity roused and then satisfied by very slow +degrees!' + +'Not too slow, please. The interest might not last to the end.' + +'Oh yes, it will, for Mr. Feist plays a part in your life.' + +'About as distant as Voltaire's Chinese Mandarin, I fancy,' Margaret +suggested. + +'Nearer than that, though I did not guess it when I went to see him. +In the first place, it was owing to you that I went to see him the +first time.' + +'Nonsense!' + +'Not at all. Everything that happens to me is connected with you in +some way. I came to see you late in the afternoon, on one of your +off-days not long ago, hoping that you would ask me to dine, but you +were across the river at Lord Creedmore's. I met old Griggs at your +door, and as we walked away he told me that Mr. Feist had fallen down +in a fit at a club, the night before, and had been sent home in a cab +to the Carlton. As I had nothing to do, worth doing, I went to see +him. If you had been at home, I should never have gone. That is what I +mean when I say that you were the cause of my going to see him.' + +'In the same way, if you had been killed by a motor-car as you went +away from my door, I should have been the cause of your death!' + +'You will be in any case,' laughed Logotheti, 'but that's a detail! I +found Mr. Feist in a very bad way.' + +'What was the matter with him?' asked Margaret. + +'He was committing suicide,' answered the Greek with the utmost calm. +'If I were in Constantinople I should tell you that this turbot is +extremely good, but as we are in London I suppose it would be very bad +manners to say so, wouldn't it? So I am thinking it.' + +'Take the fish for granted, and tell me more about Mr. Feist!' + +'I found him standing before the glass with a razor in his hand and +quite near his throat. When he saw me he tried to laugh and said he +was just going to shave; I asked him if he generally shaved without +soap and water, and he burst into tears.' + +'That's rather dreadful,' observed Margaret. 'What did you do?' + +'I saved his life, but I don't think he's very grateful yet. Perhaps +he may be by and by. When he stopped sobbing he tried to kill me for +hindering his destruction, but I had got the razor in my pocket, and +his revolver missed fire. That was lucky, for he managed to stick the +muzzle against my chest and pull the trigger just as I got him down. +I wished I had brought old Griggs with me, for they say he can bend a +good horse-shoe double, even now, and the fellow had the strength of +a lunatic in him. It was rather lively for a few seconds, and then he +broke down again, and was as limp as a rag, and trembled with fright, +as if he saw queer things in the room.' + +'You sent for a doctor then?' + +'My own, and we took care of him together that night. You may laugh at +the idea of my having a doctor, as I never was ill in my life. I have +him to dine with me now and then, because he is such good company, and +is the best judge of a statue or a picture I know. The habit of taking +the human body to pieces teaches you a great deal about the shape of +it, you see. In the morning we moved Mr. Feist from the hotel to a +small private hospital where cases of that sort are treated. Of course +he was perfectly helpless, so we packed his belongings and papers.' + +'It was really very kind of you to act the Good Samaritan to +a stranger,' Margaret said, but her tone showed that she was +disappointed at the tame ending of the story. + +'No,' Logotheti answered. 'I was never consciously kind, as you call +it. It's not a Greek characteristic to love one's neighbour as one's +self. Teutons, Anglo-Saxons, Latins, and, most of all, Asiatics, are +charitable, but the old Greeks were not. I don't believe you'll find +an instance of a charitable act in all Greek history, drama, and +biography! If you did find one I should only say that the exception +proves the rule. Charity was left out of us at the beginning, and we +never could understand it, except as a foreign sentiment imported with +Christianity from Asia. We have had every other virtue, including +hospitality. In the _Iliad_ a man declines to kill his enemy on the +ground that their people had dined together, which is going rather +far, but it is not recorded that any ancient Greek, even Socrates +himself, ever felt pity or did an act of spontaneous kindness! I don't +believe any one has said that, but it's perfectly true.' + +'Then why did you take all that trouble for Mr. Feist?' + +'I don't know. People who always know why they do things are great +bores. It was probably a caprice that took me to see him, and then +it did not occur to me to let him cut his throat, so I took away his +razor; and, finally, I telephoned for my doctor, because my misspent +life has brought me into contact with Western civilisation. But when +we began to pack Mr. Feist's papers I became interested in him.' + +'Do you mean to say that you read his letters?' Margaret inquired. + +'Why not? If I had let him kill himself, somebody would have read +them, as he had not taken the trouble to destroy them!' + +'That's a singular point of view.' + +'So was Mr. Feist's, as it turned out. I found enough to convince me +that he is the writer of all those articles about Van Torp, including +the ones in which you are mentioned. The odd thing about it is that I +found a very friendly invitation from Van Torp himself, begging Mr. +Feist to go down to Derbyshire and stop a week with him.' + +Margaret leaned back in her chair and looked at her guest in quiet +surprise. + +'What does that mean?' she asked. 'Is it possible that Mr. Van Torp +has got up this campaign against himself in order to play some trick +on the Stock Exchange?' + +Logotheti smiled and shook his head. + +'That's not the way such things are usually managed,' he answered. 'A +hundred years ago a publisher paid a critic to attack a book in order +to make it succeed, but in finance abuse doesn't contribute to our +success, which is always a question of credit. All these scurrilous +articles have set the public very much against Van Torp, from Paris +to San Francisco, and this man Feist is responsible for them. He is +either insane, or he has some grudge against Van Torp, or else he has +been somebody's instrument, which looks the most probable.' + +'What did you find amongst his papers?' Margaret asked, quite +forgetting her vicarious scruples about reading a sick man's letters. + +'A complete set of the articles that have appeared, all neatly filed, +and a great many notes for more, besides a lot of stuff written in +cypher. It must be a diary, for the days are written out in full and +give the days of the week.' + +'I wonder whether there was anything about the explosion,' said +Margaret thoughtfully. 'He said he was there, did he not?' + +'Yes. Do you remember the day?' + +'It was a Wednesday, I'm sure, and it was after the middle of March. +My maid can tell us, for she writes down the date and the opera in a +little book each time I sing. It's sometimes very convenient. But it's +too late now, of course, and, besides, you could not have read the +cypher.' + +'That's an easy matter,' Logotheti answered. 'All cyphers can be read +by experts, if there is no hurry, except the mechanical ones that are +written through holes in a square plate which you turn round till the +sheet is full. Hardly any one uses those now, because when the square +is raised the letters don't form words, and the cable companies will +only transmit real words in some known language, or groups of figures. +The diary is written hastily, too, not at all as if it were copied +from the sheet on which the perforated plate would have had to be +used, and besides, the plate itself would be amongst his things, for +he could not read his own notes without it.' + +'All that doesn't help us, as you have not the diary, but I should +really be curious to know what he had to say about the accident, since +some of the articles hint that Mr. Van Torp made it happen.' + +'My doctor and I took the liberty of confiscating the papers, and we +set a very good man to work on the cypher at once. So your curiosity +shall be satisfied. I said it should, didn't I? And you are not so +dreadfully bored after all, are you? Do say that I'm very nice!' + +'I won't!' Margaret answered with a little laugh. 'I'll only admit +that I'm not bored! But wasn't it rather a high-handed proceeding to +carry off Mr. Feist like that, and to seize his papers?' + +'Do you call it high-handed to keep a man from cutting his throat?' + +'But the letters--?' + +'I really don't know. I had not time to ask a lawyer's opinion, and so +I had to be satisfied with my doctor's.' + +'Are you going to tell Mr. Van Torp what you've done?' + +'I don't know. Why should I? You may if you like.' + +Logotheti was eating a very large and excellent truffle, and after +each short sentence he cut off a tiny slice and put it into his +mouth. The Primadonna had already finished hers, and watched him +thoughtfully. + +'I'm not likely to see him,' she said. 'At least, I hope not!' + +'My interest in Mr. Feist,' answered Logotheti, 'begins and ends with +what concerns you. Beyond that I don't care a straw what happens to +Mr. Van Torp, or to any one else. To all intents and purposes I have +got the author of the stories locked up, for a man who has consented +to undergo treatment for dipsomania in a private hospital, by the +advice of his friends and under the care of a doctor with a great +reputation, is as really in prison as if he were in gaol. Legally, he +can get out, but in real fact nobody will lift a hand to release him, +because he is shut up for his own good and for the good of the public, +just as much as if he were a criminal. Feist may have friends or +relations in America, and they may come and claim him; but as there +seems to be nobody in London who cares what becomes of him, it pleases +me to keep him in confinement, because I mean to prevent any further +mention of your name in connection with the Van Torp scandals.' + +His eyes rested on Margaret as he spoke, and lingered afterwards, with +a look that did not escape her. She had seen him swayed by passion, +more than once, and almost mad for her, and she had been frightened +though she had dominated him. What she saw in his face now was not +that; it was more like affection, faithful and lasting, and it touched +her English nature much more than any show of passion could. + +'Thank you,' she said quietly. + +They did not talk much more while they finished the short dinner, but +when they were going back to the drawing-room Margaret took his arm, +in foreign fashion, which she had never done before when they were +alone. Then he stood before the mantelpiece and watched her in silence +as she moved about the room; for she was one of those women who always +find half a dozen little things to do as soon as they get back from +dinner, and go from place to place, moving a reading lamp half an inch +farther from the edge of a table, shutting a book that has been left +open on another, tearing up a letter that lies on the writing-desk, +and slightly changing the angle at which a chair stands. It is an odd +little mania, and the more people there are in the room the less the +mistress of the house yields to it, and the more uncomfortable she +feels at being hindered from 'tidying up the room,' as she probably +calls it. + +Logotheti watched Margaret with keen pleasure, as every step and +little movement showed her figure in a slightly different attitude and +light, indiscreetly moulded in the perfection of her matchless gown. +In less than two minutes she had finished her trip round the room and +was standing beside him, her elbows resting on the mantelpiece, while +she moved a beautiful Tanagra a little to one side and then to the +other, trying for the twentieth time how it looked the best. + +'There is no denying it,' Logotheti said at last, with profound +conviction. 'I do not care a straw what becomes of any living creature +but you.' + +She did not turn her head, and her fingers still touched the Tanagra, +but he saw the rare blush spread up the cheek that was turned to him; +and because she stopped moving the statuette about, and looked at it +intently, he guessed that she was not colouring from annoyance at what +he had said. She blushed so very seldom now, that it might mean much +more than in the old days at Versailles. + +'I did not think it would last so long,' she said gently, after a +little while. + +'What faith can one expect of a Greek!' + +He laughed, too wise in woman's ways to be serious too long just then. +But she shook her head and turned to him with the smile he loved. + +'I thought it was something different,' she said. 'I was mistaken. I +believed you had only lost your head for a while, and would soon run +after some one else. That's all.' + +'And the loss is permanent. That's all!' He laughed again as he +repeated her words. 'You thought it was "something different"--do you +know that you are two people in one?' + +She looked a little surprised. + +'Indeed I do!' she answered rather sadly. 'Have you found it out?' + +'Yes. You are Margaret Donne and you are Cordova. I admire Cordova +immensely, I am extremely fond of Margaret, and I'm in love with both. +Oh yes! I'm quite frank about it, and it's very unlucky, for whichever +one of your two selves I meet I'm just as much in love as ever! +Absurd, isn't it?' + +'It's flattering, at all events.' + +'If you ever took it into your handsome head to marry me--please, I'm +only saying "if"--the absurdity would be rather reassuring, wouldn't +it? When a man is in love with two women at the same time, it really +is a little unlikely that he should fall in love with a third!' + +'Mr. Griggs says that marriage is a drama which only succeeds if +people preserve the unities!' + +'Griggs is always trying to coax the Djin back into the bottle, like +the fisherman in the _Arabian Nights_,' answered Logotheti. 'He has +read Kant till he believes that the greatest things in the world can +be squeezed into a formula of ten words, or nailed up amongst the +Categories like a dead owl over a stable door. My intelligence, such +as it is, abhors definitions!' + +'So do I. I never understand them.' + +'Besides, you can only define what you know from past experience +and can reflect upon coolly, and that is not my position, nor yours +either.' + +Margaret nodded, but said nothing and sat down. + +'Do you want to smoke?' she asked. 'You may, if you like. I don't mind +a cigarette.' + +'No, thank you.' + +'But I assure you I don't mind it in the least. It never hurts my +throat.' + +'Thanks, but I really don't want to.' + +'I'm sure you do. Please--' + +'Why do you insist? You know I never smoke when you are in the room.' + +'I don't like to be the object of little sacrifices that make people +uncomfortable.' + +'I'm not uncomfortable, but if you have any big sacrifice to suggest, +I promise to offer it at once.' + +'Unconditionally?' Margaret smiled. 'Anything I ask?' + +'Yes. Do you want my statue?' + +'The Aphrodite? Would you give her to me?' + +'Yes. May I telegraph to have her packed and brought here from Paris?' + +He was already at the writing-table looking for a telegraph form. +Margaret watched his face, for she knew that he valued the wonderful +statue far beyond all his treasures, both for its own sake and because +he had nearly lost his life in carrying it off from Samos, as has been +told elsewhere. + +As Margaret said nothing, he began to write the message. She really +had not had any idea of testing his willingness to part with the thing +he valued most, at her slightest word, and was taken by surprise; +but it was impossible not to be pleased when she saw that he was in +earnest. In her present mood, too, it restored her sense of power, +which had been rudely shaken by the attitude of the public on the +previous evening. + +It took some minutes to compose the message. + +'It's only to save time by having the box ready,' he said, as he rose +with the bit of paper in his hand. 'Of course I shall see the statue +packed myself and come over with it.' + +She saw his face clearly in the light as he came towards her, and +there was no mistaking the unaffected satisfaction it expressed. He +held out the telegram for her to read, but she would not take it, and +she looked up quietly and earnestly as he stood beside her. + +'Do you remember Delorges?' she asked. 'How the lady tossed her glove +amongst the lions and bade him fetch it, if he loved her, and how he +went in and got it--and then threw it in her face? I feel like her.' + +Logotheti looked at her blankly. + +'Do you mean to say you won't take the statue?' he asked in a +disappointed tone. + +'No, indeed! I was taken by surprise when you went to the +writing-table.' + +'You did not believe I was in earnest? Don't you see that I'm +disappointed now?' His voice changed a little. 'Don't you understand +that if the world were mine I should want to give it all to you?' + +'And don't you understand that the wish may be quite as much to me as +the deed? That sounds commonplace, I know. I would say it better if I +could.' + +She folded her hands on her knee, and looked at them thoughtfully +while he sat down beside her. + +'You say it well enough,' he answered after a little pause. 'The +trouble lies there. The wish is all you will ever take. I have +submitted to that; but if you ever change your mind, please remember +that I have not changed mine. For two years I've done everything I can +to make you marry me whether you would or not, and you've forgiven me +for trying to carry you off against your will, and for several other +things, but you are no nearer to caring for me ever so little than you +were the first day we met. You "like" me! That's the worst of it!' + +'I'm not so sure of that,' Margaret answered, raising her eyes for a +moment and then looking at her hands again. + +He turned his head slowly, but there was a startled look in his eyes. + +'Do you feel as if you could hate me a little, for a change?' he +asked. + +'No.' + +'There's only one other thing,' he said in a low voice. + +'Perhaps,' Margaret answered, in an even lower tone than his. 'I'm not +quite sure to-day.' + +Logotheti had known her long, and he now resisted the strong impulse +to reach out and take the hand she would surely have let him hold in +his for a moment. She was not disappointed because he neither +spoke nor moved, nor took any sudden advantage of her rather timid +admission, for his silence made her trust him more than any passionate +speech or impulsive action could have done. + +'I daresay I am wrong to tell you even that much,' she went on +presently, 'but I do so want to play fair. I've always despised women +who cannot make up their minds whether they care for a man or not. But +you have found out my secret; I am two people in one, and there +are days when each makes the other dreadfully uncomfortable! You +understand.' + +'And it's the Cordova that neither likes me nor hates me just at this +moment,' suggested Logotheti. 'Margaret Donne sometimes hates me and +sometimes likes me, and on some days she can be quite indifferent too! +Is that it?' + +'Yes. That's it.' + +'The only question is, which of you is to be mistress of the house,' +said Logotheti, smiling, 'and whether it is to be always the same one, +or if there is to be a perpetual hide-and-seek between them!' + +'Box and Cox,' suggested Margaret, glad of the chance to say something +frivolous just then. + +'I should say Hera and Aphrodite,' answered the Greek, 'if it did not +look like comparing myself to Adonis!' + +'It sounds better than Box and Cox, but I have forgotten my +mythology.' + +'Hera and Aphrodite agreed that each should keep Adonis one-third of +the year, and that he should have the odd four months to himself. Now +that you are the Cordova, if you could come to some such understanding +about me with Miss Donne, it would be very satisfactory. But I am +afraid Margaret does not want even a third of me!' + +Logotheti felt that it was rather ponderous fun, but he was in such an +anxious state that his usually ready wit did not serve him very well. +For the first time since he had known her, Margaret had confessed that +she might possibly fall in love with him; and after what had passed +between them in former days, he knew that the smallest mistake on his +part would now be fatal to the realisation of such a possibility. He +was not afraid of being dull, or of boring her, but he was afraid of +wakening against him the wary watchfulness of that side of her nature +which he called Margaret Donne, as distinguished from Cordova, of the +'English-girl' side, of the potential old maid that is dormant in +every young northern woman until the day she marries, and wakes to +torment her like a biblical devil if she does not. There is no miser +like a reformed spendthrift, and no ascetic will go to such extremes +of self-mortification as a converted libertine; in the same way, there +are no such portentously virginal old maids as those who might have +been the most womanly wives; the opposite is certainly true also, for +the variety 'Hemiparthenos,' studied after nature by Marcel Prévost, +generally makes an utter failure of matrimony, and becomes, in fact, +little better than a half-wife. + +Logotheti took it as a good sign that Margaret laughed at what he +said. He was in the rather absurd position of wishing to leave her +while she was in her present humour, lest anything should disturb it +and destroy his advantage; yet, after what had just passed, it +was next to impossible not to talk of her, or of himself. He had +exceptionally good nerves, he was generally cool to a fault, and he +had the daring that makes great financiers. But what looked like the +most important crisis of his life had presented itself unexpectedly +within a few minutes; a success which he reckoned far beyond all +other successes was almost within his grasp, and he felt that he was +unprepared. For the first time he did not know what to say to a woman. + +Happily for him, Margaret helped him unexpectedly. + +'I shall have to see Lady Maud,' she said, 'and you must either go +when she comes or leave with her. I'm sorry, but you understand, don't +you?' + +'Of course. I'll go a moment after she comes. When am I to see you +again? To-morrow? You are not to sing again this week, are you?' + +'No,' the Primadonna answered vaguely, 'I believe not.' + +She was thinking of something else. She was wondering whether +Logotheti would wish her to give up the stage, if by any possibility +she ever married him, and her thoughts led her on quickly to the +consideration of what that would mean, and to asking herself what sort +of sacrifice it would really mean to her. For the recollection of the +_Elisir d'Amore_ awoke and began to rankle again just then. + +Logotheti did not press her for an answer, but watched her cautiously +while her eyes were turned away from him. At that moment he felt like +a tamer who had just succeeded in making a tiger give its paw for the +first time, and has not the smallest idea whether the creature will do +it again or bite off his head. + +She, on her side, being at the moment altogether the artist, was +thinking that it would be pleasant to enjoy a few more triumphs, to +make the tour of Europe with a company of her own--which is always the +primadonna's dream as it is the actress's--and to leave the stage +at twenty-five in a blaze of glory, rather than to risk one more +performance of the opera she now hated. She knew quite well that +it was not at all an impossibility. To please her, and with the +expectation of marrying her in six months, Logotheti would cheerfully +pay the large forfeit that would be due to Schreiermeyer if she broke +her London engagement at the height of the season, and the Greek +financier would produce all the ready money necessary for getting +together an opera company. The rest would be child's play, she was +sure, and she would make a triumphant progress through the capitals of +Europe which should be remembered for half a century. After that, said +the Primadonna to herself, she would repay her friend all the money he +had lent her, and would then decide at her leisure whether she would +marry him or not. For one moment her cynicism would have surprised +even Schreiermeyer; the next, the Primadonna herself was ashamed of +it, quite independently of what her better self might have thought. + +Besides, it was certainly not for his money that her old inclination +for Logotheti had begun to grow again. She could say so, truly enough, +and when she felt sure of it she turned her eyes to see his face. + +She did not admire him for his looks, either. So far as appearance was +concerned, she preferred Lushington, with his smooth hair and fair +complexion. Logotheti was a handsome and showy Oriental, that was all, +and she knew instinctively that the type must be common in the East. +What attracted her was probably his daring masculineness, which +contrasted so strongly with Lushington's quiet and rather bashful +manliness. The Englishman would die for a cause and make no noise +about it, which would be heroic; but the Greek would run away with a +woman he loved, at the risk of breaking his neck, which was romantic +in the extreme. It is not easy to be a romantic character in the eyes +of a lady who lives on the stage, and by it, and constantly gives +utterance to the most dramatic sentiments at a pitch an octave higher +than any one else; but Logotheti had succeeded. There never was a +woman yet to whom that sort of thing has not appealed once; for one +moment she has felt everything whirling with her as if the centre of +gravity had gone mad, and the Ten Commandments might drop out of the +solid family Bible and get lost. That recollection is probably the +only secret of a virtuously colourless existence, but she hides it, +like a treasure or a crime, until she is an old and widowed woman; +and one day, at last, she tells her grown-up granddaughter, with a +far-away smile, that there was once a man whose eyes and voice stirred +her strongly, and for whom she might have quite lost her head. But she +never saw him again, and that is the end of the little story; and the +tall girl in her first season thinks it rather dull. + +But it was not likely that the chronicle of Cordova's youth should +come to such an abrupt conclusion. The man who moved her now had been +near her too often, the sound of his voice was too easily recalled, +and, since his rival's defection, he was too necessary to her; and, +besides, he was as obstinate as Christopher Columbus. + +'Let me see,' she said thoughtfully. 'There's a rehearsal to-morrow +morning. That means a late luncheon. Come at two o'clock, and if it's +fine we can go for a little walk. Will you?' + +'Of course. Thank you.' + +He had hardly spoken the words when a servant opened the door and Lady +Maud came in. She had not dropped the opera cloak she wore over her +black velvet gown; she was rather pale, and the look in her eyes told +that something was wrong, but her serenity did not seem otherwise +affected. She kissed Margaret and gave her hand to Logotheti. + +'We dined early to go to the play,' she said, 'and as there's a +curtain-raiser, I thought I might as well take a hansom and join them +later.' + +She seated herself beside Margaret on one of those little sofas that +are measured to hold two women when the fashions are moderate, and are +wide enough for a woman and one man, whatever happens. Indeed they +must be, since otherwise no one would tolerate them in a drawing-room. +When two women instal themselves in one, and a man is present, it +means that he is to go away, because they are either going to make +confidences or are going to fight. + +Logotheti thought it would be simpler and more tactful to go at once, +since Lady Maud was in a hurry, having stopped on her way to the play, +presumably in the hope of seeing Margaret alone. To his surprise she +asked him to stay; but as he thought she might be doing this out of +mere civility he said he had an engagement. + +'Will it keep for ten minutes?' asked Lady Maud gravely. + +'Engagements of that sort are very convenient. They will keep any +length of time.' + +Logotheti sat down again, smiling, but he wondered what Lady Maud was +going to say, and why she wished him to remain. + +'It will save a note,' she said, by way of explanation. 'My father +and I want you to come to Craythew for the week-end after this,' she +continued, turning to Margaret. 'We are asking several people, so it +won't be too awfully dull, I hope. Will you come?' + +'With pleasure,' answered the singer. + +'And you too?' Lady Maud looked at Logotheti. + +'Delighted--most kind of you,' he replied, somewhat surprised by the +invitation, for he had never met Lord and Lady Creedmore. 'May I take +you down in my motor?' he spoke to Margaret. 'I think I can do it +under four hours. I'm my own chauffeur, you know.' + +'Yes, I know,' Margaret answered with a rather malicious smile. 'No, +thank you!' + +'Does he often kill?' inquired Lady Maud coolly. + +'I should be more afraid of a runaway,' Margaret said. + +'Get that new German brake,' suggested Lady Maud, not understanding at +all. 'It's quite the best I've seen. Come on Friday, if you can. You +don't mind meeting Mr. Van Torp, do you? He is our neighbour, you +remember.' + +The question was addressed to Margaret, who made a slight movement and +unconsciously glanced at Logotheti before she answered. + +'Not at all,' she said. + +'There's a reason for asking him when there are other people. I'm +not divorced after all--you had not heard? It will be in the _Times_ +to-morrow morning. The Patriarch of Constantinople turns out to be a +very sensible sort of person.' + +'He's my uncle,' observed Logotheti. + +'Is he? But that wouldn't account for it, would it? He refused to +believe what my husband called the evidence, and dismissed the suit. +As the trouble was all about Mr. Van Torp my father wants people to +see him at Craythew. That's the story in a nutshell, and if any of you +like me you'll be nice to him.' + +She leaned back in her corner of the little sofa and looked first at +one and then at the other in an inquiring way, but as if she were +fairly sure of the answer. + +'Every one likes you,' said Logotheti quietly, 'and every one will be +nice to him.' + +'Of course,' chimed in Margaret. + +She could say nothing else, though her intense dislike of the American +millionaire almost destroyed the anticipated pleasure of her visit to +Derbyshire. + +'I thought it just as well to explain,' said Lady Maud. + +She was still pale, and in spite of her perfect outward coolness and +self-reliance her eyes would have betrayed her anxiety if she had not +managed them with the unconscious skill of a woman of the world who +has something very important to hide. Logotheti broke the short +silence that followed her last speech. + +'I think you ought to know something I have been telling Miss Donne,' +he said simply. 'I've found the man who wrote all those articles, and +I've locked him up.' + +Lady Maud leaned forward so suddenly that her loosened opera-cloak +slipped down behind her, leaving her neck and shoulders bare. Her eyes +were wide open in her surprise, the pupils very dark. + +'Where?' she asked breathlessly. 'Where is he? In prison?' + +'In a more convenient and accessible place,' answered the Greek. + +He had known Lady Maud some time, but he had never seen her in the +least disturbed, or surprised, or otherwise moved by anything. It was +true that he had only met her in society. + +He told the story of Mr. Feist, as Margaret had heard it during +dinner, and Lady Maud did not move, even to lean back in her seat +again, till he had finished. She scarcely seemed to breathe, and +Logotheti felt her steady gaze on him, and would have sworn that +through all those minutes she did not even wink. When he ceased +speaking she drew a long breath and sank back to her former attitude; +but he saw that her white neck heaved suddenly again and again, and +her delicate nostrils quivered once or twice. For a little while there +was silence in the room. Then Lady Maud rose to go. + +'I must be going too,' said Logotheti. + +Margaret was a little sorry that she had given him such precise +instructions, but did not contradict herself by asking him to stay +longer. She promised Lady Maud again to be at Craythew on Friday of +the next week if possible, and certainly on Saturday, and Lady Maud +and Logotheti went out together. + +'Get in with me,' she said quietly, as he helped her into her hansom. + +He obeyed, and as he sat down she told the cabman to take her to the +Haymarket Theatre. Logotheti expected her to speak, for he was quite +sure that she had not taken him with her without a purpose; the more +so, as she had not even asked him where he was going. + +Three or four minutes passed before he heard her voice asking him a +question, very low, as if she feared to be overheard. + +'Is there any way of making that man tell the truth against his will? +You have lived in the East, and you must know about such things.' + +Logotheti turned his almond-shaped eyes slowly towards her, but he +could not see her face well, for it was not very light in the broad +West End street. She was white; that was all he could make out. But he +understood what she meant. + +'There is a way,' he answered slowly and almost sternly. 'Why do you +ask?' + +'Mr. Van Torp is going to be accused of murder. That man knows who did +it. Will you help me?' + +It seemed an age before the answer to her whispered question came. + +'Yes.' + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +When Logotheti and his doctor had taken Mr. Feist away from the hotel, +to the no small satisfaction of the management, they had left precise +instructions for forwarding the young man's letters and for informing +his friends, if any appeared, as to his whereabouts. But Logotheti had +not given his own name. + +Sir Jasper Threlfall had chosen for their patient a private +establishment in Ealing, owned and managed by a friend of his, a place +for the treatment of morphia mania, opium-eating, and alcoholism. + +To all intents and purposes, as Logotheti had told Margaret, +Charles Feist might as well have been in gaol. Every one knows how +indispensable it is that persons who consent to be cured of drinking +or taking opium, or whom it is attempted to cure, should be absolutely +isolated, if only to prevent weak and pitying friends from yielding +to their heart-rending entreaties for the favourite drug and bringing +them 'just a little'; for their eloquence is often extraordinary, and +their ingenuity in obtaining what they want is amazing. + +So Mr. Feist was shut up in a pleasant room provided with double doors +and two strongly barred windows that overlooked a pretty garden, +beyond which there was a high brick wall half covered by a bright +creeper, then just beginning to flower. The walls, the doors, the +ceiling, and the floor were sound-proof, and the garden could not in +any way be reached without passing through the house. + +As only male patients were received, the nurses and attendants were +all men; for the treatment needed more firmness and sometimes strength +than gentleness. It was uncompromising, as English methods often are. +Except where life was actually in danger, there was no drink and no +opium for anybody; when absolutely necessary the resident doctor +gave the patient hypodermics or something which he called by an +unpronounceable name, lest the sufferer should afterwards try to buy +it; he smilingly described it as a new vegetable poison, and in fact +it was nothing but dionine, a preparation of opium that differs but +little from ordinary morphia. + +Now Sir Jasper Threlfall was a very great doctor indeed, and his +name commanded respect in London at large and inspired awe in the +hospitals. Even the profession admitted reluctantly that he did +not kill more patients than he cured, which is something for one +fashionable doctor to say of another; for the regular answer to any +inquiry about a rival practitioner is a smile--'a smile more dreadful +than his own dreadful frown'--an indescribable smile, a meaning smile, +a smile that is a libel in itself. + +It had been an act of humanity to take the young man into medical +custody, as it were, and it had been more or less necessary for the +safety of the public, for Logotheti and the doctor had found him in a +really dangerous state, as was amply proved by his attempting to cut +his own throat and then to shoot Logotheti himself. Sir Jasper said he +had nothing especial the matter with him except drink, that when +his nerves had recovered their normal tone his real character would +appear, so that it would then be possible to judge more or less +whether he had will enough to control himself in future. Logotheti +agreed, but it occurred to him that one need not be knighted, and +write a dozen or more mysterious capital letters after one's name, and +live in Harley Street, in order to reach such a simple conclusion; and +as Logotheti was a millionaire, and liked his doctor for his own sake +rather than for his skill, he told him this, and they both laughed +heartily. Almost all doctors, except those in French plays, have some +sense of humour. + +On the third day Isidore Bamberger came to the door of the private +hospital and asked to see Mr. Feist. Not having heard from him, he had +been to the hotel and had there obtained the address. The doorkeeper +was a quiet man who had lost a leg in South Africa, after having been +otherwise severely wounded five times in previous engagements. Mr. +Bamberger, he said, could not see his friend yet. A part of the cure +consisted in complete isolation from friends during the first stages +of the treatment. Sir Jasper Threlfall had been to see Mr. Feist that +morning. He had been twice already. Dr. Bream, the resident physician, +gave the doorkeeper a bulletin every morning at ten for the benefit of +each patient's friend; the notes were written on a card which the man +held in his hand. + +At the great man's name, Mr. Bamberger became thoughtful. A smart +brougham drove up just then and a tall woman, who wore a thick veil, +got out and entered the vestibule where Bamberger was standing by the +open door. The doorkeeper evidently knew her, for he glanced at his +notes and spoke without being questioned. + +'The young gentleman is doing well this week, my lady,' he said. +'Sleeps from three to four hours at a time. Is less excited. Appetite +improving.' + +'Can I see him?' asked a sad and gentle voice through the veil. + +'Not yet, my lady.' + +She sighed as she turned to go out, and Mr. Bamberger thought it +was one of the saddest sighs he had ever heard. He was rather a +soft-hearted man. + +'Is it her son?' he asked, in a respectful sort of way. + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Drink?' inquired Mr. Bamberger in the same tone. + +'Not allowed to give any information except to family or friends, +sir,' answered the man. 'Rule of the house, sir. Very strict.' + +'Quite right, of course. Excuse me for asking. But I must see Mr. +Feist, unless he's out of his mind. It's very important.' + +'Dr. Bream sees visitors himself from ten to twelve, sir, after he's +been his rounds to the patients' rooms. You'll have to get permission +from him.' + +'But it's like a prison!' exclaimed Mr. Bamberger. + +'Yes, sir,' answered the old soldier imperturbably. 'It's just like a +prison. It's meant to be.' + +It was evidently impossible to get anything more out of the man, who +did not pay the slightest attention to the cheerful little noise Mr. +Bamberger made by jingling sovereigns in his waistcoat pocket; there +was nothing to do but to go away, and Mr. Bamberger went out very much +annoyed and perplexed. + +He knew Van Torp well, or believed that he did, and it was like +the man whose genius had created the Nickel Trust to have boldly +sequestrated his enemy's chief instrument, and in such a clever way +as to make it probable that Mr. Feist might be kept in confinement +as long as his captor chose. Doubtless such a high-handed act would +ultimately go against the latter when on his trial, but in the +meantime the chief witness was locked up and could not get out. Sir +Jasper Threlfall would state that his patient was in such a state of +health, owing to the abuse of alcohol, that it was not safe to set +him at liberty, and that in his present condition his mind was so +unsettled by drink that he could not be regarded as a sane witness; +and if Sir Jasper Threlfall said that, it would not be easy to get +Charles Feist out of Dr. Bream's establishment in less than three +months. + +Mr. Bamberger was obliged to admit that his partner, chief, and enemy +had stolen a clever march on him. Being of a practical turn of mind, +however, and not hampered by much faith in mankind, even in the most +eminent, who write the mysterious capital letters after their names, +he wondered to what extent Van Torp owned Sir Jasper, and he went to +see him on pretence of asking advice about his liver. + +The great man gave him two guineas' worth of thumping, auscultating, +and poking in the ribs, and told him rather disagreeably that he +was as healthy as a young crocodile, and had a somewhat similar +constitution. A partner of Mr. Van Torp, the American financier? +Indeed! Sir Jasper had heard the name but had never seen the +millionaire, and asked politely whether he sometimes came to England. +It is not untruthful to ask a question to which one knows the answer. +Mr. Bamberger himself, for instance, who knew that he was perfectly +well, was just going to put down two guineas for having been told so, +in answer to a question. + +'I believe you are treating Mr. Feist,' he said, going more directly +to the point. + +'Mr. Feist?' repeated the great authority vaguely. + +'Yes. Mr. Charles Feist. He's at Dr. Bream's private hospital in West +Kensington.' + +'Ah, yes,' said Sir Jasper. 'Dr. Bream is treating him. He's not a +patient of mine.' + +'I thought I'd ask you what his chances are,' observed Isidore +Bamberger, fixing his sharp eyes on the famous doctor's face. 'He used +to be my private secretary.' + +He might just as well have examined the back of the doctor's head. + +'He's not a patient of mine,' Sir Jasper said. 'I'm only one of the +visiting doctors at Dr. Bream's establishment. I don't go there unless +he sends for me, and I keep no notes of his cases. You will have to +ask him. If I am not mistaken his hours are from ten to twelve. +And now'--Sir Jasper rose--'as I can only congratulate you on your +splendid health--no, I really cannot prescribe anything--literally +nothing--' + +Isidore Bamberger had left three patients in the waiting-room and was +obliged to go away, as his 'splendid health' did not afford him the +slightest pretext for asking more questions. He deposited his two +guineas on the mantelpiece neatly wrapped in a bit of note-paper, +while Sir Jasper examined the handle of the door with a stony gaze, +and he said 'good morning' as he went out. + +'Good morning,' answered Sir Jasper, and as Mr. Bamberger crossed the +threshold the single clanging stroke of the doctor's bell was heard, +summoning the next patient. + +The American man of business was puzzled, for he was a good judge of +humanity, and was sure that when the Englishman said that he had never +seen Van Torp he was telling the literal truth. Mr. Bamberger was +convinced that there had been some agreement between them to make it +impossible for any one to see Feist. He knew the latter well, however, +and had great confidence in his remarkable power of holding his +tongue, even when under the influence of drink. + +When Tiberius had to choose between two men equally well fitted for a +post of importance, he had them both to supper, and chose the one who +was least affected by wine, not at all for the sake of seeing the +match, but on the excellent principle that in an age when heavy +drinking was the rule the man who could swallow the largest quantity +without becoming talkative was the one to be best trusted with a +secret; and the fact that Tiberius himself had the strongest head in +the Empire made him a good judge. + +Bamberger, on the same principle, believed that Charles Feist would +hold his tongue, and he also felt tolerably sure that the former +secretary had no compromising papers in his possession, for his memory +had always been extraordinary. Feist had formerly been able to carry +in his mind a number of letters which Bamberger 'talked off' to him +consecutively without even using shorthand, and could type them +afterwards with unfailing accuracy. It was therefore scarcely likely +that he kept notes of the articles he wrote about Van Torp. + +But his employer did not know that Feist's memory was failing from +drink, and that he no longer trusted his marvellous faculty. Van Torp +had sequestrated him and shut him up, Bamberger believed; but neither +Van Torp nor any one else would get anything out of him. + +And if any one made him talk, what great harm would be done, after +all? It was not to be supposed that such a man as Isidore Bamberger +had trusted only to his own keenness in collecting evidence, or to a +few pencilled notes as a substitute for the principal witness himself, +when an accident might happen at any moment to a man who led such a +life. The case for the prosecution had been quietly prepared during +several months past, and the evidence that was to send Rufus Van Torp +to execution, or to an asylum for the Criminal Insane for life, was in +the safe of Isidore Bamberger's lawyer in New York, unless, at that +very moment, it was already in the hands of the Public Prosecutor. A +couple of cables would do the rest at any time, and in a few hours. +In murder cases, the extradition treaty works as smoothly as the +telegraph itself. The American authorities would apply to the English +Home Secretary, the order would go to Scotland Yard, and Van Torp +would be arrested immediately and taken home by the first steamer, to +be tried in New York. + +Six months earlier he might have pleaded insanity with a possible +chance, but in the present state of feeling the plea would hardly be +admitted. A man who has been held up to public execration in the press +for weeks, and whom no one attempts to defend, is in a bad case if a +well-grounded accusation of murder is brought against him at such a +moment; and Isidore Bamberger firmly believed in the truth of the +charge and in the validity of the evidence. + +He consoled himself with these considerations, and with the reflection +that Feist was actually safer where he was, and less liable to +accident than if he were at large. Mr. Bamberger walked slowly down +Harley Street to Cavendish Square, with his head low between his +shoulders, his hat far back on his head, his eyes on the pavement, and +the shiny toes of his patent leather boots turned well out. His bowed +legs were encased in loose black trousers, and had as many angles as +the forepaws of a Dachshund or a Dandie Dinmont. The peculiarities of +his ungainly gait and figure were even more apparent than usual, and +as he walked he swung his long arms, that ended in large black gloves +which looked as if they were stuffed with sawdust. + +Yet there was something in his face that set him far beyond and above +ridicule, and the passers-by saw it and wondered gravely who and +what this man in black might be, and what great misfortune and still +greater passion had moulded the tragic mark upon his features; and +none of those who looked at him glanced at his heavy, ill-made figure, +or noticed his clumsy walk, or realised that he was most evidently +a typical German Jew, who perhaps kept an antiquity shop in Wardour +Street, and had put on his best coat to call on a rich collector in +the West End. + +Those who saw him only saw his face and went on, feeling that they had +passed near something greater and sadder and stronger than anything in +their own lives could ever be. + +But he went on his way, unconscious of the men and women he met, and +not thinking where he went, crossing Oxford Street and then turning +down Regent Street and following it to Piccadilly and the Haymarket. +Just before he reached the theatre, he slackened his pace and looked +about him, as if he were waking up; and there, in the cross street, +just behind the theatre, he saw a telegraph office. + +He entered, pushed his hat still a little farther back, and wrote a +cable message. It was as short as it could be, for it consisted of one +word only besides the address, and that one word had only two letters: + +'Go.' + +That was all, and there was nothing mysterious about the syllable, +for almost any one would understand that it was used as in starting +a footrace, and meant, 'Begin operations at once!' It was the word +agreed upon between Isidore Bamberger and his lawyer. The latter had +been allowed all the latitude required in such a case, for he had +instructions to lay the evidence before the District Attorney-General +without delay, if anything happened to make immediate action seem +advisable. In any event, he was to do so on receiving the message +which had now been sent. + +The evidence consisted, in the first place, of certain irrefutable +proofs that Miss Bamberger had not died from shock, but had been +killed by a thin and extremely sharp instrument with which she had +been stabbed in the back. Isidore Bamberger's own doctor had satisfied +himself of this, and had signed his statement under oath, and +Bamberger had instantly thought of a certain thin steel letter-opener +which Van Torp always had in his pocket. + +Next came the affidavit of Paul Griggs. The witness knew the Opera +House well. Had been in the stalls on the night in question. Had not +moved from his seat till the performance was over, and had been one of +the last to get out into the corridor. There was a small door in the +corridor on the south side which was generally shut. It opened upon a +passage communicating with the part of the building that is let for +business offices. Witness's attention had been attracted by part of +a red silk dress which lay on the floor outside the door, the latter +being ajar. Suspecting an accident, witness opened door, found Miss +Bamberger, and carried her to manager's room not far off. On reaching +home had found stains of blood on his hands. Had said nothing of this, +because he had seen notice of the lady's death from shock in next +morning's paper. Was nevertheless convinced that blood must have been +on her dress. + +The murder was therefore proved. But the victim had not been robbed +of her jewellery, which demonstrated that, if the crime had not been +committed by a lunatic, the motive for it must have been personal. + +With regard to identity of the murderer, Charles Feist deposed that on +the night in question he had entered the Opera late, having only an +admission to the standing room, that he was close to one of the doors +when the explosion took place and had been one of the first to leave +the house. The emergency lights in the corridors were on a separate +circuit, but had been also momentarily extinguished. They were up +again before those in the house. The crowd had at once become jammed +in the doorways, so that people got out much more slowly than might +have been expected. Many actually fell in the exits and were trampled +on. Then Madame Cordova had begun to sing in the dark, and the panic +had ceased in a few seconds. The witness did not think that more than +three hundred people altogether had got out through the several doors. +He himself had at once made for the main entrance. A few persons +rushed past him in the dark, descending the stairs from the boxes. One +or two fell on the steps. Just as the emergency lights went up again, +witness saw a young lady in a red silk dress fall, but did not see her +face distinctly; he was certain that she had a short string of pearls +round her throat. They gleamed in the light as she fell. She was +instantly lifted to her feet by Mr. Rufus Van Torp, who must have been +following her closely. She seemed to have hurt herself a little, +and he almost carried her down the corridor in the direction of +the carriage lobby on the Thirty-Eighth Street side. The two then +disappeared through a door. The witness would swear to the door, and +he described its position accurately. It seemed to have been left +ajar, but there was no light on the other side of it. The witness did +not know where the door led to. He had often wondered. It was not +for the use of the public. He frequently went to the Opera and was +perfectly familiar with the corridors. It was behind this door that +Paul Griggs had found Miss Bamberger. Questioned as to a possible +motive for the murder, the witness stated that Rufus Van Torp was +known to have shown homicidal tendencies, though otherwise perfectly +sane. In his early youth he had lived four years on a cattle-ranch as +a cow-puncher, and had undoubtedly killed two men during that time. +Witness had been private secretary to his partner, Mr. Isidore +Bamberger, and while so employed Mr. Van Torp had fired a revolver at +him in his private office in a fit of passion about a message witness +was sent to deliver. Two clerks in a neighbouring room had heard the +shot. Believing Mr. Van Torp to be mad, witness had said nothing at +the time, but had left Mr. Bamberger soon afterwards. It was always +said that, several years ago, on board of his steam yacht, Mr. Van +Torp had once violently pulled a friend who was on board out of his +berth at two in the morning, and had dragged him on deck, saying that +he must throw him overboard and drown him, as the only way of saving +his soul. The watch on deck had had great difficulty in overpowering +Mr. Van Torp, who was very strong. With regard to the late Miss +Bamberger the witness thought that Mr. Van Torp had killed her to get +rid of her, because she was in possession of facts that would ruin him +if they were known and because she had threatened to reveal them to +her father. If she had done so, Van Torp would have been completely in +his partner's power. Mr. Bamberger could have made a beggar of him as +the only alternative to penal servitude. Questioned as to the nature +of this information, witness said that it concerned the explosion, +which had been planned by Van Torp for his own purposes. Either in a +moment of expansion, under the influence of the drug he was in the +habit of taking, or else in real anxiety for her safety, he had told +Miss Bamberger that the explosion would take place, warning her to +remain in her home, which was situated on the Riverside Drive, very +far from the scene of the disaster. She had undoubtedly been so +horrified that she had thereupon insisted upon dissolving her +engagement to marry him, and had threatened to inform her father of +the horrible plot. She had never really wished to marry Van Torp, but +had accepted him in deference to her father's wishes. He was known +to be devoting himself at that very time to a well-known primadonna +engaged at the Metropolitan Opera, and Miss Bamberger probably had +some suspicion of this. Witness said the motive seemed sufficient, +considering that the accused had already twice taken human life. His +choice lay between killing her and falling into the power of his +partner. He had injured Mr. Bamberger, as was well known, and Mr. +Bamberger was a resentful man. + +The latter part of Charles Feist's deposition was certainly more in +the nature of an argument than of evidence pure and simple, and it +might not be admitted in court; but Isidore Bamberger had instructed +his lawyer, and the Public Prosecutor would say it all, and more also, +and much better; and public opinion was roused all over the United +States against the Nickel Tyrant, as Van Torp was now called. + +In support of the main point there was a short note to Miss Bamberger +in Van Torp's handwriting, which had afterwards been found on her +dressing-table. It must have arrived before she had gone out to +dinner. It contained a final and urgent entreaty that she would not go +to the Opera, nor leave the house that evening, and was signed with +Van Torp's initials only, but no one who knew his handwriting would be +likely to doubt that the note was genuine. + +There were some other scattered pieces of evidence which fitted the +rest very well. Mr. Van Torp had not been seen at his own house, +nor in any club, nor down town, after he had gone out on Wednesday +afternoon, until the following Friday, when he had returned to make +his final arrangements for sailing the next morning. Bamberger had +employed a first-rate detective, but only one, to find out all that +could be discovered about Van Torp's movements. The millionaire had +been at the house on Riverside Drive early in the afternoon to see +Miss Bamberger, as he had told Margaret on board the steamer, but +Bamberger had not seen his daughter after that till she was brought +home dead, for he had been detained by an important meeting at which +he presided, and knowing that she was dining out to go to the theatre +he had telephoned that he would dine at his club. He himself had tried +to telephone to Van Torp later in the evening but had not been able to +find him, and had not seen him till Friday. + +This was the substance of the evidence which Bamberger's lawyer and +the detective would lay before the District Attorney-General on +receiving the cable. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +When Lady Maud stopped at Margaret's house on her way to the theatre +she had been dining at Princes' with a small party of people, amongst +whom Paul Griggs had found himself, and as there was no formality to +hinder her from choosing her own place she had sat down next to him. +The table was large and round, the sixty or seventy other diners in +the room made a certain amount of noise, so that it was easy to talk +in undertones while the conversation of the others was general. + +The veteran man of letters was an old acquaintance of Lady Maud's; and +as she made no secret of her friendship with Rufus Van Torp, it was +not surprising that Griggs should warn her of the latter's danger. As +he had expected when he left New York, he had received a visit from a +'high-class' detective, who came to find out what he knew about Miss +Bamberger's death. This is a bad world, as we all know, and it is made +so by a good many varieties of bad people. As Mr. Van Torp had said to +Logotheti, 'different kinds of cats have different kinds of ways,' and +the various classes of criminals are pursued by various classes of +detectives. Many are ex-policemen, and make up the pack that hunts +the well-dressed lady shop-lifter, the gentle pickpocket, the agile +burglar, the Paris Apache, and the common murderer of the Bill Sykes +type; they are good dogs in their way, if you do not press them, +though they are rather apt to give tongue. But when they are not +ex-policemen, they are always ex-something else, since there is no +college for detectives, and it is not probable that any young man ever +deliberately began life with the intention of becoming one. Edgar Poe +invented the amateur detective, and modern writers have developed him +till he is a familiar and always striking figure in fiction and on the +stage. Whether he really exists or not does not matter. I have heard a +great living painter ask the question: What has art to do with truth? +But as a matter of fact Paul Griggs, who had seen a vast deal, had +never met an amateur detective; and my own impression is that if one +existed he would instantly turn himself into a professional because it +would be so very profitable. + +The one who called on Griggs in his lodgings wrote 'barrister-at-law' +after his name, and had the right to do so. He had languished in +chambers, briefless and half starving, either because he had no talent +for the bar, or because he had failed to marry a solicitor's daughter. +He himself was inclined to attribute his want of success to the +latter cause. But he had not wasted his time, though he was more than +metaphorically threadbare, and his waist would have made a sensation +at a staymaker's. He had watched and pondered on many curious cases +for years; and one day, when a 'high-class' criminal had baffled the +police and had well-nigh confounded the Attorney-General and proved +himself a saint, the starving barrister had gone quietly to work in +his own way, had discovered the truth, had taken his information to +the prosecution, had been the means of sending the high-class one to +penal servitude, and had covered himself with glory; since when he had +grown sleek and well-liking, if not rich, as a professional detective. + +Griggs had been perfectly frank, and had told without hesitation all +he could remember of the circumstances. In answer to further questions +he said he knew Mr. Van Torp tolerably well, and had not seen him in +the Opera House on the evening of the murder. He did not know whether +the financier's character was violent. If it was, he had never seen +any notable manifestation of temper. Did he know that Mr. Van Torp had +once lived on a ranch, and had killed two men in a shooting +affray? Yes, he had heard so, but the shooting might have been in +self-defence. Did he know anything about the blowing up of the works +of which Van Torp had been accused in the papers? Nothing more than +the public knew. Or anything about the circumstances of Van Torp's +engagement to Miss Bamberger? Nothing whatever. Would he read the +statement and sign his name to it? He would, and he did. + +Griggs thought the young man acted more like an ordinary lawyer than a +detective, and said so with a smile. + +'Oh no,' was the quiet answer. 'In my business it's quite as important +to recognise honesty as it is to detect fraud. That's all.' + +For his own part the man of letters did not care a straw whether Van +Torp had committed the murder or not, but he thought it very unlikely. +On general principles, he thought the law usually found out the truth +in the end, and he was ready to do what he could to help it. He held +his tongue, and told no one about the detective's visit, because he +had no intimate friend in England; partly, too, because he wished to +keep his name out of what was now called 'the Van Torp scandal.' + +He would never have alluded to the matter if he had not accidentally +found himself next to Lady Maud at dinner. She had always liked him +and trusted him, and he liked her and her father. On that evening she +spoke of Van Torp within the first ten minutes, and expressed her +honest indignation at the general attack made on 'the kindest man that +ever lived.' Then Griggs felt that she had a sort of right to know +what was being done to bring against her friend an accusation of +murder, for he believed Van Torp innocent, and was sure that Lady +Maud would warn him; but it was for her sake only that Griggs spoke, +because he pitied her. + +She took it more calmly than he had expected, but she grew a little +paler, and that look came into her eyes which Margaret and Logotheti +saw there an hour afterwards; and presently she asked Griggs if he too +would join the week-end party at Craythew, telling him that Van Torp +would be there. Griggs accepted, after a moment's hesitation. + +She was not quite sure why she had so frankly appealed to Logotheti +for help when they left Margaret's house together, but she was not +disappointed in his answer. He was 'exotic,' as she had said of him; +he was hopelessly in love with Cordova, who disliked Van Torp, and he +could not be expected to take much trouble for any other woman; she +had not the very slightest claim on him. Yet she had asked him to help +her in a way which might be anything but lawful, even supposing that +it did not involve positive cruelty. + +For she had not been married to Leven four years without learning +something of Asiatic practices, and she knew that there were more +means of making a man tell a secret than by persuasion or wily +cross-examination. It was all very well to keep within the bounds of +the law and civilisation, but where the whole existence of her best +friend was at stake, Lady Maud was much too simple, primitive, and +feminine to be hampered by any such artificial considerations, and +she turned naturally to a man who did not seem to be a slave to them +either. She had not quite dared to hope that he would help her, and +his readiness to do so was something of a surprise; but she would have +been astonished if he had been in the least shocked at the implied +suggestion of deliberately torturing Charles Feist till he revealed +the truth about the murder. She only felt a little uncomfortable when +she reflected that Feist might not know it after all, whereas she had +boldly told Logotheti that he did. + +If the Greek had hesitated for a few seconds before giving his answer, +it was not that he was doubtful of his own willingness to do what she +wished, but because he questioned his power to do it. The request +itself appealed to the Oriental's love of excitement and to his taste +for the uncommon in life. If he had not sometimes found occasions for +satisfying both, he could not have lived in Paris and London at all, +but would have gone back to Constantinople, which is the last refuge +of romance in Europe, the last hiding-place of mediaeval adventure, +the last city of which a new Decameron of tales could still be told, +and might still be true. + +Lady Maud had good nerves, and she watched the play with her friends +and talked between the acts, very much as if nothing had happened, +except that she was pale and there was that look in her eyes; but only +Paul Griggs noticed it, because he had a way of watching the small +changes of expression that may mean tragedy, but more often signify +indigestion, or too much strong tea, or a dun's letter, or a tight +shoe, or a bad hand at bridge, or the presence of a bore in the room, +or the flat failure of expected pleasure, or sauce spilt on a new gown +by a rival's butler, or being left out of something small and smart, +or any of those minor aches that are the inheritance of the social +flesh, and drive women perfectly mad while they last. + +But Griggs knew that none of these troubles afflicted Lady Maud, and +when he spoke to her now and then, between the acts, she felt his +sympathy for her in every word and inflection. + +She was glad when the evening was over and she was at home in her +dressing-room, and there was no more effort to be made till the next +day. But even alone, she did not behave or look very differently; she +twisted up her thick brown hair herself, as methodically as ever, and +laid out the black velvet gown on the lounge after shaking it out, +so that it should be creased as little as possible; but when she was +ready to go to bed she put on a dressing-gown and sat down at her +table to write to Rufus Van Torp. + +The letter was begun and she had written half a dozen lines when she +laid down the pen, to unlock a small drawer from which she took an old +blue envelope that had never been sealed, though it was a good deal +the worse for wear. There was a photograph in it, which she laid +before her on the letter; and she looked down at it steadily, resting +her elbows on the table and her forehead and temples in her hands. + +It was a snapshot photograph of a young officer in khaki and puttees, +not very well taken, and badly mounted on a bit of white pasteboard +that might have been cut from a bandbox with a penknife; but it was +all she had, and there could never be another. + +She looked at it a long time. + +'You understand, dear,' she said at last, very low; 'you understand.' + +She put it away again and locked the drawer before she went on with +her letter to Van Torp. It was easy enough to tell him what she had +learned about Feist from Logotheti; it was even possible that he had +found it out for himself, and had not taken the trouble to inform her +of the fact. Apart from the approval that friendship inspires, she had +always admired the cool discernment of events which he showed when +great things were at stake. But it was one thing, she now told him, to +be indifferent to the stupid attacks of the press, it would be quite +another to allow himself to be accused of murder; the time had come +when he must act, and without delay; there was a limit beyond which +indifference became culpable apathy; it was clear enough now, she +said, that all these attacks on him had been made to ruin him in the +estimation of the public on both sides of the Atlantic before striking +the first blow, as he himself had guessed; Griggs was surely not an +alarmist, and Griggs said confidently that Van Torp's enemies meant +business; without doubt, a mass of evidence had been carefully got +together during the past three months, and it was pretty sure that an +attempt would be made before long to arrest him; would he do nothing +to make such an outrage impossible? She had not forgotten, she could +never forget, what she owed him, but on his side he owed something to +her, and to the great friendship that bound them to each other. Who +was this man Feist, and who was behind him? She did not know why she +was so sure that he knew the truth, supposing that there had really +been a murder, but her instinct told her so. + +Lady Maud was not gifted with much power of writing, for she was not +clever at books, or with pen and ink, but she wrote her letter +with deep conviction and striking clearness. The only point of any +importance which she did not mention was that Logotheti had promised +to help her, and she did not write of that because she was not really +sure that he could do anything, though she was convinced that he would +try. She was very anxious. She was horrified when she thought of what +might happen if nothing were done. She entreated Van Torp to answer +that he would take steps to defend himself; and that, if possible, he +would come to town so that they might consult together. + +She finished her letter and went to bed; but her good nerves failed +her for once, and it was a long time before she could get to sleep. +It was absurd, of course, but she remembered every case she had ever +heard of in which innocent men had been convicted of crimes they had +not committed and had suffered for them; and in a hideous instant, +between waking and dozing, she saw Rufus Van Torp hanged before her +eyes. + +The impression was so awful that she started from her pillow with a +cry and turned up the electric lamp. It was not till the light flooded +the room that the image quite faded away and she could let her +head rest on the pillow again, and even then her heart was beating +violently, as it had only beaten once in her life before that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Sir Jasper Threlfall did not know how long it would be before Mr. +Feist could safely be discharged from the establishment in which +Logotheti had so kindly placed him. Dr. Bream said 'it was as bad a +case of chronic alcoholism as he often saw.' What has grammar to do +with the treatment of the nerves? Mr. Feist said he did not want to be +cured of chronic alcoholism, and demanded that he should be let out +at once. Dr. Bream answered that it was against his principles to +discharge a patient half cured. Mr. Feist retorted that it was a +violation of personal liberty to cure a man against his will. The +physician smiled kindly at a view he heard expressed every day, and +which the law shared, though it might not be very ready to support it. +Physically, Mr. Feist was afraid of Dr. Bream, who had played football +for Guy's Hospital and had the complexion of a healthy baby and a +quiet eye. So the patient changed his tone, and whined for something +to calm his agitated nerves. One teaspoonful of whisky was all he +begged for, and he promised not to ask for it to-morrow if he might +have it to-day. The doctor was obdurate about spirits, but felt his +pulse, examined the pupils of his eyes, and promised him a calming +hypodermic in an hour. It was too soon after breakfast, he said. Mr. +Feist only once attempted to use violence, and then two large men came +into the room, as quiet and healthy as the doctor himself, and gently +but firmly put him to bed, tucking him up in such an extraordinary way +that he found it quite impossible to move or to get his hands out; and +Dr. Bream, smiling with exasperating calm, stuck a needle into his +shoulder, after which he presently fell asleep. + +He had been drinking hard for years, so that it was a very bad case; +and besides, he seemed to have something on his mind, which made it +worse. + +Logotheti came to see him now, and took a vast deal of trouble to be +agreeable. At his first visit Feist flew into a rage and accused the +Greek of having kidnapped him and shut him up in a prison, where +he was treated like a lunatic; but to this Logotheti was quite +indifferent; he only shook his head rather sadly, and offered Feist a +very excellent cigarette, such as it was quite impossible to buy, even +in London. After a little hesitation the patient took it, and the +effect was very soothing to his temper. Indeed it was wonderful, for +in less than two minutes his features relaxed, his eyes became quiet, +and he actually apologised for having spoken so rudely. Logotheti had +been kindness itself, he said, had saved his life at the very moment +when he was going to cut his throat, and had been in all respects the +good Samaritan. The cigarette was perfectly delicious. It was about +the best smoke he had enjoyed since he had left the States, he said. +He wished Logotheti to please to understand that he wanted to settle +up for all expenses as soon as possible, and to pay his weekly bills +at Dr. Bream's. There had been twenty or thirty pounds in notes in his +pocket-book, and a letter of credit, but all his things had been taken +away from him. He concluded it was all right, but it seemed rather +strenuous to take his papers too. Perhaps Mr. Logotheti, who was so +kind, would make sure that they were in a safe place, and tell the +doctor to let him see any other friends who called. Then he asked +for another of those wonderful cigarettes, but Logotheti was awfully +sorry--there had only been two, and he had just smoked the other +himself. He showed his empty case. + +'By the way,' he said, 'if the doctor should happen to come in and +notice the smell of the smoke, don't tell him that you had one of +mine. My tobacco is rather strong, and he might think it would do you +harm, you know. I see that you have some light ones there, on the +table. Just let him think that you smoked one of them. I promise to +bring some more to-morrow, and we'll have a couple together.' + +That was what Logotheti said, and it comforted Mr. Feist, who +recognised the opium at once; all that afternoon and through all the +next morning he told himself that he was to have another of those +cigarettes, and perhaps two, at three o'clock in the afternoon, when +Logotheti had said that he would come again. + +Before leaving his own rooms on the following day, the Greek put four +cigarettes into his case, for he had not forgotten his promise; he +took two from a box that lay on the table, and placed them so that +they would be nearest to his own hand when he offered his case, but he +took the other two from a drawer which was always locked, and of which +the key was at one end of his superornate watch-chain, and he placed +them on the other side of the case, conveniently for a friend to take. +All four cigarettes looked exactly alike. + +If any one had pointed out to him that an Englishman would not think +it fair play to drug a man deliberately, Logotheti would have smiled +and would have replied by asking whether it was fair play to accuse an +innocent man of murder, a retort which would only become unanswerable +if it could be proved that Van Torp was suspected unjustly. But to +this objection, again, the Greek would have replied that he had been +brought up in Constantinople, where they did things in that way; +and that, except for the trifling obstacle of the law, there was +no particular reason for not strangling Mr. Feist with the English +equivalent for a bowstring, since he had printed a disagreeable story +about Miss Donne, and was, besides, a very offensive sort of person +in appearance and manner. There had always been a certain directness +about Logotheti's view of man's rights. + +He went to see Mr. Feist every day at three o'clock, in the most kind +way possible, made himself as agreeable as he could, and gave him +cigarettes with a good deal of opium in them. He also presented Feist +with a pretty little asbestos lamp which was constructed to purify +the air, and had a really wonderful capacity for absorbing the rather +peculiar odour of the cigarettes. Dr. Bream always made his round +in the morning, and the men nurses he employed to take care of his +patients either did not notice anything unusual, or supposed that +Logotheti smoked some 'outlandish Turkish stuff,' and, because he was +a privileged person, they said nothing about it. As he had brought +the patient to the establishment to be cured, it was really not to be +supposed that he would supply him with forbidden narcotics. + +Now, to a man who is poisoned with drink and is suddenly deprived of +it, opium is from the beginning as delightful as it is nauseous to +most healthy people when they first taste it; and during the next four +or five days, while Feist appeared to be improving faster than might +have been expected, he was in reality acquiring such a craving for +his daily dose of smoke that it would soon be acute suffering to be +deprived of it; and this was what Logotheti wished. He would have +supplied him with brandy if he had not been sure that the contraband +would be discovered and stopped by the doctor; but opium, in the +hands of one who knows exactly how it is used, is very much harder +to detect, unless the doctor sees the smoker when he is under the +influence of the drug, while the pupils of the eye are unnaturally +contracted and the face is relaxed in that expression of beatitude +which only the great narcotics can produce--the state which Baudelaire +called the Artificial Paradise. + +During these daily visits Logotheti became very confidential; that is +to say, he exercised all his ingenuity in the attempt to make Feist +talk about himself. But he was not very successful. Broken as the man +was, his characteristic reticence was scarcely at all relaxed, and it +was quite impossible to get beyond the barrier. One day Logotheti gave +him a cigarette more than usual, as an experiment, but he went to +sleep almost immediately, sitting up in his chair. The opium, as a +moderate substitute for liquor, temporarily restored the habitual tone +of his system and revived his natural self-control, and Logotheti soon +gave up the idea of extracting any secret from him in a moment of +garrulous expansion. + +There was the other way, which was now prepared, and the Greek had +learned enough about his victim to justify him in using it. The cypher +expert, who had been at work on Feist's diary, had now completed his +key and brought Logotheti the translation. He was a rather shabby +little man, a penman employed to do occasional odd jobs about the +Foreign Office, such as engrossing documents and the like, by which he +earned from eighteenpence to half-a-crown an hour, according to the +style of penmanship required, and he was well known in the criminal +courts as an expert on handwriting in forgery cases. + +He brought his work to Logotheti, who at once asked for the long entry +concerning the night of the explosion. The expert turned to it and +read it aloud. It was a statement of the circumstances to which Feist +was prepared to swear, and which have been summed up in a previous +chapter. Van Torp was not mentioned by name in the diary, but was +referred to as 'he'; the other entries in the journal, however, fully +proved that Van Torp was meant, even if Logotheti had felt any doubt +of it. + +The expert informed him, however, that the entry was not the original +one, which had apparently been much shorter, and had been obliterated +in the ordinary way with a solution of chloride of lime. Here and +there very pale traces of the previous writing were faintly visible, +but there was not enough to give the sense of what was gone. This +proved that the ink had not been long dry when it had been removed, +as the expert explained. It was very hard to destroy old writing so +completely that neither heat nor chemicals would bring it out again. +Therefore Feist must have decided to change the entry soon after he +had made it, and probably on the next day. The expert had not found +any other page which had been similarly treated. The shabby little man +looked at Logotheti, and Logotheti looked at him, and both nodded; and +the Greek paid him generously for his work. + +It was clear that Feist had meant to aid his own memory, and had +rather clumsily tampered with his diary in order to make it agree with +the evidence he intended to give, rather than meaning to produce the +notes in court. What Logotheti meant to find out was what the man +himself really knew and what he had first written down; that, and some +other things. In conversation, Logotheti had asked him to describe the +panic at the theatre, and Cordova's singing in the dark, but Feist's +answers had been anything but interesting. + +'You can't remember much about that kind of thing,' he had said in his +drawling way, 'because there isn't much to remember. There was a crash +and the lights went out, and people fought their way to the doors in +the dark till there was a general squash; then Madame Cordova began +to sing, and that kind of calmed things down till the lights went up +again. That's about all I remember.' + +His recollections did not at all agree with what he had entered in his +diary; but though Logotheti tried a second time two days later, Feist +repeated the same story with absolute verbal accuracy. The Greek asked +him if he had known 'that poor Miss Bamberger who died of shock.' +Feist blew out a cloud of drugged tobacco smoke before he answered, +with one of his disagreeable smiles, that he had known her pretty +well, for he had been her father's private secretary. He explained +that he had given up the place because he had come into some money. +Mr. Bamberger was 'a very pleasant gentleman,' Feist declared, and +poor Miss Bamberger had been a 'superb dresser and a first-class +conversationalist, and was a severe loss to her friends and admirers.' +Though Logotheti, who was only a Greek, did not understand every word +of this panegyric, he perceived that it was intended for the highest +praise. He said he should like to know Mr. Bamberger, and was sorry +that he had not known Miss Bamberger, who had been engaged to marry +Mr. Van Torp, as every one had heard. + +He thought he saw a difference in Feist's expression, but was not sure +of it. The pale, unhealthy, and yet absurdly youthful face was not +naturally mobile, and the almost colourless eyes always had rather a +fixed and staring look. Logotheti was aware of a new meaning in them +rather than of a distinct change. He accordingly went on to say that +he had heard poor Miss Bamberger spoken of as heartless, and he +brought out the word so unexpectedly that Feist looked sharply at him. + +'Well,' he said, 'some people certainly thought so. I daresay she was. +It don't matter much, now she's dead, anyway.' + +'She paid for it, poor girl,' answered Logotheti very deliberately. +'They say she was murdered.' + +The change in Feist's face was now unmistakable. There was a drawing +down of the corners of the mouth, and a lowering of the lids that +meant something, and the unhealthy complexion took a greyish shade. +Logotheti was too wise to watch his intended victim, and leaned back +in a careless attitude, gazing out of the window at the bright creeper +on the opposite wall. + +'I've heard it suggested,' said Mr. Feist rather thickly, out of a +perfect storm of drugged smoke. + +It came out of his ugly nostrils, it blew out of his mouth, it seemed +to issue even from his ears and eyes. + +'I suppose we shall never know the truth,' said Logotheti in an idle +tone, and not seeming to look at his companion. 'Mr. Griggs--do you +remember Mr. Griggs, the author, at the Turkish Embassy, where we +first met? Tall old fellow, sad-looking, bony, hard; you remember him, +don't you?' + +'Why, yes,' drawled Feist, emitting more smoke, 'I know him quite +well.' + +'He found blood on his hands after he had carried her. Had you not +heard that? I wondered whether you saw her that evening. Did you?' + +'I saw her from a distance in the box with her friends,' answered +Feist steadily. + +'Did you see her afterwards?' + +The direct question came suddenly, and the strained look in Feist's +face became more intense. Logotheti fancied he understood very well +what was passing in the young man's mind; he intended to swear in +court that he had seen Van Torp drag the girl to the place where her +body was afterwards found, and if he now denied this, the Greek, who +was probably Van Torp's friend, might appear as a witness and narrate +the present conversation; and though this would not necessarily +invalidate the evidence, it might weaken it in the opinion of the +jury. Feist had of course suspected that Logotheti had some object in +forcing him to undergo a cure, and this suspicion had been confirmed +by the opium cigarettes, which he would have refused after the first +time if he had possessed the strength of mind to do so. + +While Logotheti watched him, three small drops of perspiration +appeared high up on his forehead, just where the parting of his thin +light hair began; for he felt that he must make up his mind what to +say, and several seconds had already elapsed since the question. + +'As a matter of fact,' he said at last, with an evident effort, 'I did +catch sight of Miss Bamberger later.' + +He had been aware of the moisture on his forehead, and had hoped that +Logotheti would not notice it, but the drops now gathered and rolled +down, so that he was obliged to take out his handkerchief. + +'It's getting quite hot,' he said, by way of explanation. + +'Yes,' answered Logotheti, humouring him, 'the room is warm. You must +have been one of the last people who saw Miss Bamberger alive,' he +added. 'Was she trying to get out?' + +'I suppose so.' + +Logotheti pretended to laugh a little. + +'You must have been quite sure when you saw her,' he said. + +Feist was in a very overwrought condition by this time, and Logotheti +reflected that if his nerve did not improve he would make a bad +impression on a jury. + +'Now I'll tell you the truth,' he said rather desperately. + +'By all means!' And Logotheti prepared to hear and remember accurately +the falsehood which would probably follow immediately on such a +statement. + +But he was disappointed. + +'The truth is,' said Feist, 'I don't care much to talk about this +affair at present. I can't explain now, but you'll understand one of +these days, and you'll say I was right.' + +'Oh, I see!' + +Logotheti smiled and held out his case, for Feist had finished the +first cigarette. He refused another, however, to the other's surprise. + +'Thanks,' he said, 'but I guess I won't smoke any more of those. I +believe they get on to my nerves.' + +'Do you really not wish me to bring you any more of them?' asked +Logotheti, affecting a sort of surprised concern. 'Do you think they +hurt you?' + +'I do. That's exactly what I mean. I'm much obliged, all the same, but +I'm going to give them up, just like that.' + +'Very well,' Logotheti answered. 'I promise not to bring any more. I +think you are very wise to make the resolution, if you really think +they hurt you--though I don't see why they should.' + +Like most weak people who make good resolutions, Mr. Feist did not +realise what he was doing. He understood horribly well, forty-eight +hours later, when he was dragging himself at his tormentor's feet, +entreating the charity of half a cigarette, of one teaspoonful of +liquor, of anything, though it were deadly poison, that could rest his +agonised nerves for a single hour, for ten minutes, for an instant, +offering his life and soul for it, parching for it, burning, sweating, +trembling, vibrating with horror, and sick with fear for the want of +it. + +For Logotheti was an Oriental and had lived in Constantinople; and +he knew what opium does, and what a man will do to get it, and that +neither passion of love, nor bond of affection, nor fear of man or +God, nor of death and damnation, will stand against that awful craving +when the poison is within reach. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The society papers printed a paragraph which said that Lord Creedmore +and Countess Leven were going to have a week-end party at Craythew, +and the list of guests included the names of Mr. Van Torp and Señorita +da Cordova, 'Monsieur Konstantinos Logotheti' and Mr. Paul Griggs, +after those of a number of overpoweringly smart people. + +Lady Maud's brothers saw the paragraph, and the one who was in the +Grenadier Guards asked the one who was in the Blues if 'the Governor +was going in for zoology or lion-taming in his old age'; but the +brother in the Blues said it was 'Maud who liked freaks of nature, and +Greeks, and things, because they were so amusing to photograph.' + +At all events, Lady Maud had studiously left out her brothers and +sisters in making up the Craythew party, a larger one than had been +assembled there for many years; it was so large indeed that the +'freaks' would not have been prominent figures at all, even if they +had been such unusual persons as the young man in the Blues imagined +them. + +For though Lord Creedmore was not a rich peer, Craythew was a fine old +place, and could put up at least thirty guests without crowding them +and without causing that most uncomfortable condition of things in +which people run over each other from morning to night during week-end +parties in the season, when there is no hunting or shooting to keep +the men out all day. The house itself was two or three times as big as +Mr. Van Torp's at Oxley Paddox. It had its hall, its long drawing-room +for dancing, its library, its breakfast-room and its morning-room, its +billiard-room, sitting-room, and smoking-room, like many another big +English country house; but it had also a picture gallery, the library +was an historical collection that filled three good-sized rooms, and +it was completed by one which had always been called the study, beyond +which there were two little dwelling-rooms, at the end of the wing, +where the librarian had lived when there had been one. For the old +lord had been a bachelor and a book lover, but the present master of +the house, who was tremendously energetic and practical, took care of +the books himself. Now and then, when the house was almost full, a +guest was lodged in the former librarian's small apartment, and on the +present occasion Paul Griggs was to be put there, on the ground that +he was a man of letters and must be glad to be near books, and +also because he could not be supposed to be afraid of Lady Letitia +Foxwell's ghost, which was believed to have spent the nights in the +library for the last hundred and fifty years, more or less, ever since +the unhappy young girl had hanged herself there in the time of George +the Second, on the eve of her wedding day. + +The ancient house stood more than a mile from the high road, near the +further end of such a park as is rarely to be seen, even in beautiful +Derbyshire, for the Foxwells had always loved their trees, as good +Englishmen should, and had taken care of them. There were ancient oaks +there, descended by less than four tree-generations from Druid times; +all down the long drive the great elms threw their boughs skywards; +there the solemn beeches grew, the gentler ash, and the lime; there +the yews spread out their branches, and here and there the cedar of +Lebanon, patriarch of all trees that bear cones, reared his royal +crown above the rest; in and out, too, amongst the great boulders that +strewed the park, the sharp-leaved holly stood out boldly, and the +exquisite white thorn, all in flower, shot up to three and four times +a man's height; below, the heather grew close and green to blossom in +the summer-time; and in the deeper, lonelier places the blackthorn and +hoe ran wild, and the dog-rose in wild confusion; the alder and the +gorse too, the honeysuckle and ivy, climbed up over rocks and stems; +you might see a laurel now and then, and bilberry bushes by thousands, +and bracken everywhere in an endless profusion of rich, dark-green +lace. + +Squirrels there were, dashing across the open glades and running up +the smooth beeches and chestnut trees, as quick as light, and rabbits, +dodging in and out amongst the ferns, and just showing the snow-white +patch under their little tails as they disappeared, and now and again +the lordly deer stepping daintily and leisurely through the deep fern; +all these lived in the wonderful depths of Craythew Park, and of birds +there was no end. There were game birds and song birds, from the +handsome pheasants to the modest little partridges, the royalists and +the puritans of the woods, from the love-lorn wood-pigeon, cooing in +the tall firs, to the thrush and the blackbird, making long hops as +they quartered the ground for grubs; and the robin, the linnet, and +little Jenny Wren all lived there in riotous plenty of worms and +snails; and nearer to the great house the starlings and jackdaws shot +down in a great hurry from the holes in old trees where they had their +nests, and many of them came rushing from their headquarters in the +ruined tower by the stream to waddle about the open lawns in their +ungainly fashion, vain because they were not like swallows, but could +really walk when they chose, though they did it rather badly. And +where the woods ended they were lined with rhododendrons, and lilacs, +and laburnum. There are even bigger parks in England than Craythew, +but there is none more beautiful, none richer in all sweet and good +things that live, none more musical with song of birds, not one that +more deeply breathes the world's oldest poetry. + +Lady Maud went out on foot that afternoon and met Van Torp in the +drive, half a mile from the house. He came in his motor car with Miss +More and Ida, who was to go back after tea. It was by no means the +first time that they had been at Craythew; the little girl loved +nature, and understood by intuition much that would have escaped a +normal child. It was her greatest delight to come over in the motor +and spend two or three hours in the park, and when none of the family +were in the country she was always free to come and go, with Miss +More, as she pleased. + +Lady Maud kissed her kindly and shook hands with her teacher before +the car went on to leave Mr. Van Torp's things at the house. Then the +two walked slowly along the road, and neither spoke for some time, nor +looked at the other, but both kept their eyes on the ground before +them, as if expecting something. + +Mr. Van Torp's hands were in his pockets, his soft straw hat was +pushed rather far back on his sandy head, and as he walked he breathed +an American tune between his teeth, raising one side of his upper lip +to let the faint sound pass freely without turning itself into a real +whistle. It is rather a Yankee trick, and is particularly offensive to +some people, but Lady Maud did not mind it at all, though she heard it +distinctly. It always meant that Mr. Van Torp was in deep thought, and +she guessed that, just then, he was thinking more about her than of +himself. In his pocket he held in his right hand a small envelope +which he meant to bring out presently and give to her, where nobody +would be likely to see them. + +Presently, when the motor had turned to the left, far up the long +drive, he raised his eyes and looked about him. He had the sight of a +man who has lived in the wilderness, and not only sees, but knows how +to see, which is a very different thing. Having satisfied himself, he +withdrew the envelope and held it out to his companion. + +'I thought you might just as well have some more money,' he said, 'so +I brought you some. I may want to sail any minute. I don't know. Yes, +you'd better take it.' + +Lady Maud had looked up quickly and had hesitated to receive the +envelope, but when he finished speaking she took it quickly and +slipped it into the opening of her long glove, pushing it down till +it lay in the palm of her hand. She fastened the buttons before she +spoke. + +'How thoughtful you always are for me!' + +She unconsciously used the very words with which she had thanked him +in Hare Court the last time he had given her money. The tone told him +how deeply grateful she was. + +'Well,' he said in answer, 'as far as that goes, it's for you +yourself, as much as if I didn't know where it went; and if I'm +obliged to sail suddenly I don't want you to be out of your +reckoning.' + +'You're much too good, Rufus. Do you really mean that you may have to +go back at once, to defend yourself?' + +'No, not exactly that. But business is business, and somebody +responsible has got to be there, since poor old Bamberger has gone +crazy and come abroad to stay--apparently.' + +'Crazy?' + +'Well, he behaves like it, anyway. I'm beginning to be sorry for that +man. I'm in earnest. You mayn't believe it, but I really am. Kind of +unnatural, isn't it, for me to be sorry for people?' + +He looked steadily at Lady Maud for a moment, then smiled faintly, +looked away, and began to blow his little tune through his teeth +again. + +'You were sorry for little Ida,' suggested Lady Maud. + +'That's different. I--I liked her mother a good deal, and when the +child was turned adrift I sort of looked after her. Anybody'd do that, +I expect.' + +'And you're sorry for me, in a way,' said Lady Maud. + +'You're different, too. You're my friend. I suppose you're about the +only one I've got, too. We can't complain of being crowded out of +doors by our friends, either of us, can we? Besides, I shouldn't put +it in that way, or call it being sorry, exactly. It's another kind of +feeling I have. I'd like to undo your life and make it over again for +you, the right way, so that you'd be happy. I can do a great deal, but +all the cursed nickel in the world won't bring back the--' he checked +himself suddenly, shutting his hard lips with an audible clack, and +looking down. 'I beg your pardon, my dear,' he said in a low voice, a +moment later. + +For he had been very near to speaking of the dead, and he felt +instinctively that the rough speech, however kindly meant, would have +pained her, and perhaps had already hurt her a little. But as she +looked down, too, her hand gently touched the sleeve of his coat to +tell him that there was nothing to forgive. + +'He knows,' she said, more softly than sadly. 'Where he is, they know +about us--when we try to do right.' + +'And you haven't only tried,' Van Torp answered quietly, 'you've done +it.' + +'Have I?' It sounded as if she asked the question of herself, or of +some one to whom she appealed in her heart. 'I often wonder,' she +added thoughtfully. + +'You needn't worry,' said her companion, more cheerily than he had yet +spoken. 'Do you want to know why I think you needn't fuss about your +conscience and your soul, and things?' + +He smiled now, and so did she, but more at the words he used than at +the question itself. + +'Yes,' she said. 'I should like to know why.' + +'It's a pretty good sign for a lady's soul when a lot of poor +creatures bless her every minute of their lives for fishing them out +of the mud and landing them in a decent life. Come, isn't it now? You +know it is. That's all. No further argument's necessary. The jury is +satisfied and the verdict is that you needn't fuss. So that's that, +and let's talk about something else.' + +'I'm not so sure,' Lady Maud answered. 'Is it right to bribe people to +do right? Sometimes it has seemed very like that!' + +'I don't set up to be an expert in morality,' retorted Van Torp, 'but +if money, properly used, can prevent murder, I guess that's better +than letting the murder be committed. You must allow that. The +same way with other crimes, isn't it? And so on, down to mere +misdemeanours, till you come to ordinary morality. Now what have you +got to say? If it isn't much better for the people themselves to lead +decent lives just for money's sake, it's certainly much better +for everybody else that they should. That appears to me to be +unanswerable. You didn't start in with the idea of making those poor +things just like you, I suppose. You can't train a cart-horse to win +the Derby. Yet all their nonsense about equality rests on the theory +that you can. You can't make a good judge out of a criminal, no +matter how the criminal repents of his crimes. He's not been born the +intellectual equal of the man who's born to judge him. His mind is +biassed. Perhaps he's a degenerate--everything one isn't oneself is +called degenerate nowadays. It helps things, I suppose. And you can't +expect to collect a lot of poor wretches together and manufacture +first-class Magdalens out of ninety-nine per cent of them, because +you're the one that needs no repentance, can you? I forget whether the +Bible says it was ninety-nine who did or ninety-nine who didn't, +but you'll understand my drift, I daresay. It's logic, if it isn't +Scripture. All right. As long as you can stop the evil, without doing +wrong yourself, you're bringing about a good result. So don't fuss. +See?' + +'Yes, I see!' Lady Maud smiled. 'But it's your money that does it!' + +'That's nothing,' Van Torp said, as if he disliked the subject. + +He changed it effectually by speaking of his own present intentions +and explaining to his friend what he meant to do. + +His point of view seemed to be that Bamberger was quite mad since his +daughter's death, and had built up a sensational but clumsy case, with +the help of the man Feist, whose evidence, as a confirmed dipsomaniac, +would be all but worthless. It was possible, Van Torp said, that Miss +Bamberger had been killed; in fact, Griggs' evidence alone would +almost prove it. But the chances were a thousand to one that she had +been killed by a maniac. Such murders were not so uncommon as Lady +Maud might think. The police in all countries know how many cases +occur which can be explained only on that theory, and how diabolically +ingenious madmen are in covering their tracks. + +Lady Maud believed all he told her, and had perfect faith in his +innocence, but she knew instinctively that he was not telling her all; +and the certainty that he was keeping back something made her nervous. + +In due time the other guests came; each in turn met Mr. Van Torp soon +after arriving, if not at the moment when they entered the house; and +they shook hands with him, and almost all knew why he was there, but +those who did not were soon told by the others. + +The fact of having been asked to a country house for the express +purpose of being shown by ocular demonstration that something is 'all +right' which has been very generally said or thought to be all wrong, +does not generally contribute to the light-heartedness of such +parties. Moreover, the very young element was hardly represented, and +there was a dearth of those sprightly boys and girls who think it the +acme of delicate wit to shut up an aunt in the ice-box and throw the +billiard-table out of the window. Neither Lady Maud nor her father +liked what Mr. Van Torp called a 'circus'; and besides, the modern +youths and maids who delight in practical jokes were not the people +whose good opinion about the millionaire it was desired to obtain, or +to strengthen, as the case might be. The guests, far from being what +Lady Maud's brothers called a menagerie, were for the most part of the +graver sort whose approval weighs in proportion as they are themselves +social heavyweights. There was the Leader of the House, there were +a couple of members of the Cabinet, there was the Master of the +Foxhounds, there was the bishop of the diocese, and there was one of +the big Derbyshire landowners; there was an ex-governor-general +of something, an ex-ambassador to the United States, and a famous +general; there was a Hebrew financier of London, and Logotheti, the +Greek financier from Paris, who were regarded as colleagues of Van +Torp, the American financier; there was the scientific peer who had +dined at the Turkish Embassy with Lady Maud, there was the peer whose +horse had just won the Derby, and there was the peer who knew German +and was looked upon as the coming man in the Upper House. Many had +their wives with them, and some had lost their wives or could not +bring them; but very few were looking for a wife, and there were no +young women looking for husbands, since the Señorita da Cordova was +apparently not to be reckoned with those. + +Now at this stage of my story it would be unpardonable to keep my +readers in suspense, if I may suppose that any of them have a little +curiosity left. Therefore I shall not narrate in detail what happened +on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, seeing that it was just what might +have been expected to happen at a week-end party during the season +when there is nothing in the world to do but to play golf, tennis, or +croquet, or to ride or drive all day, and to work hard at bridge all +the evening; for that is what it has come to. + +Everything went very well till Sunday night, and most of the people +formed a much better opinion of Mr. Van Torp than those who had lately +read about him in the newspapers might have thought possible. The +Cabinet Ministers talked politics with him and found him sound--for +an American; the M.F.H. saw him ride, and felt for him exactly the +sympathy which a Don Cossack, a cowboy, and a Bedouin might feel for +each other if they met on horseback, and which needs no expression in +words; and the three distinguished peers liked him at once, because he +was not at all impressed by their social greatness, but was very +much interested in what they had to say respectively about science, +horse-breeding, and Herr Bebel. The great London financier, and he, +and Monsieur Logotheti exchanged casual remarks which all the men who +were interested in politics referred to mysterious loans that must +affect the armaments of the combined powers and the peace of Europe. + +Mr. Van Torp kept away from the Primadonna, and she watched him +curiously, a good deal surprised to see that most of the others +liked him better than she had expected. She was rather agreeably +disappointed, too, at the reception she herself met with Lord +Creedmore spoke of her only as 'Miss Donne, the daughter of his oldest +friend,' and every one treated her accordingly. No one even mentioned +her profession, and possibly some of the guests did not quite realise +that she was the famous Cordova. Lady Maud never suggested that she +should sing, and Lord Creedmore detested music. The old piano in the +long drawing-room was hardly ever opened. It had been placed there in +Victorian days when 'a little music' was the rule, and since the happy +abolition of that form of terror it had been left where it stood, and +was tuned once a year, in case anybody should want a dance when there +were young people in the house. + +A girl might as well master the Assyrian language in order to compose +hymns to Tiglath-Pileser as learn to play the piano nowadays, but +bridge is played at children's parties; let us not speak ill of the +Bridge that has carried us over. + +Margaret was not out of her element; on the contrary, she at first +had the sensation of finding herself amongst rather grave and not +uncongenial English people, not so very different from those with whom +she had spent her early girlhood at Oxford. It was not strange to her, +but it was no longer familiar, and she missed the surroundings to +which she had grown accustomed. Hitherto, when she had been asked to +join such parties, there had been at least a few of those persons +who are supposed to delight especially in the society of sopranos, +actresses, and lionesses generally; but none of them were at Craythew. +She was suddenly transported back into regions where nobody seemed to +care a straw whether she could sing or not, where nobody flattered +her, and no one suggested that it would be amusing and instructive +to make a trip to Spain together, or that a charming little kiosk +at Therapia was at her disposal whenever she chose to visit the +Bosphorus. + +There was only Logotheti to remind her of her everyday life, +for Griggs did not do so at all; he belonged much more to the +'atmosphere,' and though she knew that he had loved in his youth a +woman who had a beautiful voice, he understood nothing of music and +never talked about it. As for Lady Maud, Margaret saw much less of her +than she had expected; the hostess was manifestly preoccupied, and +was, moreover, obliged to give more of her time to her guests than +would have been necessary if they had been of the younger generation +or if the season had been winter. + +Margaret noticed in herself a new phase of change with regard to +Logotheti, and she did not like it at all: he had become necessary to +her, and yet she was secretly a little ashamed of him. In that temple +of respectability where she found herself, in such 'a cloister of +social pillars' as Logotheti called the party, he was a discordant +figure. She was haunted by a painful doubt that if he had not been a +very important financier some of those quiet middle-aged Englishmen +might have thought him a 'bounder,' because of his ruby pin, his +summer-lightning waistcoats, and his almond-shaped eyes. It was very +unpleasant to be so strongly drawn to a man whom such people probably +thought a trifle 'off.' + +It irritated her to be obliged to admit that the London financier, who +was a professed and professing Hebrew, was in appearance an English +gentleman, whereas Konstantinos Logotheti, with a pedigree of +Christian and not unpersecuted Fanariote ancestors, that went back to +Byzantine times without the least suspicion of any Semitic marriage, +might have been taken for a Jew in Lombard Street, and certainly would +have been thought one in Berlin. A man whose eyes suggested dark +almonds need not cover himself with jewellery and adorn himself +in naming colours, Margaret thought; and she resented his way of +dressing, much more than ever before. Lady Maud had called him exotic, +and Margaret could not forget that. By 'exotic' she was sure that her +friend meant something like vulgar, though Lady Maud said she liked +him. + +But the events that happened at Craythew on Sunday evening threw such +insignificant details as these into the shade, and brought out the +true character of the chief actors, amongst whom Margaret very +unexpectedly found herself. + +It was late in the afternoon after a really cloudless June day, and +she had been for a long ramble in the park with Lord Creedmore, who +had talked to her about her father and the old Oxford days, till all +her present life seemed to be a mere dream; and she could not realise, +as she went up to her room, that she was to go back to London on +the morrow, to the theatre, to rehearsals, to Pompeo Stromboli, +Schreiermeyer, and the public. + +She met Logotheti in the gallery that ran round two sides of the hall, +and they both stopped and leaned over the balustrade to talk a little. + +'It has been very pleasant,' she said thoughtfully. 'I'm sorry it's +over so soon.' + +'Whenever you are inclined to lead this sort of life,' Logotheti +answered with a laugh, 'you need only drop me a line. You shall have +a beautiful old house and a big park and a perfect colonnade of +respectabilities--and I'll promise not to be a bore.' + +Margaret looked at him earnestly for some seconds, and then asked a +very unexpected and frivolous question, because she simply could not +help it. + +'Where did you get that tie?' + +The question was strongly emphasised, for it meant much more to her +just then than he could possibly have guessed; perhaps it meant +something which was affecting her whole life. He laughed carelessly. + +'It's better to dress like Solomon in all his glory than to be taken +for a Levantine gambler,' he answered. 'In the days when I was +simple-minded, a foreigner in a fur coat and an eyeglass once stopped +me in the Boulevard des Italiens and asked if I could give him the +address of any house where a roulette-table was kept! After that I +took to jewels and dress!' + +Margaret wondered why she could not help liking him; and by sheer +force of habit she thought that he would make a very good-looking +stage Romeo. + +While she was thinking of that and smiling in spite of his tie, the +old clock in the hall below chimed the hour, and it was a quarter to +seven; and at the same moment three men were getting out of a train +that had stopped at the Craythew station, three miles from Lord +Creedmore's gate. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +The daylight dinner was over, and the large party was more or less +scattered about the drawing-room and the adjoining picture-gallery +in groups of three and four, mostly standing while they drank their +coffee, and continued or finished the talk begun at table. + +By force of habit Margaret had stopped beside the closed piano, and +had seated herself on the old-fashioned stool to have her coffee. Lady +Maud stood beside her, leaning against the corner of the instrument, +her cup in her hand, and the two young women exchanged rather idle +observations about the lovely day that was over, and the perfect +weather. Both were preoccupied and they did not look at each other; +Margaret's eyes watched Logotheti, who was half-way down the long +room, before a portrait by Sir Peter Lely, of which he was apparently +pointing out the beauties to the elderly wife of the scientific peer. +Lady Maud was looking out at the light in the sunset sky above the +trees beyond the flower-beds and the great lawn, for the piano stood +near an open window. From time to time she turned her head quickly +and glanced towards Van Torp, who was talking with her father at some +distance; then she looked out of the window again. + +It was a warm evening; in the dusk of the big rooms the hum of voices +was low and pleasant, broken only now and then by Van Torp's more +strident tone. Outside it was still light, and the starlings and +blackbirds and thrushes were finishing their supper, picking up the +unwary worms and the tardy little snails, and making a good deal of +sweet noise about it. + +Margaret set down her cup on the lid of the piano, and at the slight +sound Lady Maud turned towards her, so that their eyes met. Each +noticed the other's expression. + +'What is it?' asked Lady Maud, with a little smile of friendly +concern. 'Is anything wrong?' + +'No--that is--' Margaret smiled too, as she hesitated--'I was going to +ask you the same question,' she added quickly. + +'It's nothing more than usual,' returned her friend. 'I think it +has gone very well, don't you, these three days? He has made a good +impression on everybody--don't you think so?' + +'Oh yes!' Margaret answered readily. 'Excellent! Could not be better! +I confess to being surprised, just a little--I mean,' she corrected +herself hastily, 'after all the talk there has been, it might not have +turned out so easy.' + +'Don't you feel a little less prejudiced against him yourself?' asked +Lady Maud. + +'Prejudiced!' Margaret repeated the word thoughtfully. 'Yes, I suppose +I'm prejudiced against him. That's the only word. Perhaps it's hateful +of me, but I cannot help it--and I wish you wouldn't make me own it to +you, for it's humiliating! I'd like him, if I could, for your sake. +But you must take the wish for the deed.' + +'That's better than nothing!' Lady Maud seemed to be trying to laugh +a little, but it was with an effort and there was no ripple in her +voice. 'You have something on your mind, too,' she went on, to change +the subject. 'Is anything troubling you?' + +'Only the same old question. It's not worth mentioning!' + +'To marry, or not to marry?' + +'Yes. I suppose I shall take the leap some day, and probably in the +dark, and then I shall be sorry for it. Most of you have!' + +She looked up at Lady Maud with a rather uncertain, flickering smile, +as if she wished her mind to be made up for her, and her hands lay +weakly in her lap, the palms almost upwards. + +'Oh, don't ask me!' cried her friend, answering the look rather than +the words, and speaking with something approaching to vehemence. + +'Do you wish you had waited for the other one till now?' asked +Margaret softly, but she did not know that he had been killed in South +Africa; she had never seen the shabby little photograph. + +'Yes--for ever!' + +That was all Lady Maud said, and the two words were not uttered +dramatically either, though gravely and without the least doubt. + +The butler and two men appeared, to collect the coffee cups; the +former had a small salver in his hand and came directly to Lady Maud. +He brought a telegram for her. + +'You don't mind, do you?' she asked Margaret mechanically, as she +opened it. + +'Of course,' answered the other in the same tone, and she looked +through the open window while her friend read the message. + +It was from the Embassy in London, and it informed her in the briefest +terms that Count Leven had been killed in St. Petersburg on the +previous day, in the street, by a bomb intended for a high official. +Lady Maud made no sound, but folded the telegram into a small square +and turned her back to the room for a moment in order to slip it +unnoticed into the body of her black velvet gown. As she recovered her +former attitude she was surprised to see that the butler was still +standing two steps from her where he had stopped after he had taken +the cups from the piano and set them on the small salver on which he +had brought the message. He evidently wanted to say something to her +alone. + +Lady Maud moved away from the piano, and he followed her a little +beyond the window, till she stopped and turned to hear what he had to +say. + +'There are three persons asking for Mr. Van Torp, my lady,' he said +in a very low tone, and she noticed the disturbed look in his face. +'They've got a motor-car waiting in the avenue.' + +'What sort of people are they?' she asked quietly; but she felt that +she was pale. + +'To tell the truth, my lady,' the butler spoke in a whisper, bending +his head, 'I think they are from Scotland Yard.' + +Lady Maud knew it already; she had almost guessed it when she had +glanced at his face before he spoke at all. + +'Show them into the old study,' she said, 'and ask them to wait a +moment.' + +The butler went away with his two coffee cups, and scarcely any one +had noticed that Lady Maud had exchanged a few words with him by the +window. She turned back to the piano, where Margaret was still sitting +on the stool with her hands in her lap, looking at Logotheti in the +distance and wondering whether she meant to marry him or not. + +'No bad news, I hope?' asked the singer, looking up as her friend came +to her side. + +'Not very good,' Lady Maud answered, leaning her elbow on the piano. +'Should you mind singing something to keep the party together while +I talk to some tiresome men who are in the old study? On these June +evenings people have a way of wandering out into the garden after +dinner. I should like to keep every one in the house for a quarter +of an hour, and if you will only sing for them they won't stir. Will +you?' + +Margaret looked at her curiously. + +'I think I understand,' Margaret said. 'The people in the study are +asking for Mr. Van Torp.' + +Lady Maud nodded, not surprised that Logotheti should have told the +Primadonna something about what he had been doing. + +'Then you believe he is innocent,' she said confidently. 'Even though +you don't like him, you'll help me, won't you?' + +'I'll do anything you ask me. But I should think--' + +'No,' Lady Maud interrupted. 'He must not be arrested at all. I know +that he would rather face the detectives than run away, even for a +few hours, till the truth is known. But I won't let him. It would +be published all over the world to-morrow morning that he had been +arrested for murder in my father's house, and it would never be +forgotten against him, though he might be proved innocent ten times +over. That's what I want to prevent. Will you help me?' + +As she spoke the last words she raised the front lid of the piano, +and Margaret turned on her seat towards the instrument to open the +keyboard, nodding her assent. + +'Just play a little, till I am out of the room, and then sing,' said +Lady Maud. + +The great artist's fingers felt the keys as her friend turned away. +Anything theatrical was natural to her now, and she began to play very +softly, watching the moving figure in black velvet as she would have +watched a fellow singer on the stage while waiting to go on. + +Lady Maud did not speak to Van Torp first, but to Griggs, and then to +Logotheti, and the two men slipped away together and disappeared. Then +she came back to Van Torp, smiling pleasantly. He was still talking +with Lord Creedmore, but the latter, at a word from his daughter, went +off to the elderly peeress whom Logotheti had abruptly left alone +before the portrait. + +Margaret did not hear what Lady Maud said to the American, but it was +evidently not yet a warning, for her smile did not falter, and he +looked pleased as he came back with her, and they passed near the +piano to go out through the open window upon the broad flagged terrace +that separated the house from the flower-beds. + +The Primadonna played a little louder now, so that every one heard the +chords, even in the picture-gallery, and a good many men were rather +bored at the prospect of music. + +Then the Señorita da Cordova raised her head and looked over the grand +piano, and her lips parted, and boredom vanished very suddenly; for +even those who did not take much pleasure in the music were amazed by +the mere sound of her voice and by its incredible flexibility. + +She meant to astonish her hearers and keep them quiet, and she knew +what to sing to gain her end, and how to sing it. Those who have not +forgotten the story of her beginnings will remember that she was a +thorough musician as well as a great singer, and was one of those +very few primadonnas who are able to accompany themselves from memory +without a false note through any great piece they know, from _Lucia_ +to _Parsifal_. + +She began with the waltz song in the first act of _Romeo and Juliet_. +It was the piece that had revealed her talent to Madame Bonanni, who +had accidentally overheard her singing to herself, and it suited her +purpose admirably. Such fireworks could not fail to astound, even if +they did not please, and half the full volume of her voice was more +than enough for the long drawing-room, into which the whole party +gathered almost as soon as she began to sing. Such trifles as having +just dined, or having just waked up in the morning, have little +influence on the few great natural voices of the world, which begin +with twice the power and beauty that the 'built-up' ones acquire in +years of study. Ordinary people go to a concert, to the opera, to a +circus, to university sports, and hear and see things that interest or +charm, or sometimes surprise them; but they are very much amazed if +they ever happen to find out in private life what a really great +professional of any sort can do at a pinch, if put to it by any strong +motive. If it had been necessary, Margaret could have sung to the +party in the drawing-room at Craythew for an hour at a stretch with no +more rest than her accompaniments afforded. + +Her hearers were the more delighted because it was so spontaneous, and +there was not the least affectation about it. During these days no one +had even suggested that she should make music, or be anything except +the 'daughter of Lord Creedmore's old friend.' But now, apparently, +she had sat down to the piano to give them all a concert, for the +sheer pleasure of singing, and they were not only pleased with her, +but with themselves; for the public, and especially audiences, are +more easily flattered by a great artist who chooses to treat his +hearers as worthy of his best, than the artist himself is by the +applause he hears for the thousandth time. + +So the Señorita da Cordova held the party at Craythew spellbound while +other things were happening very near them which would have interested +them much more than her trills, and her 'mordentini,' and her soaring +runs, and the high staccato notes that rang down from the ceiling as +if some astounding and invisible instrument were up there, supported +by an unseen force. + +Meanwhile Paul Griggs and Logotheti had stopped a moment in the first +of the rooms that contained the library, on their way to the old study +beyond. + +It was almost dark amongst the huge oak bookcases, and both men +stopped at the same moment by a common instinct, to agree quickly upon +some plan of action. They had led adventurous lives, and were not +likely to stick at trifles, if they believed themselves to be in +the right; but if they had left the drawing-room with the distinct +expectation of anything like a fight, they would certainly not have +stopped to waste their time in talking. + +The Greek spoke first. + +'Perhaps you had better let me do the talking,' he said. + +'By all means,' answered Griggs. 'I am not good at that. I'll keep +quiet, unless we have to handle them.' + +'All right, and if you have any trouble I'll join in and help you. +Just set your back against the door if they try to get out while I am +speaking.' + +'Yes.' + +That was all, and they went on in the gathering gloom, through the +three rooms of the library, to the door of the old study, from which a +short winding staircase led up to the two small rooms which Griggs was +occupying. + +Three quiet men in dark clothes were standing together in the +twilight, in the bay window at the other side of the room, and they +moved and turned their heads quickly as the door opened. Logotheti +went up to them, while Griggs remained near the door, looking on. + +'What can I do for you?' inquired the Greek, with much urbanity. + +'We wished to speak with Mr. Van Torp, who is stopping here,' answered +the one of the three men who stood farthest forward. + +'Oh yes, yes!' said Logotheti at once, as if assenting. 'Certainly! +Lady Maud Leven, Lord Creedmore's daughter--Lady Creedmore is away, +you know--has asked us to inquire just what you want of Mr. Van Torp.' + +'It's a personal matter,' replied the spokesman. 'I will explain it to +him, if you will kindly ask him to come here a moment.' + +Logotheti smiled pleasantly. + +'Quite so,' he said. 'You are, no doubt, reporters, and wish to +interview him. As a personal friend of his, and between you and me, +I don't think he'll see you. You had better write and ask for an +appointment. Don't you think so, Griggs?' + +The author's large, grave features relaxed in a smile of amusement as +he nodded his approval of the plan. + +'We do not represent the press,' answered the man. + +'Ah! Indeed? How very odd! But of course--' Logotheti pretended to +understand suddenly--'how stupid of me! No doubt you are from the +bank. Am I not right?' + +'No. You are mistaken. We are not from Threadneedle Street.' + +'Well, then, unless you will enlighten me, I really cannot imagine who +you are or where you come from!' + +'We wish to speak in private with Mr. Van Torp.' + +'In private, too?' Logotheti shook his head, and turned to Griggs. +'Really, this looks rather suspicious; don't you think so?' + +Griggs said nothing, but the smile became a broad grin. + +The spokesman, on his side, turned to his two companions and +whispered, evidently consulting them as to the course he should +pursue. + +'Especially after the warning Lord Creedmore has received,' said +Logotheti to Griggs in a very audible tone, as if explaining his last +speech. + +The man turned to him again and spoke in a gravely determined tone-- + +'I must really insist upon seeing Mr. Van Torp immediately,' he said. + +'Yes, yes, I quite understand you,' answered Logotheti, looking at him +with a rather pitying smile, and then turning to Griggs again, as if +for advice. + +The elder man was much amused by the ease with which the Greek had so +far put off the unwelcome visitors and gained time; but he saw that +the scene must soon come to a crisis, and prepared for action, keeping +his eye on the three, in case they should make a dash at the door that +communicated with the rest of the house. + +During the two or three seconds that followed, Logotheti reviewed the +situation. It would be an easy matter to trick the three men into the +short winding staircase that led up to the rooms Griggs occupied, and +if the upper and lower doors were locked and barricaded, the prisoners +could not forcibly get out. But it was certain that the leader of the +party had a warrant about him, and this must be taken from him before +locking him up, and without any acknowledgment of its validity; for +even the lawless Greek was aware that it was not good to interfere +with officers of the law in the execution of their duty. If there had +been more time he might have devised some better means of attaining +his end than occurred to him just then. + +'They must be the lunatics,' he said to Griggs, with the utmost calm. + +The spokesman started and stared, and his jaw dropped. For a moment he +could not speak. + +'You know Lord Creedmore was warned this morning that a number had +escaped from the county asylum,' continued Logotheti, still speaking +to Griggs, and pretending to lower his voice. + +'Lunatics?' roared the man when he got his breath, exasperated out of +his civil manner. 'Lunatics, sir? We are from Scotland Yard, sir, I'd +have you know!' + +'Yes, yes,' answered the Greek, 'we quite understand. Humour them, +my dear chap,' he added in an undertone that was meant to be heard. +'Yes,' he continued in a cajoling tone, 'I guessed at once that +you were from police headquarters. If you'll kindly show me your +warrant--' + +He stopped politely, and nudged Griggs with his elbow, so that the +detectives should be sure to see the movement. The chief saw the +awkwardness of his own position, measured the bony veteran and the +athletic foreigner with his eye, and judged that if the two were +convinced that they were dealing with madmen they would make a pretty +good fight. + +'Excuse me,' the officer said, speaking calmly, 'but you are under a +gross misapprehension about us. This paper will remove it at once, I +trust, and you will not hinder us in the performance of an unpleasant +duty.' + +He produced an official envelope, handed it to Logotheti, and waited +for the result. + +It was unexpected when it came. Logotheti took the paper, and as it +was now almost dark he looked about for the key of the electric +light. Griggs was now close to him by the door through which they had +entered, and behind which the knob was placed. + +'If I can get them upstairs, lock and barricade the lower door,' +whispered the Greek as he turned up the light. + +He took the paper under a bracket light on the other side of the room, +beside the door of the winding stair, and began to read. + +His face was a study, and Griggs watched it, wondering what was +coming. As Logotheti read and reread the few short sentences, he was +apparently seized by a fit of mirth which he struggled in vain to +repress, and which soon broke out into uncontrollable laughter. + +'The cleverest trick you ever saw!' he managed to get out between his +paroxysms. + +It was so well done that the detective was seriously embarrassed; but +after a moment's hesitation he judged that he ought to get his warrant +back at all hazards, and he moved towards Logotheti with a menacing +expression. + +But the Greek, pretending to be afraid that the supposed lunatic was +going to attack him, uttered an admirable yell of fear, opened the +door close at his hand, rushed through, slammed it behind him, and +fled up the dark stairs. + +The detective lost no time, and followed in hot pursuit, his two +companions tearing up after him into the darkness. Then Griggs quietly +turned the key in the lock, for he was sure that Logotheti had +reached the top in time to fasten the upper door, and must be +already barricading it. Griggs proceeded to do the same, quietly and +systematically, and the great strength he had not yet lost served him +well, for the furniture in the room was heavy. In a couple of minutes +it would have needed sledge-hammers and crowbars to break out by the +lower entrance, even if the lock had not been a solid one. + +Griggs then turned out the lights, and went quietly back through the +library to the other part of the house to find Lady Maud. + +Logotheti, having meanwhile made the upper door perfectly secure, +descended by the open staircase to the hall, and sent the first +footman he met to call the butler, with whom he said he wished to +speak. The butler came at once. + +'Lady Maud asked me to see those three men,' said Logotheti in a low +tone. 'Mr. Griggs and I are convinced that they are lunatics escaped +from the asylum, and we have locked them up securely in the staircase +beyond the study.' + +'Yes, sir,' said the butler, as if Logotheti had been explaining how +he wished his shoe-leather to be treated. + +'I think you had better telephone for the doctor, and explain +everything to him over the wire without speaking to Lord Creedmore +just yet.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'How long will it take the doctor to get here?' + +'Perhaps an hour, sir, if he's at home. Couldn't say precisely, sir.' + +'Very good. There is no hurry; and of course her ladyship will be +particularly anxious that none of her friends should guess what has +happened; you see there would be a general panic if it were known that +there are escaped lunatics in the house.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Perhaps you had better take a couple of men you can trust, and pile +up some more furniture against the doors, above and below. One cannot +be too much on the safe side in such cases.' + +'Yes, sir. I'll do it at once, sir.' + +Logotheti strolled back towards the gallery in a very unconcerned way. +As for the warrant, he had burnt it in the empty fireplace in Griggs' +room after making all secure, and had dusted down the black ashes so +carefully that they had quite disappeared under the grate. After all, +as the doctor would arrive in the firm expectation of finding three +escaped madmen under lock and key, the Scotland Yard men might +have some difficulty in proving themselves sane until they could +communicate with their headquarters, and by that time Mr. Van Torp +could be far on his way if he chose. + +When Logotheti reached the door of the drawing-room, Margaret was +finishing Rosina's Cavatina from the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ in a +perfect storm of fireworks, having transposed the whole piece two +notes higher to suit her own voice, for it was originally written for +a mezzo-soprano. + +Lady Maud and Van Torp had gone out upon the terrace unnoticed a +moment before Margaret had begun to sing. The evening was still and +cloudless, and presently the purple twilight would pale under the +summer moon, and the garden and the lawns would be once more as bright +as day. The friends walked quickly, for Lady Maud set the pace and led +Van Torp toward the trees, where the stables stood, quite hidden from +the house. As soon as she reached the shade she stood still and spoke +in a low voice. + +'You have waited too long,' she said. 'Three men have come to arrest +you, and their motor is over there in the avenue.' + +'Where are they?' inquired the American, evidently not at all +disturbed. 'I'll see them at once, please.' + +'And give yourself up?' + +'I don't care.' + +'Here?' + +'Why not? Do you suppose I am going to run away? A man who gets out in +a hurry doesn't usually look innocent, does he?' + +Lady Maud asserted herself. + +'You must think of me and of my father,' she said in a tone of +authority Van Torp had never heard from her. 'I know you're as +innocent as I am, but after all that has been said and written about +you, and about you and me together, it's quite impossible that you +should let yourself be arrested in our house, in the midst of a party +that has been asked here expressly to be convinced that my father +approves of you. Do you see that?' + +'Well--' Mr. Van Torp hesitated, with his thumbs in his waistcoat +pockets. + +Across the lawn, from the open window, Margaret's voice rang out like +a score of nightingales in unison. + +'There's no time to discuss it,' Lady Maud said. 'I asked her to sing, +so as to keep the people together. Before she has finished, you must +be out of reach.' + +Mr. Van Torp smiled. 'You're remarkably positive about it,' he said. + +'You must get to town before the Scotland Yard people, and I don't +know how much start they will give you. It depends on how long Mr. +Griggs and Logotheti can keep them in the old study. It will be neck +and neck, I fancy. I'll go with you to the stables. You must ride to +your own place as hard as you can, and go up to London in your +car to-night. The roads are pretty clear on Sundays, and there's +moonlight, so you will have no trouble. It will be easy to say here +that you have been called away suddenly. Come, you must go!' + +Lady Maud moved towards the stables, and Van Torp was obliged to +follow her. Far away Margaret was singing the last bars of the waltz +song. + +'I must say,' observed Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully, as they walked on, +'for a lady who's generally what I call quite feminine, you make a man +sit up pretty quick.' + +'It's not exactly the time to choose for loafing,' answered Lady Maud. +'By the bye,' she added, 'you may as well know. Poor Leven is dead. I +had a telegram a few minutes ago. He was killed yesterday by a bomb +meant for somebody else.' + +Van Torp stood still, and Lady Maud stopped with evident reluctance. + +'And there are people who don't believe in Providence,' he said +slowly. 'Well, I congratulate you anyway.' + +'Hush, the poor man is dead. We needn't talk about him. Come, there's +no time to lose!' She moved impatiently. + +'So you're a widow!' Van Torp seemed to be making the remark to +himself without expecting any answer, but it at once suggested a +question. 'And now what do you propose to do?' he inquired. 'But I +expect you'll be a nun, or something. I'd like you to arrange so that +I can see you sometimes, will you?' + +'I'm not going to disappear yet,' Lady Maud answered gravely. + +They reached the stables, which occupied three sides of a square yard. +At that hour the two grooms and the stable-boy were at their supper, +and the coachman had gone home to his cottage. A big brown retriever +on a chain was sitting bolt upright beside his kennel, and began to +thump the flagstones with his tail as soon as he recognised Lady Maud. +From within a fox-terrier barked two or three times. Lady Maud opened +a door, and he sprang out at her yapping, but was quiet as soon as he +knew her. + +'You'd better take the Lancashire Lass,' she said to Van Torp. 'You're +heavier than my father, but it's not far to ride, and she's a clever +creature.' + +She had turned up the electric light while speaking, for it was dark +inside the stable; she got a bridle, went into the box herself, and +slipped it over the mare's pretty head. Van Torp saw that it was +useless to offer help. + +'Don't bother about a saddle,' he said; 'it's a waste of time.' + +He touched the mare's face and lips with his hand, and she understood +him, and let him lead her out. He vaulted upon her back, and Lady Maud +walked beside him till they were outside the yard. + +'If you had a high hat it would look like the circus,' she said, +glancing at his evening dress. 'Now get away! I'll be in town on +Tuesday; let me know what happens. Good-bye! Be sure to let me know.' + +'Yes. Don't worry. I'm only going because you insist, anyhow. +Good-bye. God bless you!' + +He waved his hand, the mare sprang forward, and in a few seconds he +was out of sight amongst the trees. Lady Maud listened to the regular +sound of the galloping hoofs on the turf, and at the same time from +very far off she heard Margaret's high trills and quick staccato +notes. At that moment the moon was rising through the late twilight, +and a nightingale high overhead, no doubt judging her little self to +be quite as great a musician as the famous Cordova, suddenly began +a very wonderful piece of her own, just half a tone higher than +Margaret's, which might have distressed a sensitive musician, but did +not jar in the least on Lady Maud's ear. + +Now that she had sent Van Torp on his way, she would gladly have +walked alone in the park for half an hour to collect her thoughts; but +people who live in the world are rarely allowed any pleasant leisure +when they need it, and many of the most dramatic things in real life +happen when we are in such a hurry that we do not half understand +them. So the moment that should have been the happiest of all goes +dashing by when we are hastening to catch a train; so the instant of +triumph after years of labour or weeks of struggling is upon us when +we are perhaps positively obliged to write three important notes +in twenty minutes; and sometimes, too, and mercifully, the pain of +parting is numbed just as the knife strikes the nerve, by the howling +confusion of a railway station that forces us to take care of +ourselves and our belongings; and when the first instant of joy, or +victory, or acute suffering is gone in a flash, memory never quite +brings back all the happiness nor all the pain. + +Lady Maud could not have stayed away many minutes longer. She went +back at once, entered by the garden window just as Margaret was +finishing Rosina's song, and remained standing behind her till she +had sung the last note. English people rarely applaud conventional +drawing-room music, but this had been something more, and the Craythew +guests clapped their hands loudly, and even the elderly wife of the +scientific peer emitted distinctly audible sounds of satisfaction. +Lady Maud bent her handsome head and kissed the singer affectionately, +whispering words of heartfelt thanks. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +Through the mistaken efforts of Isidore Bamberger, justice had got +herself into difficulties, and it was as well for her reputation, +which is not good nowadays, that the public never heard what happened +on that night at Craythew, how the three best men who had been +available at headquarters were discomfited in their well-meant attempt +to arrest an innocent man, and how they spent two miserable hours +together locked up in a dark winding staircase. For it chanced, as +it will chance to the end of time, that the doctor was out when the +butler telephoned to him; it happened, too, that he was far from home, +engaged in ushering a young gentleman of prosperous parentage into +this world, an action of which the kindness might be questioned, +considering that the poor little soul presumably came straight from +paradise, with an indifferent chance of ever getting there again. So +the doctor could not come. + +The three men were let out in due time, however, and as no trace of a +warrant could be discovered at that hour, Logotheti and Griggs being +already sound asleep, and as Lord Creedmore, in his dressing-gown and +slippers, gave them a written statement to the effect that Mr. Van +Torp was no longer at Craythew, they had no choice but to return to +town, rather the worse for wear. What they said to each other by the +way may safely be left to the inexhaustible imagination of a gentle +and sympathising reader. + +Their suppressed rage, their deep mortification, and their profound +disgust were swept away in their overwhelming amazement, however, +when they found that Mr. Rufus Van Torp, whom they had sought in +Derbyshire, was in Scotland Yard before them, closeted with their +Chief and explaining what an odd mistake the justice of two nations +had committed in suspecting him to have been at the Metropolitan +Opera-House in New York at the time of the explosion, since he had +spent that very evening in Washington, in the private study of the +Secretary of the Treasury, who wanted his confidential opinion on a +question connected with Trusts before he went abroad. Mr. Van Torp +stuck his thumbs into his waistcoat pockets and blandly insisted that +the cables should be kept red-hot--at international expense--till the +member of the Cabinet in Washington should answer corroborating the +statement. Four o'clock in the morning in London was only eleven +o'clock of the previous evening, Mr. Van Torp explained, and it was +extremely unlikely that the Secretary of the Treasury should be in +bed so early. If he was, he was certainly not asleep; and with the +facilities at the disposal of governments there was no reason why the +answer should not come back in forty minutes. + +It was impossible to resist such simple logic. The lines were cleared +for urgent official business between London and Washington, and in +less than an hour the answer came back, to the effect that Mr. Rufus +Van Torp's statement was correct in every detail; and without any +interval another official message arrived, revoking the request +for his extradition, which 'had been made under a most unfortunate +misapprehension, due to the fact that Mr. Van Torp's visit to the +Secretary of the Treasury had been regarded as confidential by the +latter.' + +Scotland Yard expressed its regret, and Mr. Van Torp smiled and begged +to be allowed, before leaving, to 'shake hands' with the three men who +had been put to so much inconvenience on his account. This democratic +proposal was promptly authorised, to the no small satisfaction and +profit of the three haggard officials. So Mr. Van Torp went away, +and in a few minutes he was sound asleep in the corner of his big +motor-car on his way back to Derbyshire. + +Lady Maud found Margaret and Logotheti walking slowly together under +the trees about eleven o'clock on the following morning. Some of the +people were already gone, and most of the others were to leave in the +course of the day. Lady Maud had just said good-bye to a party of ten +who were going off together, and she had not had a chance to speak to +Margaret, who had come down late, after her manner. Most great singers +are portentous sleepers. As for Logotheti, he always had coffee in his +room wherever he was, he never appeared at breakfast, and he got rid +of his important correspondence for the day before coming down. + +'I've had a letter from Threlfall,' he said as Lady Maud came up. 'I +was just telling Miss Donne about it. Feist died in Dr. Bream's Home +yesterday afternoon.' + +'Rather unfortunate at this juncture, isn't it?' observed Margaret. + +But Lady Maud looked shocked and glanced at Logotheti as if asking a +question. + +'No,' said the Greek, answering her thought. 'I did not kill him, poor +devil! He did it himself, out of fright, I think. So that side of the +affair ends. He had some sealed glass capsules of hydrocyanide of +potassium in little brass tubes, sewn up in the lining of a waistcoat, +and he took one, and must have died instantly. I believe the stuff +turns into prussic acid, or something of that sort, when you swallow +it--Griggs will know.' + +'How dreadful!' exclaimed Lady Maud. 'I'm sure you drove him to it!' + +'I'll bear the responsibility of having rid the world of him, if I +did. But my share consisted in having given him opium and then stopped +it suddenly, till he surrendered and told the truth--or a large part +of it--what I have told you already. He would not own that he killed +Miss Bamberger himself with the rusty little knife that had a few red +silk threads sticking to the handle. He must have put it back into his +case of instruments as it was, and he never had the courage to look +at it again. He had studied medicine, I believe. But he confessed +everything else, how he had been madly in love with the poor girl when +he was her father's secretary, and how she treated him like a servant +and made her father turn him out, and how he hated Van Torp furiously +for being engaged to marry her. He hated the Nickel Trust, too, +because he had thought the shares were going down and had risked +the little he had as margin on a drop, and had lost it all by the +unexpected rise. He drank harder after that, till he was getting silly +from it, when the girl's death gave him his chance against Van Torp, +and he manufactured the evidence in the diary he kept, and went to +Bamberger with it and made the poor man believe whatever he invented. +He told me all that, with a lot of details, but I could not make him +admit that he had killed the girl himself, so I gave him his opium and +he went to sleep. That's my story. Or rather, it's his, as I got it +from him last Thursday. I supposed there was plenty of time, but Mr. +Bamberger seems to have been in a hurry after we had got Feist into +the Home.' + +'Had you told Mr. Van Torp all this?' asked Lady Maud anxiously. + +'No,' Logotheti answered. 'I was keeping the information ready in case +it should be needed.' + +A familiar voice spoke behind them. + +'Well, it's all right as it is. Much obliged, all the same.' + +All three turned suddenly and saw that Mr. Van Torp had crept up while +they were talking, and the expression of his tremendous mouth showed +that he had meant to surprise them, and was pleased with his success +in doing so. + +'Really!' exclaimed Lady Maud. + +'Goodness gracious!' cried the Primadonna. + +'By the Dog of Egypt!' laughed Logotheti. + +'Don't know the breed,' answered Van Torp, not understanding, but +cheerfully playful. 'Was it a trick dog?' + +'I thought you were in London,' Margaret said. + +'I was. Between one and four this morning, I should say. It's all +right.' He nodded to Lady Maud as he spoke the last words, but he did +not seem inclined to say more. + +'Is it a secret?' she asked. + +'I never have secrets,' answered the millionaire. 'Secrets are +everything that must be found out and put in the paper right away, +ain't they? But I had no trouble at all, only the bother of waiting +till the office got an answer from the other side. I happened to +remember where I'd spent the evening of the explosion, that's all, and +they cabled sharp and found my statement correct.' + +'Why did you never tell me?' asked Lady Maud reproachfully. 'You knew +how anxious I was!' + +'Well,' replied Mr. Van Torp, dwelling long on the syllable, 'I did +tell you it was all right anyhow, whatever they did, and I thought +maybe you'd accept the statement. The man I spent that evening with is +a public man, and he mightn't exactly think our interview was anybody +else's business, might he?' + +'And you say you never keep a secret!' + +The delicious ripple was in Lady Maud's sweet voice as she spoke. +Perhaps it came a little in spite of herself, and she would certainly +have controlled her tone if she had thought of Leven just then. But +she was a very natural creature, after all, and she could not and +would not pretend to be sorry that he was dead, though the manner of +his end had seemed horrible to her when she had been able to think +over the news, after Van Torp had got safely away. So far there had +only been three big things in her life: her love for a man who was +dead, her tremendous determination to do some real good for his +memory's sake, and her deep gratitude to Van Torp, who had made that +good possible, and who, strangely enough, seemed to her the only +living person who really understood her and liked her for her own +sake, without the least idea of making love. And she saw in him what +few suspected, except little Ida and Miss More--the real humanity and +faithful kindness that dwelt in the terribly hard and coarse-grained +fighting financier. Lady Maud had her faults, no doubt, but she was +too big, morally, to be disturbed by what seemed to Margaret Donne an +intolerable vulgarity of manner and speech. + +As for Margaret, she now felt that painful little remorse that hurts +us when we realise that we have suspected an innocent person of +something dreadful, even though we may have contributed to the +ultimate triumph of the truth. Van Torp unconsciously deposited a coal +of fire on her head. + +'I'd just like to say how much I appreciate your kindness in singing +last night, Madame da Cordova,' he said. 'From what you knew and +told me on the steamer, you might have had a reasonable doubt, and I +couldn't very well explain it away before. I wish you'd some day tell +me what I can do for you. I'm grateful, honestly.' + +Margaret saw that he was much in earnest, and as she felt that she had +done him great injustice, she held out her hand with a frank smile. + +'I'm glad I was able to be of use,' she said. 'Come and see me in +town.' + +'Really? You won't throw me out if I do?' + +Margaret laughed. + +'No, I won't throw you out!' + +'Then I'll come some day. Thank you.' + +Van Torp had long given up all hope that she would ever marry him, but +it was something to be on good terms with her again, and for the sake +of that alone he would have risked a good deal. + +The four paired off, and Lady Maud walked in front with Van Torp, +while Margaret and Logotheti followed more slowly; so the couples did +not long keep near one another, and in less than five minutes they +lost each other altogether among the trees. + +Margaret had noticed something very unusual in the Greek's appearance +when they had met half an hour earlier, and she had been amazed when +she realised that he wore no jewellery, no ruby, no emeralds, no +diamonds, no elaborate chain, and that his tie was neither green, +yellow, sky-blue, nor scarlet, but of a soft dove grey which she liked +very much. The change was so surprising that she had been on the point +of asking him whether anything dreadful had happened; but just then +Lady Maud had come up with them. + +They walked a little way now, and when the others were out of sight +Margaret sat down on one of the many boulders that strewed the park. +Her companion stood before her, and while he lit a cigarette she +surveyed him deliberately from head to foot. Her fresh lips twitched +as they did when she was near laughing, and she looked up and met his +eyes. + +'What in the world has happened to you since yesterday?' she asked in +a tone of lazy amusement. 'You look almost like a human being!' + +'Do I?' he asked, between two small puffs of smoke, and he laughed a +little. + +'Yes. Are you in mourning for your lost illusions?' + +'No. I'm trying "to create and foster agreeable illusions" in you. +That's the object of all art, you know.' + +'Oh! It's for me, then? Really?' + +'Yes. Everything is. I thought I had explained that the other night!' +His tone was perfectly unconcerned, and he smiled carelessly as he +spoke. + +'I wonder what would happen if I took you at your word,' said +Margaret, more thoughtfully than she had spoken yet. + +'I don't know. You might not regret it. You might even be happy!' + +There was a little silence, and Margaret looked down. + +'I'm not exactly miserable as it is,' she said at last. 'Are you?' + +'Oh no!' answered Logotheti. 'I should bore you if I were!' + +'Awfully!' She laughed rather abruptly. 'Should you want me to leave +the stage?' she asked after a moment. + +'You forget that I like the Cordova just as much as I like Margaret +Donne.' + +'Are you quite sure?' + +'Absolutely!' + +'Let's try it!' + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRIMADONNA*** + + +******* This file should be named 10521-8.txt or 10521-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/2/10521 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: +https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: +https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + +*** END: FULL LICENSE *** diff --git a/old/10521-8.zip b/old/10521-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..af7680c --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10521-8.zip diff --git a/old/10521.txt b/old/10521.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..fc10440 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10521.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12147 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Primadonna, by F. Marion Crawford + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Primadonna + +Author: F. Marion Crawford + +Release Date: December 23, 2003 [eBook #10521] +[Last updated: October 27, 2015] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRIMADONNA*** + + +E-text prepared by Kevin Handy, Dave Maddock, Josephine Paolucci, and the +Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team + + + +THE PRIMADONNA + +A SEQUEL TO "FAIR MARGARET" + +BY + +F. MARION CRAWFORD + +AUTHOR OF "SARACINESCA," "SANT' ILARIO," "FAIR MARGARET," ETC., ETC. + +1908 + +[Illustration] + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +When the accident happened, Cordova was singing the mad scene in +_Lucia_ for the last time in that season, and she had never sung it +better. _The Bride of Lammermoor_ is the greatest love-story ever +written, and it was nothing short of desecration to make a libretto +of it; but so far as the last act is concerned the opera certainly +conveys the impression that the heroine is a raving lunatic. Only a +crazy woman could express feeling in such an unusual way. + +Cordova's face was nothing but a mask of powder, in which her handsome +brown eyes would have looked like two holes if she had not kept them +half shut under the heavily whitened lids; her hands were chalked too, +and they were like plaster casts of hands, cleverly jointed at the +wrists. She wore a garment which was supposed to be a nightdress, +which resembled a very expensive modern shroud, and which was +evidently put on over a good many other things. There was a deal of +lace on it, which fluttered when she made her hands shake to accompany +each trill, and all this really contributed to the general impression +of insanity. Possibly it was overdone; but if any one in the audience +had seen such a young person enter his or her room unexpectedly, and +uttering such unaccountable sounds, he or she would most assuredly +have rung for a doctor and a cab, and for a strait-jacket if such a +thing were to be had in the neighbourhood. + +An elderly man, with very marked features and iron-grey hair, sat in +the fifth row of the stalls, on the right-hand aisle. He was a bony +man, and the people behind him noticed him and thought he looked +strong. He had heard Bonanni in her best days and many great lyric +sopranos from Patti to Melba, and he was thinking that none of them +had sung the mad scene better than Cordova, who had only been on the +stage two years, and was now in New York for the first time. But he +had already heard her in London and Paris, and he knew her. He had +first met her at a breakfast on board Logotheti's yacht at Cap Martin. +Logotheti was a young Greek financier who lived in Paris and wanted to +marry her. He was rather mad, and had tried to carry her off on the +night of the dress rehearsal before her _debut_, but had somehow got +himself locked up for somebody else. Since then he had grown calmer, +but he still worshipped at the shrine of the Cordova. He was not +the only one, however; there were several, including the very +distinguished English man of letters, Edmund Lushington, who had known +her before she had begun to sing on the stage. + +But Lushington was in England and Logotheti was in Paris, and on the +night of the accident Cordova had not many acquaintances in the house +besides the bony man with grey hair; for though society had been +anxious to feed her and get her to sing for nothing, and to play +bridge with her, she had never been inclined to accept those +attentions. Society in New York claimed her, on the ground that she +was a lady and was an American on her mother's side. Yet she insisted +on calling herself a professional, because singing was her profession, +and society thought this so strange that it at once became suspicious +and invented wild and unedifying stories about her; and the reporters +haunted the lobby of her hotel, and gossiped with their friends the +detectives, who also spent much time there in a professional way for +the general good, and were generally what English workmen call wet +smokers. + +Cordova herself was altogether intent on what she was doing and was +not thinking of her friends, of Lushington, or Logotheti, nor of the +bony man in the stalls; certainly not of society, though it was richly +represented by diamonds in the subscriber's tier. Indeed the jewellery +was so plentiful and of such expensive quality that the whole row of +boxes shone like a vast coronet set with thousands of precious stones. +When the music did not amuse society, the diamonds and rubies twinkled +and glittered uneasily, but when Cordova was trilling her wildest +they were quite still and blazed with a steady light. Afterwards the +audience would all say again what they had always said about every +great lyric soprano, that it was just a wonderful instrument without a +particle of feeling, that it was an over-grown canary, a human flute, +and all the rest of it; but while the trills ran on the people +listened in wonder and the diamonds were very quiet. + +'A-a--A-a--A-a--A-a--' sang Cordova at an inconceivable pitch. + +A terrific explosion shook the building to its foundations; the lights +went out, and there was a long grinding crash of broken glass not far +off. + +In the momentary silence that followed before the inevitable panic the +voice of Schreiermeyer, the manager, rang out through the darkness. + +'Ladies and gentlemen! There's no danger! Keep your seats! The lights +will be up directly.' + +And indeed the little red lamps over each door that led out, being on +another circuit, were all burning quietly, but in the first moment of +fright no one noticed them, and the house seemed to be quite dark. + +Then the whole mass of humanity began to writhe and swell, as a +frightened crowd does in the dark, so that every one feels as if all +the other people were growing hugely big, as big as elephants, to +smother and crush him; and each man makes himself as broad as he can, +and tries to swell out his chest, and squares his elbows to keep the +weight off his sides; and with the steady strain and effort every one +breathes hard, and few speak, and the hard-drawn breath of thousands +together makes a sound of rushing wind like bellows as enormous as +houses, blowing steadily in the darkness. + +'Keep your seats!' yelled Schreiermeyer desperately. + +He had been in many accidents, and understood the meaning of the +noises he heard. There was death in them, death for the weak by +squeezing, and smothering, and trampling underfoot. It was a grim +moment, and no one who was there has forgotten it, the manager least +of all. + +'It's only a fuse gone!' he shouted. 'Only a plug burnt out!' + +But the terrified throng did not believe, and the people pressed upon +each other with the weight of hundreds of bodies, thronging from +behind, towards the little red lights. There were groans now, besides +the strained breathing and the soft shuffling of many feet on the +thick carpets. Each time some one went down there was a groan, stifled +as instantly and surely as though the lips from which it came were +quickly thrust under water. + +Schreiermeyer knew well enough that if nothing could be done within +the next two minutes there would be an awful catastrophe; but he was +helpless. No doubt the electricians were at work; in ten minutes the +damage would be repaired and the lights would be up again; but the +house would be empty then, except for the dead and the dying. + +Another groan was heard, and another quickly after it. The wretched +manager yelled, stormed, stamped, entreated, and promised, but with no +effect. In the very faint red light from the doors he saw a moving +sea of black and heard it surging to his very feet. He had an old +professional's exact sense of passing time, and he knew that a full +minute had already gone by since the explosion. No one could be dead +yet, even in that press, but there were few seconds to spare, fewer +and fewer. + +Then another sound was heard, a very pure strong note, high above his +own tones, a beautiful round note, that made one think of gold and +silver bells, and that filled the house instantly, like light, and +reached every ear, even through the terror that was driving the crowd +mad in the dark. + +A moment more, an instant's pause, and Cordova had begun Lucia's song +again at the beginning, and her marvellous trills and staccato notes, +and trills again, trills upon trills without end, filled the vast +darkness and stopped those four thousand men and women, spellbound and +silent, and ashamed too. + +It was not great music, surely; but it was sung by the greatest living +singer, singing alone in the dark, as calmly and as perfectly as if +all the orchestra had been with her, singing as no one can who feels +the least tremor of fear; and the awful tension of the dark throng +relaxed, and the breath that came was a great sigh of relief, for it +was not possible to be frightened when a fearless woman was singing so +marvellously. + +Then, still in the dark, some of the musicians struck in and supported +her, and others followed, till the whole body of harmony was complete; +and just as she was at the wildest trills, at the very passage during +which the crash had come, the lights went up all at once; and there +stood Cordova in white and lace, with her eyes half shut and shaking +her outstretched hands as she always made them shake in the mad scene; +and the stage was just as it had been before the accident, except that +Schreiermeyer was standing near the singer in evening dress with a +perfectly new and shiny high hat on the back of his head, and his +mouth wide open. + +The people were half hysterical from the past danger, and when they +saw, and realised, they did not wait for the end of the air, but sent +up such a shout of applause as had never been heard in the Opera +before and may not be heard there again. + +Instinctively the Primadonna sang the last bars, though no one heard +her in the din, unless it was Schreiermeyer, who stood near her. When +she had finished at last he ran up to her and threw both his arms +round her in a paroxysm of gratitude, regardless of her powder and +chalk, which came off upon his coat and yellow beard in patches of +white as he kissed her on both cheeks, calling her by every endearing +name that occurred to his polyglot memory, from Sweetheart in English +to Little Cabbage in French, till Cordova laughed and pushed him away, +and made a tremendous courtesy to the audience. + +Just then a man in a blue jacket and gilt buttons entered from the +left of the stage and whispered a few words into Schreiermeyer's ear. +The manager looked grave at once, nodded and came forward to the +prompter's box. The man had brought news of the accident, he said; +a quantity of dynamite which was to have been used in subterranean +blasting had exploded and had done great damage, no one yet knew how +great. It was probable that many persons had been killed. + +But for this news, Cordova would have had one of those ovations which +rarely fall to the lot of any but famous singers, for there was not a +man or woman in the theatre who had not felt that she had averted a +catastrophe and saved scores of lives. As it was, several women had +been slightly hurt and at least fifty had fainted. Every one was +anxious to help them now, most of all the very people who had hurt +them. + +But the news of an accident in the city emptied the house in a few +minutes; even now that the lights were up the anxiety to get out +to the street and to know more of the truth was great enough to be +dangerous, and the strong crowd heaved and surged again and pushed +through the many doors with little thought for the weak or for any who +had been injured in the first panic. + +But in the meantime Cordova had reached her dressing-room, supported +by the enthusiastic Schreiermeyer on one side, and by the equally +enthusiastic tenor on the other, while the singular family party +assembled in the last act of _Lucia di Lammermoor_ brought up the rear +with many expressions of admiration and sympathy. + +As a matter of fact the Primadonna needed neither sympathy nor +support, and that sort of admiration was not of the kind that most +delighted her. She did not believe that she had done anything heroic, +and did not feel at all inclined to cry. + +'You saved the whole audience!' cried Signor Pompeo Stromboli, the +great Italian tenor, who presented an amazing appearance in his +Highland dress. 'Four thousand seven hundred and fifty-three people +owe you their lives at this moment! Every one of them would have been +dead but for your superb coolness! Ah, you are indeed a great woman!' + +Schreiermeyer's business ear had caught the figures. As they walked, +each with an arm through one of the Primadonna's, he leaned back and +spoke to Stromboli behind her head. + +'How the devil do you know what the house was?' he asked sharply. + +'I always know,' answered the Italian in a perfectly matter-of-fact +tone. 'My dresser finds out from the box-office. I never take the C +sharp if there are less than three thousand.' + +'I'll stop that!' growled Schreiermeyer. + +'As you please!' Stromboli shrugged his massive shoulders. 'C sharp is +not in the engagement!' + +'It shall be in the next! I won't sign without it!' + +'I won't sign at all!' retorted the tenor with a sneer of superiority. +'You need not talk of conditions, for I shall not come to America +again!' + +'Oh, do stop quarrelling!' laughed Cordova as they reached the door of +her box, for she had heard similar amenities exchanged twenty times +already, and she knew that they meant nothing at all on either side. + +'Have you any beer?' inquired Stromboli of the Primadonna, as if +nothing had happened. + +'Bring some beer, Bob!' Schreiermeyer called out over his shoulder to +some one in the distance. + +'Yes, sir,' answered a rough voice, far off, and with a foreign +accent. + +The three entered the Primadonna's dressing-room together. It was a +hideous place, as all dressing-rooms are which are never used two days +in succession by the same actress or singer; very different from +the pretty cells in the beehive of the Comedie Francaise where each +pensioner or shareholder is lodged like a queen bee by herself, for +years at a time. + +The walls of Cordova's dressing-room were more or less white-washed +where the plaster had not been damaged. There was a dingy full-length +mirror, a shabby toilet-table; there were a few crazy chairs, the +wretched furniture which is generally to be found in actresses' +dressing-rooms, notwithstanding the marvellous descriptions invented +by romancers. But there was light in abundance and to excess, +dazzling, unshaded, intolerable to any but theatrical eyes. There were +at least twenty strong electric lamps in the miserable place, which +illuminated the coarsely painted faces of the Primadonna and the tenor +with alarming distinctness, and gleamed on Schreiermeyer's smooth fair +hair and beard, and impassive features. + +'You'll have two columns and a portrait in every paper to-morrow,' he +observed thoughtfully. 'It's worth while to engage such people. Oh +yes, damn it, I tell you it's worth while!' + +The last emphatic sentence was intended for Stromboli, as if he had +contradicted the statement, or were himself not 'worth while.' + +'There's beer there already,' said the tenor, seeing a bottle and +glass on a deal table, and making for them at once. + +He undid the patent fastening, stood upright with his sturdy +stockinged legs wide apart, threw his head back, opened his huge +painted mouth to the necessary extent, but not to the full, and +without touching his lips poured the beer into the chasm in a gurgling +stream, which he swallowed without the least apparent difficulty. When +he had taken down half the contents of the small bottle he desisted +and poured the rest into the glass, apparently for Cordova's benefit. + +'I hope I have left you enough,' he said, as he prepared to go. 'My +throat felt like a rusty gun-barrel.' + +'Fright is very bad for the voice,' Schreiermeyer remarked, as the +call-boy handed him another bottle of beer through the open door. + +Stromboli took no notice of the direct imputation. He had taken a very +small and fine handkerchief from his sporran and was carefully tucking +it into his collar with some idea of protecting his throat. When this +was done his admiration for his colleague broke out again without the +slightest warning. + +'You were superb, magnificent, surpassing!' he cried. + +He seized Cordova's chalked hands, pressed them to his own whitened +chin, by sheer force of stage habit, because the red on his lips would +have come off on them, and turned away. + +'Surpassing! Magnificent! What a woman!' he roared in tremendous tones +as he strode away through the dim corridor towards the stage and his +own dressing-room on the other side. + +Meanwhile Schreiermeyer, who was quite as thirsty as the tenor, drank +what the latter had left in the only glass there was, and set the full +bottle beside the latter on the deal table. + +'There is your beer,' he said, calling attention to what he had done. + +Cordova nodded carelessly and sat down on one of the crazy chairs +before the toilet-table. Her maid at once came forward and took off +her wig, and her own beautiful brown hair appeared, pressed and matted +close to her head in a rather disorderly coil. + +'You must be tired,' said the manager, with more consideration than +he often showed to any one whose next engagement was already signed. +'I'll find out how many were killed in the explosion and then I'll +get hold of the reporters. You'll have two columns and a picture +to-morrow.' + +Schreiermeyer rarely took the trouble to say good-morning or +good-night, and Cordova heard the door shut after him as he went out. + +'Lock it,' she said to her maid. 'I'm sure that madman is about the +theatre again.' + +The maid obeyed with alacrity. She was very tall and dark, and +when she had entered Cordova's service two years ago she had been +positively cadaverous. She herself said that her appearance had been +the result of living many years with the celebrated Madame Bonanni, +who was a whirlwind, an earthquake, a phenomenon, a cosmic force. No +one who had lived with her in her stage days had ever grown fat; it +was as much as a very strong constitution could do not to grow thin. + +Madame Bonanni had presented the cadaverous woman to the young +Primadonna as one of the most precious of her possessions, and out of +sheer affection. It was true that since the great singer had closed +her long career and had retired to live in the country, in Provence, +she dressed with such simplicity as made it possible for her to exist +without the long-faithful, all-skilful, and iron-handed Alphonsine; +and the maid, on her side, was so thoroughly a professional theatrical +dresser that she must have died of inanition in what she would have +called private life. Lastly, she had heard that Madame Bonanni had now +given up the semblance, long far from empty, but certainly vain, of a +waist, and dressed herself in a garment resembling a priest's cassock, +buttoned in front from her throat to her toes. + +Alphonsine locked the door, and the Primadonna leaned her elbows on +the sordid toilet-table and stared at her chalked and painted face, +vaguely trying to recognise the features of Margaret Donne, the +daughter of the quiet Oxford scholar, her real self as she had been +two years ago, and by no means very different from her everyday self +now. But it was not easy. Margaret was there, no doubt, behind the +paint and the 'liquid white,' but the reality was what the public +saw beyond the footlights two or three times a week during the opera +season, and applauded with might and main as the most successful lyric +soprano of the day. + +There were moments when she tried to get hold of herself and bring +herself back. They came most often after some great emotion in the +theatre, when the sight of the painted mask in the glass shocked and +disgusted her as it did to-night; when the contrasts of life were +almost more than she could bear, when her sensibilities awoke again, +when the fastidiousness of the delicately nurtured girl revolted under +the rough familiarity of such a comrade as Stromboli, and rebelled +against the sordid cynicism of Schreiermeyer. + +She shuddered at the mere idea that the manager should have thought +she would drink out of the glass he had just used. Even the Italian +peasant, who had been a goatherd in Calabria, and could hardly write +his name, showed more delicacy, according to his lights, which were +certainly not dazzling. A faint ray of Roman civilisation had reached +him through generations of slaves and serfs and shepherds. But no +such traditions of forgotten delicacy disturbed the manners of +Schreiermeyer. The glass from which he had drunk was good enough for +any primadonna in his company, and it was silly for any of them to +give themselves airs. Were they not largely his creatures, fed from +his hand, to work for him while they were young, and to be turned out +as soon as they began to sing false? He was by no means the worst of +his kind, as Margaret knew very well. + +She thought of her childhood, of her mother and of her father, both +dead long before she had gone on the stage; and of that excellent and +kind Mrs. Rushmore, her American mother's American friend, who had +taken her as her own daughter, and had loved her and cared for her, +and had shed tears when Margaret insisted on becoming a singer; who +had fought for her, too, and had recovered for her a small fortune of +which her mother had been cheated. For Margaret would have been more +than well off without her profession, even when she had made her +_debut_, and she had given up much to be a singer, believing that she +knew what she was doing. + +But now she was ready to undo it all and to go back; at least she +thought she was, as she stared at herself in the glass while the pale +maid drew her hair back and fastened it far above her forehead with a +big curved comb, as a preliminary to getting rid of paint and powder. +At this stage of the operation the Primadonna was neither Cordova nor +Margaret Donne; there was something terrifying about the exaggeratedly +painted mask when the wig was gone and her natural hair was drawn +tightly back. She thought she was like a monstrous skinned rabbit with +staring brown eyes. + +At first, with the inexperience of youth, she used to plunge her +painted face into soapsuds and scrub vigorously till her own +complexion appeared, a good deal overheated and temporarily shiny; +but before long she had yielded to Alphonsine's entreaties and +representations and had adopted the butter method, long familiar to +chimney-sweeps. + +The butter lay ready; not in a lordly dish, but in a clean tin can +with a cover, of the kind workmen use for fetching beer, and commonly +called a 'growler' in New York, for some reason which escapes +etymologists. + +Having got rid of the upper strata of white lace and fine linen, +artfully done up so as to tremble like aspen leaves with Lucia's mad +trills, Margaret proceeded to butter her face thoroughly. It occurred +to her just then that all the other artists who had appeared with her +were presumably buttering their faces at the same moment, and that if +the public could look in upon them it would be very much surprised +indeed. At the thought she forgot what she had been thinking of and +smiled. + +The maid, who was holding her hair back where it escaped the comb, +smiled too, and evidently considered that the relaxation of Margaret's +buttered features was equivalent to a permission to speak. + +'It was a great triumph for Madame,' she observed. 'All the papers +will praise Madame to-morrow. Madame saved many lives.' + +'Was Mr. Griggs in the house?' Margaret asked. 'I did not see him.' + +Alphonsine did not answer at once, and when she spoke her tone had +changed. + +'Yes, Madame. Mr. Griggs was in the house.' + +Margaret wondered whether she had saved his life too, in his own +estimation or in that of her maid, and while she pondered the question +she buttered her nose industriously. + +Alphonsine took a commercial view of the case. + +'If Madame would appear three times more in New York, before sailing, +the manager would give ten thousand francs a night,' she observed. + +Margaret said nothing to this, but she thought it would be amusing to +show herself to an admiring public in her present condition. + +'Madame is now a heroine,' continued Alphonsine, behind her. 'Madame +can ask anything she pleases. Several milliardaires will now offer to +marry Madame.' + +'Alphonsine,' answered Margaret, 'you have no sense.' + +The maid smiled, knowing that her mistress could not see even the +reflection of the smile in the glass; but she said nothing. + +'No sense,' Margaret repeated, with conviction. 'None at all' + +The maid allowed a few seconds to pass before she spoke again. + +'Or if Madame would accept to sing in one or two private houses in New +York, we could ask a very great price, more than the manager would +give.' + +'I daresay.' + +'It is certain,' said Alphonsine. 'At the French ball to which Madame +kindly allowed me to go, the valet of Mr. Van Torp approached me.' + +'Indeed!' exclaimed Cordova absently. 'How very disagreeable!' + +'I see that Madame is not listening,' said Alphonsine, taking offence. + +What she said was so true that Margaret did not answer at all. +Besides, the buttering process was finished, and it was time for the +hot water. She went to the ugly stationary washstand and bent over it, +while the maid kept her hair from her face. Alphonsine spoke again +when she was sure that her mistress could not possibly answer her. + +'Mr. Van Torp's valet asked me whether I thought Madame would be +willing to sing in church, at the wedding, the day after to-morrow,' +she said, holding the Primadonna's back hair firmly. + +The head moved energetically under her hands. Margaret would certainly +not sing at Mr. Van Torp's wedding, and she even tried to say so, but +her voice only bubbled and sputtered ineffectually through the soap +and water. + +'I was sure Madame would not,' continued the maid, 'though Mr. Van +Torp's valet said that money was no object. He had heard Mr. Van Torp +say that he would give five thousand dollars to have Madame sing at +his wedding.' + +Margaret did not shake her head this time, nor try to speak, but +Alphonsine heard the little impatient tap of her slipper on the wooden +floor. It was not often that the Primadonna showed so much annoyance +at anything; and of late, when she did, the cause had been connected +with this same Mr. Van Torp. The mere mention of his name irritated +her, and Alphonsine seemed to know it, and to take an inexplicable +pleasure in talking about him--about Mr. Rufus Van Torp, formerly of +Chicago, but now of New York. He was looked upon as the controlling +intellect of the great Nickel Trust; in fact, he was the Nickel Trust +himself, and the other men in it were mere dummies compared with him. +He had sailed the uncertain waters of finance for twenty years or +more, and had been nearly shipwrecked more than once, but at the time +of this story he was on the top of the wave; and as his past was even +more entirely a matter of conjecture than his future, it would be +useless to inquire into the former or to speculate about the latter. +Moreover, in these break-neck days no time counts but the present, so +far as reputation goes; good fame itself now resembles righteousness +chiefly because it clothes men as with a garment; and as we have the +highest authority for assuming that charity covers a multitude of +sins, we can hardly be surprised that it should be so generally +used for that purpose. Rufus Van Torp's charities were notorious, +aggressive, and profitable. The same sums of money could not have +bought as much mingled advertisement and immunity in any other way. + +'Of course,' observed Alphonsine, seeing that Margaret would soon be +able to speak again, 'money is no object to Madame either!' + +This subtle flattery was evidently meant to forestall reproof. But +Margaret was now splashing vigorously, and as both taps were running +the noise was as loud as that of a small waterfall; possibly she had +not even heard the maid's last speech. + +Some one knocked at the door, and knocked a second time almost +directly. The Primadonna pushed Alphonsine with her elbow, speaking +being still impossible, and the woman understood that she was to +answer the summons. + +She asked who was knocking, and some one answered. + +'It is Mr. Griggs,' said Alphonsine. + +'Ask him to wait,' Margaret succeeded in saying. + +Alphonsine transmitted the message through the closed door, and +listened for the answer. + +'He says that there is a lady dying in the manager's room, who wants +Madame,' said the maid, repeating what she heard. + +Margaret stood upright, turned quickly, and crossed the room to the +door, mopping her face with a towel. + +'Who is it?' she asked in an anxious tone. + +'I'm Griggs,' said a deep voice. 'Come at once, if you can, for the +poor girl cannot last long.' + +'One minute! Don't go away--I'm coming out.' + +Alphonsine never lost her head. A theatrical dresser who does is of no +use. She had already brought the wide fur coat Margaret always wore +after singing. In ten seconds the singer was completely clothed in +it, and as she laid her hand on the lock to let herself out, the maid +placed a dark Russian hood on her head from behind her and took the +long ends twice round her throat. + +Mr. Griggs was a large bony man with iron-grey hair, who looked very +strong. He had a sad face and deep-set grey eyes. He led the way +without speaking, and Cordova walked quickly after him. Alphonsine did +not follow, for she was responsible for the belongings that lay about +in the dressing-room. The other doors on the women's side, which is on +the stage left and the audience's right at the Opera, were all tightly +closed. The stage itself was not dark yet, and the carpenters were +putting away the scenery of the last act as methodically as if nothing +had happened. + +'Do you know her?' Margaret asked of her companion as they hurried +along the passage that leads into the house. + +'Barely. She is a Miss Bamberger, and she was to have been married the +day after to-morrow, poor thing--to a millionaire. I always forget his +name, though I've met him several times.' + +'Van Torp?' asked Margaret as they hastened on. + +'Yes. That's it--the Nickel Trust man, you know.' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered in a low tone. 'I was asked to sing at the +wedding.' + +They reached the door of the manager's room. The clerks from the +box-office and several other persons employed about the house were +whispering together in the little lobby. They made way for Cordova and +looked with curiosity at Griggs, who was a well-known man of letters. + +Schreiermeyer stood at the half-closed inner door, evidently waiting. + +'Come in,' he said to Margaret. 'The doctor is there.' + +The room was flooded with electric light, and smelt of very strong +Havana cigars and brandy. Margaret saw a slight figure in a red silk +evening gown, lying at full length on an immense red leathern sofa. A +young doctor was kneeling on the floor, bending down to press his ear +against the girl's side; he moved his head continually, listening for +the beating of her heart. Her face was of a type every one knows, and +had a certain half-pathetic prettiness; the features were small, and +the chin was degenerate but delicately modelled. The rather colourless +fair hair was elaborately done; her thin cheeks were dreadfully white, +and her thin neck shrank painfully each time she breathed out, though +it grew smooth and full as she drew in her breath. A short string of +very large pearls was round her throat, and gleamed in the light as +her breathing moved them. + +Schreiermeyer did not let Griggs come in, but went out to him, shut +the door and stood with his back to it. + +Margaret did not look behind her, but crossed directly to the sofa and +leaned over the dying girl, who was conscious and looked at her with +inquiring eyes, not recognising her. + +'You sent for me,' said the singer gently. + +'Are you really Madame Cordova?' asked the girl in a faint tone. + +It was as much as she could do to speak at all, and the doctor looked +up to Margaret and raised his hand in a warning gesture, meaning that +his patient should not be allowed to talk. She saw his movement and +smiled faintly, and shook her head. + +'No one can save me,' she said to him, quite quietly and distinctly. +'Please leave us together, doctor.' + +'I am altogether at a loss,' the doctor answered, speaking to Margaret +as he rose. 'There are no signs of asphyxia, yet the heart does not +respond to stimulants. I've tried nitro-glycerine--' + +'Please, please go away!' begged the girl. + +The doctor was a young surgeon from the nearest hospital, and hated to +leave his case. He was going to argue the point, but Margaret stopped +him. + +'Go into the next room for a moment, please,' she said +authoritatively. + +He obeyed with a bad grace, and went into the empty office which +adjoined the manager's room, but he left the door open. Margaret knelt +down in his place and took the girl's cold white hand. + +'Can he hear?' asked the faint voice. + +'Speak low,' Margaret answered. 'What can I do?' + +'It is a secret,' said the girl. 'The last I shall ever have, but I +must tell some one before I die. I know about you. I know you are a +lady, and very good and kind, and I have always admired you so much!' + +'You can trust me,' said the singer. 'What is the secret I am to keep +for you?' + +'Do you believe in God? I do, but so many people don't nowadays, you +know. Tell me.' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, wondering. 'Yes, I do.' + +'Will you promise, by the God you believe in?' + +'I promise to keep your secret, so help me God in Heaven,' said +Margaret gravely. + +The girl seemed relieved, and closed her eyes for a moment. She was so +pale and still that Margaret thought the end had come, but presently +she drew breath again and spoke, though it was clear that she had not +much strength left. + +'You must not keep the secret always,' she said. 'You may tell him you +know it. Yes--let him know that you know--if you think it best--' + +'Who is he?' + +'Mr. Van Torp.' + +'Yes?' Margaret bent her ear to the girl's lips and waited. + +Again there was a pause of many seconds, and then the voice came +once more, with a great effort that only produced very faint sounds, +scarcely above a whisper. + +'He did it.' + +That was all. At long intervals the dying girl drew deep breaths, +longer and longer, and then no more. Margaret looked anxiously at the +still face for some time, and then straightened herself suddenly. + +'Doctor! Doctor!' she cried. + +The young man was beside her in an instant. For a full minute there +was no sound in the room, and he bent over the motionless figure. + +'I'm afraid I can't do anything,' he said gently, and he rose to his +feet. + +'Is she really dead?' Margaret asked, in an undertone. + +'Yes. Failure of the heart, from shock.' + +'Is that what you will call it?' + +'That is what it is,' said the doctor with a little emphasis of +offence, as if his science had been doubted. 'You knew her, I +suppose?' + +'No. I never saw her before. I will call Schreiermeyer.' + +She stood still a moment longer, looking down at the dead face, and +she wondered what it all meant, and why the poor girl had sent for +her, and what it was that Mr. Van Torp had done. Then she turned very +slowly and went out. + +'Dead, I suppose,' said Schreiermeyer as soon as he saw the +Primadonna's face. 'Her relations won't get here in time.' + +Margaret nodded in silence and went on through the lobby. + +'The rehearsal is at eleven,' the manager called out after her, in his +wooden voice. + +She nodded again, but did not look back. Griggs had waited in order +to take her back to her dressing-room, and the two crossed the stage +together. It was almost quite dark now, and the carpenters were gone +away. + +'Thank you,' Margaret said. 'If you don't care to go all the way back +you can get out by the stage door.' + +'Yes. I know the way in this theatre. Before I say good-night, do you +mind telling me what the doctor said?' + +'He said she died of failure of the heart, from shock. Those were his +words. Why do you ask?' + +'Mere curiosity. I helped to carry her--that is, I carried her myself +to the manager's room, and she begged me to call you, so I came to +your door.' + +'It was kind of you. Perhaps it made a difference to her, poor girl. +Good-night.' + +'Good-night. When do you sail?' + +'On Saturday. I sing "Juliet" on Friday night and sail the next +morning.' + +'On the _Leofric_?' + +'Yes.' + +'So do I. We shall cross together.' + +'How delightful! I'm so glad! Good-night again.' + +Alphonsine was standing at the open door of the dressing-room in the +bright light, and Margaret nodded and went in. The maid looked after +the elderly man till he finally disappeared, and then she went in too +and locked the door after her. + +Griggs walked home in the bitter March weather. When he was in New +York, he lived in rooms on the second floor of an old business +building not far from Fifth Avenue. He was quite alone in the house at +night, and had to walk up the stairs by the help of a little electric +pocket-lantern he carried. He let himself into his own door, turned +up the light, slipped off his overcoat and gloves, and went to the +writing-table to get his pipe. That is very often the first thing a +man does when he gets home at night. + +The old briar pipe he preferred to any other lay on the blotting-paper +in the circle where the light was brightest. As he took it a stain on +his right hand caught his eye, and he dropped the pipe to look at +it. The blood was dark and was quite dry, and he could not find any +scratch to account for it. It was on the inner side of his right hand, +between the thumb and forefinger, and was no larger than an ordinary +watch. + +'How very odd!' exclaimed Mr. Griggs aloud; and he turned his hand +this way and that under the electric lamp, looking for some small +wound which he supposed must have bled. There was a little more inside +his fingers, and between them, as if it had oozed through and then had +spread over his knuckles. + +But he could find nothing to account for it. He was an elderly man who +had lived all over the world and had seen most things, and he was not +easily surprised, but he was puzzled now. Not the least strange thing +was that the stain should be as small as it was and yet so dark. He +crossed the room again and examined the front of his overcoat with the +most minute attention. It was made of a dark frieze, almost black, +on which a red stain would have shown very little; but after a very +careful search Griggs was convinced that the blood which had stained +his hand had not touched the cloth. + +He went into his dressing-room and looked at his face in his +shaving-glass, but there was certainly no stain on the weather-beaten +cheeks or the furrowed forehead. + +'How very odd!' he exclaimed a second time. + +He washed his hands slowly and carefully, examining them again and +again, for he thought it barely possible that the skin might have been +cracked somewhere by the cutting March wind, and might have bled a +little, but he could not find the least sign of such a thing. + +When he was finally convinced that he could not account for the stain +he had now washed off, he filled his old pipe thoughtfully and sat +down in a big shabby arm-chair beside the table to think over other +questions more easy of solution. For he was a philosophical man, and +when he could not understand a matter he was able to put it away in a +safe place, to be kept until he got more information about it. + +The next morning, amidst the flamboyant accounts of the subterranean +explosion, and of the heroic conduct of Madame Margarita da Cordova, +the famous Primadonna, in checking a dangerous panic at the Opera, +all the papers found room for a long paragraph about Miss Ida H. +Bamberger, who had died at the theatre in consequence of the shock +her nerves had received, and who was to have married the celebrated +capitalist and philanthropist, Mr. Van Torp, only two days later. +There were various dramatic and heart-rending accounts of her death, +and most of them agreed that she had breathed her last amidst her +nearest and dearest, who had been with her all the evening. + +But Mr. Griggs read these paragraphs thoughtfully, for he remembered +that he had found her lying in a heap behind a red baize door which +his memory could easily identify. + +After all, the least misleading notice was the one in the column of +deaths:-- + +BAMBERGER.--On Wednesday, of heart-failure from shock, IDA HAMILTON, +only child of HANNAH MOON by her former marriage with ISIDORE +BAMBERGER. California papers please copy. + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +In the lives of professionals, whatever their profession may be, the +ordinary work of the day makes very little impression on the memory, +whereas a very strong and lasting one is often made by circumstances +which a man of leisure or a woman of the world might barely notice, +and would soon forget. In Margaret's life there were but two sorts of +days, those on which she was to sing and those on which she was at +liberty. In the one case she had a cutlet at five o'clock, and supper +when she came home; in the other, she dined like other people and went +to bed early. At the end of a season in New York, the evenings on +which she had sung all seemed to have been exactly alike; the people +had always applauded at the same places, she had always been called +out about the same number of times, she had always felt very much +the same pleasure and satisfaction, and she had invariably eaten her +supper with the same appetite. Actors lead far more emotional lives +than singers, partly because they have the excitement of a new piece +much more often, with the tremendous nervous strain of a first night, +and largely because they are not obliged to keep themselves in such +perfect training. To an actor a cold, an indigestion, or a headache +is doubtless an annoyance; but to a leading singer such an accident +almost always means the impossibility of appearing at all, with +serious loss of money to the artist, and grave disappointment to the +public. The result of all this is that singers, as a rule, are much +more normal, healthy, and well-balanced people than other musicians, +or than actors. Moreover they generally have very strong bodies and +constitutions to begin with, and when they have not they break down +young. + +Paul Griggs had an old traveller's preference for having plenty of +time, and he was on board the steamer on Saturday a full hour before +she was to sail; his not very numerous belongings, which looked as +weather-beaten as himself, were piled up unopened in his cabin, and he +himself stood on the upper promenade deck watching the passengers as +they came on board. He was an observant man, and it interested him to +note the expression of each new face that appeared; for the fact +of starting on a voyage across the ocean is apt to affect people +inversely as their experience. Those who cross often look so +unconcerned that a casual observer might think they were not to start +at all, whereas those who are going for the first time are either +visibly flurried, or are posing to look as if they were not, though +they are intensely nervous about their belongings; or they try to +appear as if they belonged to the ship, or else as if the ship +belonged to them, making observations which are supposed to be +nautical, but which instantly stamp them as unutterable land-lubbers +in the shrewd estimation of the stewards; and the latter, as every old +hand is aware, always know everything much better than the captain. + +Margaret Donne had been the most sensible and simple of young girls, +and when she appeared at the gangway very quietly dressed in brown, +with a brown fur collar, a brown hat, a brown veil, and a brown +parasol, there was really nothing striking to distinguish her from +other female passengers, except her good looks and her well-set-up +figure. Yet somehow it seems impossible for a successful primadonna +ever to escape notice. Instead of one maid, for instance, Cordova had +two, and they carried rather worn leathern boxes that were evidently +heavy jewel-cases, which they clutched with both hands and refused to +give up to the stewards. They also had about them the indescribable +air of rather aggressive assurance which belongs especially to +highly-paid servants, men and women. Their looks said to every one: +'We are the show and you are the public, so don't stand in the way, +for if you do the performance cannot go on!' They gave their orders +about their mistress's things to the chief steward as if he were +nothing better than a railway porter or a call-boy at the theatre; +and, strange to say, that exalted capitalist obeyed with a docility he +would certainly not have shown to any other passenger less than royal. +They knew their way everywhere, they knew exactly what the best of +everything was, and they made it clear that the great singer would +have nothing less than the very, very best. She had the best cabin +already, and she was to have the best seat at table, the best steward +and the best stewardess, and her deck-chair was to be always in the +best place on the upper promenade deck; and there was to be no mistake +about it; and if anybody questioned the right of Margarita da Cordova, +the great lyric soprano, to absolute precedence during the whole +voyage, from start to finish, her two maids would know the reason why, +and make the captain and all the ship's company wish they were dead. + +That was their attitude. + +But this was not all. There were the colleagues who came to see +Margaret off and wished that they were going too. In spite of the +windy weather there was Signor Pompeo Stromboli, the tenor, as broad +as any two ordinary men, in a fur coat of the most terribly expensive +sort, bringing an enormous box of chocolates with his best wishes; and +there was the great German dramatic barytone, Herr Tiefenbach, who +sang 'Amfortas' better than any one, and was a true musician as well +as a man of culture, and he brought Margaret a book which he insisted +that she must read on the voyage, called _The Genesis of the Tone +Epos_; and there was that excellent and useful little artist, Fraeulein +Ottilie Braun, who never had an enemy in her life, who was always +ready to sing any part creditably at a moment's notice if one of the +leading artists broke down, and who was altogether one of the best, +kindest, and least conceited human beings that ever joined an opera +company. She brought her great colleague a little bunch of violets. + +Least expected of them all, there was Schreiermeyer, with a basket +of grape fruit in his tightly-gloved podgy hands; and he was smiling +cheerfully, which was an event in itself. They followed Margaret up to +the promenade deck after her maids had gone below, and stood round her +in a group, all talking at once in different languages. + +Griggs chanced to be the only other passenger on that part of the deck +and he joined the party, for he knew them all. Margaret gave him her +hand quietly and nodded to him. Signor Stromboli was effusive in his +greeting; Herr Tiefenbach gave him a solemn grip; little Fraeulein +Ottilie smiled pleasantly, and Schreiermeyer put into his hands the +basket he carried, judging that as he could not get anything else out +of the literary man he could at least make him carry a parcel. + +'Grape fruit for Cordova,' he observed. 'You can give it to the +steward, and tell him to keep the things in a cool place.' + +Griggs took the basket with a slight smile, but Stromboli snatched it +from him instantly, and managed at the same time to seize upon the +book Herr Tiefenbach had brought without dropping his own big box of +sweetmeats. + +'I shall give everything to the waiter!' he cried with exuberant +energy as he turned away. 'He shall take care of Cordova with his +conscience! I tell you, I will frighten him!' + +This was possible, and even probable. Margaret looked after the broad +figure. + +'Dear old Stromboli!' she laughed. + +'He has the kindest heart in the world,' said little Fraeulein Ottilie +Braun. + +'He is no a musician,' observed Herr Tiefenbach; 'but he does not sing +out of tune.' + +'He is a lunatic,' said Schreiermeyer gravely. 'All tenors are +lunatics--except about money,' he added thoughtfully. + +'I think Stromboli is very sensible,' said Margaret, turning to +Griggs. 'He brings his little Calabrian wife and her baby out with +him, and they take a small house for the winter and Italian servants, +and live just as if they were in their own country and see only their +Italian friends--instead of being utterly wretched in a horrible +hotel.' + +'For the modest consideration of a hundred dollars a day,' put in +Griggs, who was a poor man. + +'I wish my bills were never more than that!' Margaret laughed. + +'Yes,' said Schreiermeyer, still thoughtful. 'Stromboli understands +money. He is a man of business. He makes his wife cook for him.' + +'I often cook for myself,' said Fraeulein Ottilie quite simply. 'If I +had a husband, I would cook for him too!' She laughed like a child, +without the slightest sourness. 'It is easier to cook well than to +marry at all, even badly!' + +'I do not at all agree with you,' answered Herr Tiefenbach severely. +'Without flattering myself, I may say that my wife married well; but +her potato dumplings are terrifying.' + +'You were never married, were you?' Margaret asked, turning to Griggs +with a smile. + +'No,' he answered. 'Can you make potato dumplings, and are you in +search of a husband?' + +'It is the other way,' said Schreiermeyer, 'for the husbands are +always after her. Talking of marriage, that girl who died the other +night was to have been married to Mr. Van Torp yesterday, and they +were to have sailed with you this morning.' + +'I saw his name on the--' Schreiermeyer began, but he was interrupted +by a tremendous blast from the ship's horn, the first warning for +non-passengers to go ashore. + +Before the noise stopped Stromboli appeared again, looking very much +pleased with himself, and twisting up the short black moustache that +was quite lost on his big face. When he was nearer he desisted from +twirling, shook a fat forefinger at Margaret and laughed. + +'Oh, well, then,' he cried, translating his Italian literally into +English, 'I've been in your room, Miss Cordova! Who is this Tom, eh? +Flowers from Tom, one! Sweets from Tom, two! A telegram from Tom, +three! Tom, Tom, Tom; it is full of Tom, her room! In the end, what +is this Tom? For me, I only know Tom the ruffian in the _Ballo in +Maschera_. That is all the Tom I know!' + +They all looked at Margaret and laughed. She blushed a little, more +out of annoyance than from any other reason. + +'The maids wished to put me out,' laughed Stromboli, 'but they could +not, because I am big. So I read everything. If I tell you I read, +what harm is there?' + +'None whatever,' Margaret answered, 'except that it is bad manners to +open other people's telegrams.' + +'Oh, that! The maid had opened it with water, and was reading when I +came. So I read too! You shall find it all well sealed again, have no +fear! They all do so.' + +'Pleasant journey,' said Schreiermeyer abruptly. 'I'm going ashore. +I'll see you in Paris in three weeks.' + +'Read the book,' said Herr Tiefenbach earnestly, as he shook hands. +'It is a deep book.' + +'Do not forget me!' cried Stromboli sentimentally, and he kissed +Margaret's gloves several times. + +'Good-bye,' said Fraeulein Ottilie. 'Every one is sorry when you go!' + +Margaret was not a gushing person, but she stooped and kissed the +cheerful little woman, and pressed her small hand affectionately. + +'And everybody is glad when you come, my dear,' she said. + +For Fraeulein Ottilie was perhaps the only person in the company whom +Cordova really liked, and who did not jar dreadfully on her at one +time or another. + +Another blast from the horn and they were all gone, leaving her and +Griggs standing by the rail on the upper promenade deck. The little +party gathered again on the pier when they had crossed the plank, and +made farewell signals to the two, and then disappeared. Unconsciously +Margaret gave a little sigh of relief, and Griggs noticed it, as he +noticed most things, but said nothing. + +There was silence for a while, and the gangplank was still in place +when the horn blew a third time, longer than before. + +'How very odd!' exclaimed Griggs, a moment after the sound had ceased. + +'What is odd?' Margaret asked. + +She saw that he was looking down, and her eyes followed his. A +square-shouldered man in mourning was walking up the plank in a +leisurely way, followed by a well-dressed English valet, who carried a +despatch-box in a leathern case. + +'It's not possible!' Margaret whispered in great surprise. + +'Perfectly possible,' Griggs answered, in a low voice. 'That is Rufus +Van Torp.' + +Margaret drew back from the rail, though the new comer was already out +of sight on the lower promenade deck, to which the plank was laid to +suit the height of the tide. She moved away from the door of the first +cabin companion. + +Griggs went with her, supposing that she wished to walk up and down. +Numbers of other passengers were strolling about on the side next to +the pier, waiting to see the start. Margaret went on forward, turned +the deck-house and walked to the rail on the opposite side, where +there was no one. Griggs glanced at her face and thought that she +seemed disturbed. She looked straight before her at the closed iron +doors of the next pier, at which no ship was lying. + +'I wish I knew you better,' she said suddenly. + +Griggs looked at her quietly. It did not occur to him to make a +trivial and complimentary answer to this advance, such as most men of +the world would have made, even at his age. + +'I shall be very glad if we ever know each other better,' he said +after a short pause. + +'So shall I.' + +She leaned upon the rail and looked down at the eddying water. The +tide had turned and was beginning to go out. Griggs watched her +handsome profile in silence for a time. + +'You have not many intimate friends, have you?' she asked presently. + +'No, only one or two.' + +She smiled. + +'I'm not trying to get confidences from you. But really, that is very +vague. You must surely know whether you have only one, or whether +there is another. I'm not suggesting myself as a third, either!' + +'Perhaps I'm over-cautious,' Griggs said. 'It does not matter. You +began by saying that you wished you knew me better. You meant that +if you did, you would either tell me something which you don't tell +everybody, or you would come to me for advice about something, or you +would ask me to do something for you. Is that it?' + +'I suppose so.' + +'It was not very hard to guess. I'll answer the three cases. If you +want to tell me a secret, don't. If you want advice without telling +everything about the case, it will be worthless. But if there is +anything I can do for you, I'll do it if I can, and I won't ask any +questions.' + +'That's kind and sensible,' Margaret answered. 'And I should not be in +the least afraid to tell you anything. You would not repeat it.' + +'No, certainly not. But some day, unless we became real friends, you +would think that I might, and then you would be very sorry.' + +A short pause followed. + +'We are moving,' Margaret said, glancing at the iron doors again. + +'Yes, we are off.' + +There was another pause. Then Margaret stood upright and turned her +face to her companion. She did not remember that she had ever looked +steadily into his eyes since she had known him. + +They were grey and rather deeply set under grizzled eyebrows that +were growing thick and rough with advancing years, and they met hers +quietly. She knew at once that she could bear their scrutiny for any +length of time without blushing or feeling nervous, though there was +something in them that was stronger than she. + +'It's this,' she said at last, as if she had been talking and had +reached a conclusion. 'I'm alone, and I'm a little frightened.' + +'You?' Griggs smiled rather incredulously. + +'Yes. Of course I'm used to travelling without any one and taking care +of myself. Singers and actresses are just like men in that, and it did +not occur to me this morning that this trip could be different from +any other.' + +'No. Why should it be so different? I don't understand.' + +'You said you would do something for me without asking questions. Will +you?' + +'If I can.' + +'Keep Mr. Van Torp away from me during the voyage. I mean, as much +as you can without being openly rude. Have my chair put next to some +other woman's and your own on my other side. Do you mind doing that?' + +Griggs smiled. + +'No,' he said, 'I don't mind.' + +'And if I am walking on deck and he joins me, come and walk beside me +too. Will you? Are you quite sure you don't mind?' + +'Yes.' He was still smiling. 'I'm quite certain that I don't dislike +the idea.' + +'I wish I were sure of being seasick,' Margaret said thoughtfully. +'It's bad for the voice, but it would be a great resource.' + +'As a resource, I shall try to be a good substitute for it,' said +Griggs. + +Margaret realised what she had said and laughed. + +'But it is no laughing matter,' she answered, her face growing grave +again after a moment. + +Griggs had promised not to ask questions, and he expressed no +curiosity. + +'As soon as you go below I'll see about the chair,' he said. + +'My cabin is on this deck,' Margaret answered. 'I believe I have a +tiny little sitting-room, too. It's what they call a suite in their +magnificent language, and the photographs in the advertisements make +it look like a palatial apartment!' + +She left the rail as she spoke, and found her own door on the same +side of the ship, not very far away. + +'Here it is,' she said. 'Thank you very much.' + +She looked into his eyes again for an instant and went in. + +She had forgotten Signor Stromboli and what he had said, for her +thoughts had been busy with a graver matter, but she smiled when she +saw the big bunch of dark red carnations in a water-jug on the table, +and the little cylinder-shaped parcel which certainly contained a +dozen little boxes of the chocolate 'oublies' she liked, and the +telegram, with its impersonal-looking address, waiting to be opened by +her after having been opened, read, and sealed again by her thoughtful +maids. Such trifles as the latter circumstance did not disturb her in +the least, for though she was only a young woman of four and twenty, +a singer and a musician, she had a philosophical mind, and considered +that if virtue has nothing to do with the greatness of princes, moral +worth need not be a clever lady's-maid's strong point. + +'Tom' was her old friend Edmund Lushington, one of the most +distinguished of the younger writers of the day. He was the only son +of the celebrated soprano, Madame Bonanni, now retired from the stage, +by her marriage with an English gentleman of the name of Goodyear, and +he had been christened Thomas. But his mother had got his name and +surname legally changed when he was a child, thinking that it would be +a disadvantage to him to be known as her son, as indeed it might have +been at first; even now the world did not know the truth about his +birth, but it would not have cared, since he had won his own way. + +Margaret meant to marry him if she married at all, for he had been +faithful in his devotion to her nearly three years; and his rivalry +with Constantine Logotheti, her other serious adorer, had brought some +complications into her life. But on mature reflection she was sure +that she did not wish to marry any one for the present. So many of +her fellow-singers had married young and married often, evidently +following the advice of a great American humorist, and mostly with +disastrous consequences, that Margaret preferred to be an exception, +and to marry late if at all. + +In the glaring light of the twentieth century it at last clearly +appears that marriageable young women have always looked upon marriage +as the chief means of escape from the abject slavery and humiliating +dependence hitherto imposed upon virgins between fifteen and fifty +years old. Shakespeare lacked the courage to write the 'Seven Ages of +Woman,' a matter the more to be regretted as no other writer has ever +possessed enough command of the English language to describe more than +three out of the seven without giving offence: namely, youth, which +lasts from sixteen to twenty; perfection, which begins at twenty and +lasts till further notice; and old age, which women generally place +beyond seventy, though some, whose strength is not all sorrow and +weakness even then, do not reach it till much later. If Shakespeare +had dared he would have described with poetic fire the age of the girl +who never marries. But this is a digression. The point is that the +truth about marriage is out, since the modern spinster has shown the +sisterhood how to live, and an amazing number of women look upon +wedlock as a foolish thing, vainly imagined, never necessary, and +rarely amusing. + +The state of perpetual unsanctified virginity, however, is not for +poor girls, nor for operatic singers, nor for kings' daughters, none +of whom, for various reasons, can live, or are allowed to live, +without husbands. Unless she be a hunchback, an unmarried royal +princess is almost as great an exception as a white raven or a cat +without a tail; a primadonna without a husband alive, dead, or +divorced, is hardly more common; and poor girls marry to live. But +give a modern young woman a decent social position, with enough money +for her wants and an average dose of assurance, and she becomes so +fastidious in the choice of a mate that no man is good enough for +her till she is too old to be good enough for any man. Even then the +chances are that she will not deeply regret her lost opportunities, +and though her married friends will tell her that she has made a +mistake, half of them will envy her in secret, the other half will not +pity her much, and all will ask her to their dinner-parties, because a +woman without a husband is such a convenience. + +In respect to her art Margarita da Cordova was in all ways a thorough +artist, endowed with the gifts, animated by the feelings, and +afflicted with the failings that usually make up an artistic nature. +But Margaret Donne was a sound and healthy English girl who had been +brought up in the right way by a very refined and cultivated father +and mother who loved her devotedly. If they had lived she would not +have gone upon the stage; for as her mother's friend Mrs. Rushmore had +often told her, the mere thought of such a life for their daughter +would have broken their hearts. She was a grown woman now, and high +on the wave of increasing success and celebrity, but she still had +a childish misgiving that she had disobeyed her parents and done +something very wrong, just as when she had surreptitiously got into +the jam cupboard at the age of five. + +Yet there are old-fashioned people alive even now who might think that +there was less harm in becoming a public singer than in keeping Edmund +Lushington dangling on a string for two years and more. Those things +are matters of opinion. Margaret would have answered that if he +dangled it was his misfortune and not her fault, since she never, in +her own opinion, had done anything to keep him, and would not have +been broken-hearted if he had gone away, though she would have missed +his friendship very much. Of the two, the man who had disturbed her +maiden peace of mind was Logotheti, whom she feared and sometimes +hated, but who had an inexplicable power over her when they met: the +sort of fateful influence which honest Britons commonly ascribe to all +foreigners with black hair, good teeth, diamond studs, and the other +outward signs of wickedness. Twice, at least, Logotheti had behaved in +a manner positively alarming, and on the second occasion he had very +nearly succeeded in carrying her off bodily from the theatre to +his yacht, a fate from which Lushington and his mother had been +instrumental in saving her. Such doings were shockingly lawless, but +they showed a degree of recklessly passionate admiration which was +flattering from a young financier who was so popular with women that +he found it infinitely easier to please than to be pleased. + +Perhaps, if Logotheti could have put on a little Anglo-Saxon coolness, +Margaret might have married him by this time. Perhaps she would have +married Lushington, if he could have suddenly been animated by a +little Greek fire. As things stood, she told herself that she did not +care to take a man who meant to be not only her master but her tyrant, +nor one who seemed more inclined to be her slave than her master. + +Meanwhile, however, it was the Englishman who kept himself constantly +in mind with her by an unbroken chain of small attentions that often +made her smile but sometimes really touched her. Any one could cable +'Pleasant voyage,' and sign the telegram 'Tom,' which gave it a +friendly and encouraging look, because somehow 'Tom' is a cheerful, +plucky little name, very unlike 'Edmund.' But it was quite another +matter, being in England, to take the trouble to have carnations of +just the right shade fresh on her cabin table at the moment of her +sailing from New York, and beside them the only sort of chocolates she +liked. That was more than a message, it was a visit, a presence, a +real reaching out of hand to hand. + +Logotheti, on the contrary, behaved as if he had forgotten Margaret's +existence as soon as he was out of her sight; and they now no longer +met often, but when they did he had a way of taking up the thread as +if there had been no interval, which was almost as effective as his +rival's method; for it produced the impression that he had been +thinking of her only, and of nothing else in the world since the last +meeting, and could never again give a thought to any other woman. This +also was flattering. He never wrote to her, he never telegraphed good +wishes for a journey or a performance, he never sent her so much as a +flower; he acted as if he were really trying to forget her, as perhaps +he was. But when they met, he was no sooner in the same room with her +than she felt the old disturbing influence she feared and yet +somehow desired in spite of herself, and much as she preferred the +companionship of Lushington and liked his loyal straightforward ways, +and admired his great talent, she felt that he paled and seemed less +interesting beside the vivid personality of the Greek financier. + +He was vivid; no other word expresses what he was, and if that one +cannot properly be applied to a man, so much the worse for our +language. His colouring was too handsome, his clothes were too good, +his shoes were too shiny, his ties too surprising, and he not only +wore diamonds and rubies, but very valuable ones. Yet he was not +vulgarly gorgeous; he was Oriental. No one would say that a Chinese +idol covered with gold and precious stones was overdressed, but it +would be out of place in a Scotch kirk; the minister would be thrown +into the shade and the congregation would look at the idol. In +society, which nowadays is far from a chiaroscuro, everybody looked at +Logotheti. If he had come from any place nearer than Constantinople +people would have smiled and perhaps laughed at him; as it was, he was +an exotic, and besides, he had the reputation of being dangerous to +women's peace, and extremely awkward to meddle with in a quarrel. + +Margaret sat some time in her little sitting-room reflecting on these +things, for she knew that before many days were past she must meet +her two adorers; and when she had thought enough about both, she gave +orders to her maids about arranging her belongings. By and by she went +to luncheon and found herself alone at some distance from the other +passengers, next to the captain's empty seat; but she was rather glad +that her neighbours had not come to table, for she got what she wanted +very quickly and had no reason for waiting after she had finished. + +Then she took a book and went on deck again, and Alphonsine found her +chair on the sunny side and installed her in it very comfortably and +covered her up, and to her own surprise she felt that she was very +sleepy; so that just as she was wondering why, she dozed off and began +to dream that she was Isolde, on board of Tristan's ship, and that she +was singing the part, though she had never sung it and probably never +would. + +When she opened her eyes again there was no land in sight, and the big +steamer was going quietly with scarcely any roll. She looked aft and +saw Paul Griggs leaning against the rail, smoking; and she turned her +head the other way, and the chair next to her own on that side was +occupied by a very pleasant-looking young woman who was sitting up +straight and showing the pictures in a book to a beautiful little girl +who stood beside her. + +The lady had a very quiet healthy face and smooth brown hair, and was +simply and sensibly dressed. Margaret at once decided that she was not +the child's mother, nor an elder sister, but some one who had charge +of her, though not exactly a governess. The child was about nine years +old; she had a quantity of golden hair that waved naturally, and a +spiritual face with deep violet eyes, a broad white forehead and a +pathetic little mouth. + +She examined each picture, and then looked up quickly at the lady, +keeping her wide eyes fixed on the latter's face with an expression of +watchful interest. The lady explained each picture to her, but in such +a soft whisper that Margaret could not hear a sound. Yet the child +evidently understood every word easily. It was natural to suppose that +the lady spoke under her breath in order not to disturb Margaret while +she was asleep. + +'It is very kind of you to whisper,' said the Primadonna graciously, +'but I am awake now.' + +The lady turned with a pleasant smile. + +'Thank you,' she answered. + +The child did not notice Margaret's little speech, but looked up from +the book for the explanation of the next picture. + +'It is the inside of the Colosseum in Rome, and you will see it +before long,' said the lady very distinctly. 'I have told you how the +gladiators fought there, and how Saint Ignatius was sent all the way +from Antioch to be devoured by lions there, like many other martyrs.' + +The little girl watched her face intently, nodded gravely, and looked +down at the picture again, but said nothing. The lady turned to +Margaret. + +'She was born deaf and dumb,' she said quietly, 'but I have taught her +to understand from the lips, and she can already speak quite well. She +is very clever.' + +'Poor little thing!' Margaret looked at the girl with increasing +interest. 'Such a little beauty, too! What is her name?' + +'Ida--' + +The child had turned over the pages to another picture, and now looked +up for the explanation of it. Griggs had finished his cigar and came +and sat down on Margaret's other side. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +The _Leofric_ was three days out, and therefore half-way over the +ocean, for she was a fast boat, but so far Griggs had not been called +upon to hinder Mr. Van Torp from annoying Margaret. Mr. Van Torp had +not been on deck; in fact, he had not been seen at all since he had +disappeared into his cabin a quarter of an hour before the steamer had +left the pier. There was a good deal of curiosity about him amongst +the passengers, as there would have been about the famous Primadonna +if she had not come punctually to every meal, and if she had not been +equally regular in spending a certain number of hours on deck every +day. + +At first every one was anxious to have what people call a 'good look' +at her, because all the usual legends were already repeated about her +wherever she went. It was said that she was really an ugly woman of +thirty-five who had been married to a Spanish count of twice that +age, and that he had died leaving her penniless, so that she had been +obliged to support herself by singing. Others were equally sure that +she was a beautiful escaped nun, who had been forced to take the veil +in a convent in Seville by cruel parents, but who had succeeded in +getting herself carried off by a Polish nobleman disguised as a +priest. Every one remembered the marvellous voice that used to sing so +high above all the other nuns, behind the lattice on Sunday afternoons +at the church of the Dominican Convent. That had been the voice of +Margarita da Cordova, and she could never go back to Spain, for if she +did the Inquisition would seize upon her, and she would be tortured +and probably burnt alive to encourage the other nuns. + +This was very romantic, but unfortunately there was a man who said he +knew the plain truth about her, and that she was just a good-looking +Irish girl whose father used to play the flute at a theatre in Dublin, +and whose mother kept a sweetshop in Queen Street. The man who knew +this had often seen the shop, which was conclusive. + +Margaret showed herself daily and the myths lost value, for every +one saw that she was neither an escaped Spanish nun nor the gifted +offspring of a Dublin flute-player and a female retailer of +bull's-eyes and butterscotch, but just a handsome, healthy, +well-brought-up young Englishwoman, who called herself Miss Donne in +private life. + +But gossip, finding no hold upon her, turned and rent Mr. Van Torp, +who dwelt within his tent like Achilles, but whether brooding or +sea-sick no one was ever to know. The difference of opinion about him +was amazing. Some said he had no heart, since he had not even waited +for the funeral of the poor girl who was to have been his wife. +Others, on the contrary, said that he was broken-hearted, and that +his doctor had insisted upon his going abroad at once, doubtless +considering, as the best practitioners often do, that it is wisest +to send a patient who is in a dangerous condition to distant shores, +where some other doctor will get the credit of having killed him or +driven him mad. Some said that Mr. Van Torp was concerned in the +affair of that Chinese loan, which of course explained why he was +forced to go to Europe in spite of the dreadful misfortune that had +happened to him. The man who knew everything hinted darkly that Mr. +Van Torp was not really solvent, and that he had perhaps left the +country just at the right moment. + +'That is nonsense,' said Miss More to Margaret in an undertone, for +they had both heard what had just been said. + +Miss More was the lady in charge of the pretty deaf child, and the +latter was curled up in the next chair with a little piece of crochet +work. Margaret had soon found out that Miss More was a very nice +woman, after her own taste, who was given neither to flattery nor to +prying, the two faults from which celebrities are generally made to +suffer most by fellow-travellers who make their acquaintance. Miss +More was evidently delighted to find herself placed on deck next to +the famous singer, and Margaret was so well satisfied that the deck +steward had already received a preliminary tip, with instructions to +keep the chairs together during the voyage. + +'Yes,' said Margaret, in answer to Miss More's remark. 'I don't +believe there is the least reason for thinking that Mr. Van Torp is +not immensely rich. Do you know him?' + +'Yes.' + +Miss More did not seem inclined to enlarge upon the fact, and her face +was thoughtful after she had said the one word; so was Margaret's tone +when she answered: + +'So do I.' + +Each of the young women understood that the other did not care to +talk of Mr. Van Torp. Margaret glanced sideways at her neighbour and +wondered vaguely whether the latter's experience had been at all like +her own, but she could not see anything to make her think so. Miss +More had a singularly pleasant expression and a face that made one +trust her at once, but she was far from beautiful, and would hardly +pass for pretty beside such a good-looking woman as Margaret, who +after all was not what people call an out-and-out beauty. It was odd +that the quiet lady-like teacher should have answered monosyllabically +in that tone. She felt Margaret's sidelong look of inquiry, and turned +half round after glancing at little Ida, who was very busy with her +crochet. + +'I'm afraid you may have misunderstood me,' she said, smiling. 'If I +did not say any more it is because he himself does not wish people to +talk of what he does.' + +'I assure you, I'm not curious,' Margaret answered, smiling too. 'I'm +sorry if I looked as if I were.' + +'No--you misunderstood me, and it was a little my fault. Mr. Van Torp +is doing something very, very kind which it was impossible that I +should not know of, and he has asked me not to tell any one.' + +'I see,' Margaret answered. 'Thank you for telling me. I am glad to +know that he--' + +She checked herself. She detested and feared the man, for reasons of +her own, and she found it hard to believe that he could do something +'very, very kind' and yet not wish it to be known. He did not strike +her as being the kind of person who would go out of his way to hide +his light under a bushel. Yet Miss More's tone had been quiet and +earnest. Perhaps he had employed her to teach some poor deaf and dumb +child, like little Ida. Her words seemed to imply this, for she had +said that it had been impossible that she should not know; that is, +he had been forced to ask her advice or help, and her help and advice +could only be considered indispensable where her profession as a +teacher of the deaf and dumb was concerned. + +Miss More was too discreet to ask the question which Margaret's +unfinished sentence suggested, but she would not let the speech pass +quite unanswered. + +'He is often misjudged,' she said. 'In business he may be what many +people say he is. I don't understand business! But I have known him to +help people who needed help badly and who never guessed that he even +knew their names.' + +'You must be right,' Margaret answered. + +She remembered the last words of the girl who had died in the +manager's room at the theatre. There had been a secret. The secret +was that Mr. Van Torp had done the thing, whatever it was. She had +probably not known what she was saying, but it had been on her mind to +say that Mr. Van Torp had done it, the man she was to have married. +Margaret's first impression had been that the thing done must have +been something very bad, because she herself disliked the man so +much; but Miss More knew him, and since he often did 'very, very kind +things,' it was possible that the particular action of which the dying +girl was thinking might have been a charitable one; possibly he had +confided the secret to her. Margaret smiled rather cruelly at her own +superior knowledge of the world--yes, he had told the girl about that +'secret' charity in order to make a good impression on her! Perhaps +that was his favourite method of interesting women; if it was, he +had not invented it. Margaret thought she could have told Miss More +something which would have thrown another light on Mr. Van Torp's +character. + +Her reflections had led her back to the painful scene at the theatre, +and she remembered the account of it the next day, and the fact that +the girl's name had been Ida. To change the subject she asked her +neighbour an idle question. + +'What is the little girl's full name?' she inquired. + +'Ida Moon,' answered Miss More. + +'Moon?' Margaret turned her head sharply. 'May I ask if she is any +relation of the California Senator who died last year?' + +'She is his daughter,' said Miss More quietly. + +Margaret laid one hand on the arm of her chair and leaned forward a +little, so as to see the child better. + +'Really!' she exclaimed, rather deliberately, as if she had chosen +that particular word out of a number that suggested themselves. +'Really!' she repeated, still more slowly, and then leaned back again +and looked at the grey waves. + +She remembered the notice of Miss Bamberger's death. It had described +the deceased as the only child of Hannah Moon by her former marriage +with Isidore Bamberger. But Hannah Moon, as Margaret happened to know, +was now the widow of Senator Alvah Moon. Therefore the little deaf +child was the half-sister of the girl who had died at the theatre in +Margaret's arms and had been christened by the same name. Therefore, +also, she was related to Margaret, whose mother had been the +California magnate's cousin. + +'How small the world is!' Margaret said in a low voice as she looked +at the grey waves. + +She wondered whether little Ida had ever heard of her half-sister, and +what Miss More knew about it all. + +'How old is Mrs. Moon?' she asked. + +'I fancy she must be forty, or near that. I know that she was nearly +thirty years younger than the Senator, but I never saw her.' + +'You never saw her?' Margaret was surprised. + +'No,' Miss More answered. 'She is insane, you know. She went quite +mad soon after the little girl was born. It was very painful for +the Senator. Her delusion was that he was her divorced husband, Mr. +Bamberger, and when the child came into the world she insisted that +it should be called Ida, and that she had no other. Mr. Bamberger's +daughter was Ida, you know. It was very strange. Mrs. Moon was +convinced that she was forced to live her life over again, year by +year, as an expiation for something she had done. The doctors say it +is a hopeless case. I really think it shortened the Senator's life.' + +Margaret did not think that the world had any cause to complain of +Mrs. Moon on that account. + +'So this child is quite alone in the world,' she said. + +'Yes. Her father is dead and her mother is in an asylum.' + +'Poor little thing!' + +The two young women were leaning back in their chairs, their faces +turned towards each other as they talked, and Ida was still busy with +her crochet. + +'Luckily she has a sunny nature,' said Miss More. 'She is interested +in everything she sees and hears.' She laughed a little. 'I always +speak of it as hearing,' she added, 'for it is quite as quick, when +there is light enough. You know that, since you have talked with her.' + +'Yes. But in the dark, how do you make her understand?' + +'She can generally read what I say by laying her hand on my lips; but +besides that, we have the deaf and dumb alphabet, and she can feel my +fingers as I make the letters.' + +'You have been with her a long time, I suppose,' Margaret said. + +'Since she was three years old.' + +'California is a beautiful country, isn't it?' asked Margaret after a +pause. + +She put the question idly, for she was thinking how hard it must be to +teach deaf and dumb children. Miss More's answer surprised her. + +'I have never been there.' + +'But, surely, Senator Moon lived in San Francisco,' Margaret said. + +'Yes. But the child was sent to New England when she was three, +and never went back again. We have been living in the country near +Boston.' + +'And the Senator used to pay you a visit now and then, of course, when +he was alive. He must have been immensely pleased by the success of +your teaching.' + +Though Margaret felt that she was growing more curious about little +Ida than she often was about any one, it did not occur to her that the +question she now suggested, rather than asked, was an indiscreet one, +and she was surprised by her companion's silence. She had already +discovered that Miss More was one of those literally truthful people +who never let an inaccurate statement pass their lips, and who will +be obstinately silent rather than answer a leading question, quite +regardless of the fact that silence is sometimes the most direct +answer that can be given. On the present occasion Miss More said +nothing and turned her eyes to the sea, leaving Margaret to make any +deduction she pleased; but only one suggested itself, namely, that the +deceased Senator had taken very little interest in the child of his +old age, and had felt no affection for her. Margaret wondered whether +he had left her rich, but Miss More's silence told her that she had +already asked too many questions. + +She glanced down the long line of passengers beyond Miss More and Ida. +Men, women, and children lay side by side in their chairs, wrapped and +propped like a row of stuffed specimens in a museum. They were not +interesting, Margaret thought; for those who were awake all looked +discontented, and those who were asleep looked either ill or +apoplectic. Perhaps half of them were crossing because they were +obliged to go to Europe for one reason or another; the other half were +going in an aimless way, because they had got into the habit while +they were young, or had been told that it was the right thing to do, +or because their doctors sent them abroad to get rid of them. The grey +light from the waves was reflected on the immaculate and shiny white +paint, and shed a cold glare on the commonplace faces and on the +plaid rugs, and on the vivid magazines which many of the people were +reading, or pretending to read; for most persons only look at the +pictures nowadays, and read the advertisements. A steward in a very +short jacket was serving perfectly unnecessary cups of weak broth on a +big tray, and a great number of the passengers took some, with a vague +idea that the Company's feelings might be hurt if they did not, or +else that they would not be getting their money's worth. + +Between the railing and the feet of the passengers, which stuck out +over the foot-rests of their chairs to different lengths according +to the height of the possessors, certain energetic people walked +ceaselessly up and down the deck, sometimes flattening themselves +against the railing to let others who met them pass by, and sometimes, +when the ship rolled a little, stumbling against an outstretched foot +or two without making any elaborate apology for doing so. + +Margaret only glanced at the familiar sight, but she made a little +movement of annoyance almost directly, and took up the book that lay +open and face downwards on her knee; she became absorbed in it so +suddenly as to convey the impression that she was not really reading +at all. + +She had seen Mr. Van Torp and Paul Griggs walking together and coming +towards her. + +The millionaire was shorter than his companion and more clumsily made, +though not by any means a stout man. Though he did not look like a +soldier he had about him the very combative air which belongs to so +many modern financiers of the Christian breed. There was the bull-dog +jaw, the iron mouth, and the aggressive blue eye of the man who takes +and keeps by force rather than by astuteness. Though his face had +lines in it and his complexion was far from brilliant he looked +scarcely forty years of age, and his short, rough, sandy hair had not +yet begun to turn grey. + +He was not ugly, but Margaret had always seen something in his face +that repelled her. It was some lack of proportion somewhere, which +she could not precisely define; it was something that was out of +the common type of faces, but that was disquieting rather than +interesting. Instead of wondering what it meant, those who noticed it +wished it were not there. + +Margaret was sure she could distinguish his heavy step from Griggs's +when he was near her, but she would not look up from her book till he +stopped and spoke to her. + +'Good-morning, Madame Cordova; how are you this morning?' he inquired, +holding out his hand. 'You didn't expect to see me on board, did you?' + +His tone was hard and business-like, but he lifted his yachting cap +politely as he held out his hand. Margaret hesitated a moment before +taking it, and when she moved her own he was already holding his out +to Miss More. + +'Good-morning, Miss More; how are you this morning?' + +Miss More leaned forward and put down one foot as if she would have +risen in the presence of the great man, but he pushed her back by her +hand which he held, and proceeded to shake hands with the little girl. + +'Good-morning, Miss Ida; how are you this morning?' + +Margaret felt sure that if he had shaken hands with a hundred people +he would have repeated the same words to each without any variation. +She looked at Griggs imploringly, and glanced at his vacant chair on +her right side. He did not answer by sitting down, because the action +would have been too like deliberately telling Mr. Van Torp to go away, +but he began to fold up the chair as if he were going to take it away, +and then he seemed to find that there was something wrong with one of +its joints, and altogether it gave him a good deal of trouble, and +made it quite impossible for the great man to get any nearer to +Margaret. + +Little Ida had taken Mr. Van Torp's proffered hand, and had watched +his hard lips when he spoke. She answered quite clearly and rather +slowly, in the somewhat monotonous voice of those born deaf who have +learned to speak. + +'I'm very well, thank you, Mr. Van Torp. I hope you are quite well.' + +Margaret heard, and saw the child's face, and at once decided that, if +the little girl knew of her own relationship to Ida Bamberger, she was +certainly ignorant of the fact that her half-sister had been engaged +to Mr. Van Torp, when she had died so suddenly less than a week ago. +Little Ida's manner strengthened the impression in Margaret's mind +that the millionaire was having her educated by Miss More. Yet it +seemed impossible that the rich old Senator should not have left her +well provided. + +'I see you've made friends with Madame Cordova,' said Mr. Van Torp. +'I'm very glad, for she's quite an old friend of mine too.' + +Margaret made a slight movement, but said nothing. Miss More saw her +annoyance and intervened by speaking to the financier. + +'We began to fear that we might not see you at all on the voyage,' she +said, in a tone of some concern. 'I hope you have not been suffering +again.' + +Margaret wondered whether she meant to ask if he had been sea-sick; +what she said sounded like an inquiry about some more or less frequent +indisposition, though Mr. Van Torp looked as strong as a ploughman. + +In answer to the question he glanced sharply at Miss More, and shook +his head. + +'I've been too busy to come on deck,' he said, rather curtly, and he +turned to Margaret again. + +'Will you take a little walk with me, Madame Cordova?' he asked. + +Not having any valid excuse for refusing, Margaret smiled, for the +first time since she had seen him on deck. + +'I'm so comfortable!' she answered. 'Don't make me get out of my rug!' + +'If you'll take a little walk with me, I'll give you a pretty +present,' said Mr. Van Torp playfully. + +Margaret thought it best to laugh and shake her head at this singular +offer. Little Ida had been watching them both. + +'You'd better go with him,' said the child gravely. 'He makes lovely +presents.' + +'Does he?' Margaret laughed again. + +'"A fortress that parleys, or a woman who listens, is lost,'" put in +Griggs, quoting an old French proverb. + +'Then I won't listen,' Margaret said. + +Mr. Van Torp planted himself more firmly on his sturdy legs, for the +ship was rolling a little. + +'I'll give you a book, Madame Cordova,' he said. + +His habit of constantly repeating the name of the person with whom +he was talking irritated her extremely. She was not smiling when she +answered. + +'Thank you. I have more books than I can possibly read.' + +'Yes. But you have not the one I will give you, and it happens to be +the only one you want.' + +'But I don't want any book at all! I don't want to read!' + +'Yes, you do, Madame Cordova. You want to read this one, and it's the +only copy on board, and if you'll take a little walk with me I'll give +it to you.' + +As he spoke he very slowly drew a new book from the depths of the wide +pocket in his overcoat, but only far enough to show Margaret the first +words of the title, and he kept his aggressive blue eyes fixed on her +face. A faint blush came into her cheeks at once and he let the volume +slip back. Griggs, being on his other side, had not seen it, and it +meant nothing to Miss More. To the latter's surprise Margaret pushed +her heavy rug from her knees and let her feet slip from the chair to +the ground. Her eyes met Griggs's as she rose, and seeing that his +look asked her whether he was to carry out her previous instructions +and walk beside her, she shook her head. + +'Nine times out of ten, proverbs are true,' he said in a tone of +amusement. + +Mr. Van Torp's hard face expressed no triumph when Margaret stood +beside him, ready to walk. She had yielded, as he had been sure she +would; he turned from the other passengers to go round to the weather +side of the ship, and she went with him submissively. Just at the +point where the wind and the fine spray would have met them if they +had gone on, he stopped in the lee of a big ventilator. There was no +one in sight of them now. + +'Excuse me for making you get up,' he said. 'I wanted to see you alone +for a moment.' + +Margaret said nothing in answer to this apology, and she met his fixed +eyes coldly. + +'You were with Miss Bamberger when she died,' he said. + +Margaret bent her head gravely in assent. His face was as +expressionless as a stone. + +'I thought she might have mentioned me before she died,' he said +slowly. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered after a moment's pause; 'she did.' + +'What did she say?' + +'She told me that it was a secret, but that I was to tell you what she +said, if I thought it best.' + +'Are you going to tell me?' + +It was impossible to guess whether he was controlling any emotion or +not; but if the men with whom he had done business where large sums +were involved had seen him now and had heard his voice, they would +have recognised the tone and the expression. + +'She said, "he did it,"' Margaret answered slowly, after a moment's +thought. + +'Was that all she said?' + +'That was all. A moment later she was dead. Before she said it, she +told me it was a secret, and she made me promise solemnly never to +tell any one but you.' + +'It's not much of a secret, is it?' As he spoke, Mr. Van Torp turned +his eyes from Margaret's at last and looked at the grey sea beyond the +ventilator. + +'Such as it is, I have told it to you because she wished me to,' +answered Margaret. 'But I shall never tell any one else. It will be +all the easier to be silent, as I have not the least idea what she +meant.' + +'She meant our engagement,' said Mr. Van Torp in a matter-of-fact +tone. 'We had broken it off that afternoon. She meant that it was I +who did it, and so it was. Perhaps she did not like to think that when +she was dead people might call her heartless and say she had thrown me +over; and no one would ever know the truth except me, unless I chose +to tell--me and her father.' + +'Then you were not to be married after all!' Margaret showed her +surprise. + +'No. I had broken it off. We were going to let it be known the next +day.' + +'On the very eve of the wedding!' + +'Yes.' Mr. Van Torp fixed his eyes on Margaret's again. 'On the very +eve of the wedding,' he said, repeating her words. + +He spoke very slowly and without emphasis, but with the greatest +possible distinctness. Margaret had once been taken to see a motor-car +manufactory and she remembered a machine that clipped bits off the +end of an iron bar, inch by inch, smoothly and deliberately. Mr. Van +Torp's lips made her think of that; they seemed to cut the hard words +one by one, in lengths. + +'Poor girl!' she sighed, and looked away. + +The man's face did not change, and if his next words echoed the +sympathy she expressed his tone did not. + +'I was a good deal cut up myself,' he observed coolly. 'Here's your +book, Madame Cordova.' + +'No,' Margaret answered with a little burst of indignation, 'I don't +want it. I won't take it from you!' + +'What's the matter now?' asked Mr. Van Torp without the least change +of manner. 'It's your friend Mr. Lushington's latest, you know, and it +won't be out for ten days. I thought you would like to see it, so I +got an advance copy before it was published.' + +He held the volume out to her, but she would not even look at it, nor +answer him. + +'How you hate me! Don't you, Madame Cordova?' + +Margaret still said nothing. She was considering how she could best +get rid of him. If she simply brushed past him and went back to her +chair on the lee side, he would follow her and go on talking to her as +if nothing had happened; and she knew that in that case she would lose +control of herself before Griggs and Miss More. + +'Oh, well,' he went on, 'if you don't want the book, I don't. I can't +read novels myself, and I daresay it's trash anyhow.' + +Thereupon, with a quick movement of his arm and hand, he sent Mr. +Lushington's latest novel flying over the lee rail, fully thirty feet +away, and it dropped out of sight into the grey waves. He had been a +good baseball pitcher in his youth. + +Margaret bit her lip and her eyes flashed. + +'You are quite the most disgustingly brutal person I ever met,' she +said, no longer able to keep down her anger. + +'No,' he answered calmly. 'I'm not brutal; I'm only logical. I took a +great deal of trouble to get that book for you because I thought +it would give you pleasure, and it wasn't a particularly legal +transaction by which I got it either. Since you didn't want it, I +wasn't going to let anybody else have the satisfaction of reading it +before it was published, so I just threw it away because it is safer +in the sea than knocking about in my cabin. If you hadn't seen me +throw it overboard you would never have believed that I had. You're +not much given to believing me, anyway. I've noticed that. Are you, +now?' + +'Oh, it was not the book!' + +Margaret turned from him and made a step forward so that she faced the +sharp wind. It cut her face and she felt that the little pain was +a relief. He came and stood beside her with his hands deep in the +pockets of his overcoat. + +'If you think I'm a brute on account of what I told you about +Miss Bamberger,' he said, 'that's not quite fair. I broke off our +engagement because I found out that we were going to make each other +miserable and we should have had to divorce in six months; and if half +the people who are just going to get married would do the same thing +there would be a lot more happy women in the world, not to say men! +That's all, and she knew it, poor girl, and was just as glad as I was +when the thing was done. Now what is there so brutal in that, Madame +Cordova?' + +Margaret turned on him almost fiercely. + +'Why do you tell me all this?' she asked. 'For heaven's sake let poor +Miss Bamberger rest in her grave!' + +'Since you ask me why,' answered Mr. Van Torp, unmoved, 'I tell you +all this because I want you to know more about me than you do. If you +did, you'd hate me less. That's the plain truth. You know very well +that there's nobody like you, and that if I'd judged I had the +slightest chance of getting you I would no more have thought of +marrying Miss Bamberger than of throwing a million dollars into the +sea after that book, or ten million, and that's a great deal of +money.' + +'I ought to be flattered,' said Margaret with scorn, still facing the +wind. + +'No. I'm not given to flattery, and money means something real to me, +because I've fought for it, and got it. Your regular young lover will +always call you his precious treasure, and I don't see much difference +between a precious treasure and several million dollars. I'm logical, +you see. I tell you I'm logical, that's all.' + +'I daresay. I think we have been talking here long enough. Shall we go +back?' + +She had got her anger under again. She detested Mr. Van Torp, but she +was honest enough to realise that for the present she had resented his +saying that Lushington's book was probably trash, much more than what +he had told her of his broken engagement. She turned and came back to +the ventilator, meaning to go around to her chair, but he stopped her. + +'Don't go yet, please!' he said, keeping beside her. 'Call me a +disgusting brute if you like. I sha'n't mind it, and I daresay it's +true in a kind of way. Business isn't very refining, you know, and it +was the only education I got after I was sixteen. I'm sorry I called +that book rubbish, for I'm sure it's not. I've met Mr. Lushington in +England several times; he's very clever, and he's got a first-rate +position. But you see I didn't like your refusing the book, after I'd +taken so much trouble to get it for you. Perhaps if I hadn't thrown it +overboard you'd take it, now that I've apologised. Would you?' + +His tone had changed at last, as she had known it to change before in +the course of an acquaintance that had lasted more than a year. He put +the question almost humbly. + +'I don't know,' Margaret answered, relenting a little in spite of +herself. 'At all events I'm sorry I was so rude. I lost my temper.' + +'It was very natural,' said Mr. Van Torp meekly, but not looking at +her, 'and I know I deserved it. You really would let me give you the +book now, if it were possible, wouldn't you?' + +'Perhaps.' She thought that as there was no such possibility it was +safe to say as much as that. + +'I should feel so much better if you would,' he answered. 'I should +feel as if you'd accepted my apology. Won't you say it, Madame +Cordova?' + +'Well--yes--since you wish it so much,' Margaret replied, feeling that +she risked nothing. + +'Here it is, then,' he said, to her amazement, producing the new novel +from the pocket of his overcoat, and enjoying her surprise as he put +it into her hand. + +It looked like a trick of sleight of hand, and she took the book and +stared at him, as a child stares at the conjuror who produces an apple +out of its ear. + +'But I saw you throw it away,' she said in a puzzled tone. + +'I got two while I was about it,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling without +showing his teeth. 'It was just as easy and it didn't cost me any +more.' + +'I see! Thank you very much.' + +She knew that she could not but keep the volume now, and in her heart +she was glad to have it, for Lushington had written to her about it +several times since she had been in America. + +'Well, I'll leave you now,' said the millionaire, resuming his stony +expression. 'I hope I've not kept you too long.' + +Before Margaret had realised the idiotic conventionality of the last +words her companion had disappeared and she was left alone. He had not +gone back in the direction whence they had come, but had taken the +deserted windward side of the ship, doubtless with the intention of +avoiding the crowd. + +Margaret stood still for some time in the lee of the ventilator, +holding the novel in her hand and thinking. She wondered whether Mr. +Van Torp had planned the whole scene, including the sacrifice of the +novel. If he had not, it was certainly strange that he should have had +the second copy ready in his pocket. Lushington had once told her that +great politicians and great financiers were always great comedians, +and now that she remembered the saying it occurred to her that Mr. Van +Torp reminded her of a certain type of American actor, a type that +has a heavy jaw and an aggressive eye, and strongly resembles the +portraits of Daniel Webster. Now Daniel Webster had a wide reputation +as a politician, but there is reason to believe that the numerous +persons who lent him money and never got it back thought him a +financier of undoubted ability, if not a comedian of talent. There +were giants in those days. + +The English girl, breathing the clean air of the ocean, felt as if +something had left a bad taste in her mouth; and the famous young +singer, who had seen in two years what a normal Englishwoman would +neither see, nor guess at, nor wish to imagine in a lifetime, thought +she understood tolerably well what the bad taste meant. Moreover, +Margaret Donne was ashamed of what Margarita da Cordova knew, and +Cordova had moments of sharp regret when she thought of the girl who +had been herself, and had lived under good Mrs. Rushmore's protection, +like a flower in a glass house. + +She remembered, too, how Lushington and Mrs. Rushmore had warned her +and entreated her not to become an opera-singer. She had taken her +future into her own hands and had soon found out what it meant to be +a celebrity on the stage; and she had seen only too clearly where +she was classed by the women who would have been her companions and +friends if she had kept out of the profession. She had learned by +experience, too, how little real consideration she could expect from +men of the world, and how very little she could really exact from such +people as Mr. Van Torp; still less could she expect to get it from +persons like Schreiermeyer, who looked upon the gifted men and women +he engaged to sing as so many head of cattle, to be driven more or +less hard according to their value, and to be turned out to starve the +moment they were broken-winded. That fate is sure to overtake the best +of them sooner or later. The career of a great opera-singer is rarely +more than half as long as that of a great tragedian, and even when a +primadonna or a tenor makes a fortune, the decline of their glory is +far more sudden and sad than that of actors generally is. Lady Macbeth +is as great a part as Juliet for an actress of genius, but there are +no 'old parts' for singers; the soprano dare not turn into a contralto +with advancing years, nor does the unapproachable Parsifal of +eight-and-twenty turn into an incomparable Amfortas at fifty. For the +actor, it often happens that the first sign of age is fatigue; in the +singer's day, the first shadow is an eclipse, the first false note is +disaster, the first breakdown is often a heart-rending failure that +brings real tears to the eyes of younger comrades. The exquisite voice +does not grow weak and pathetic and ethereal by degrees, so that we +still love to hear it, even to the end; far more often it is suddenly +flat or sharp by a quarter of a tone throughout whole acts, or it +breaks on one note in a discordant shriek that is the end. Down goes +the curtain then, in the middle of the great opera, and down goes the +great singer for ever into tears and silence. Some of us have seen +that happen, many have heard of it; few can think without real +sympathy of such mortal suffering and distress. + +Margaret realised all this, without any illusion, but there was +another side to the question. There was success, glorious and +far-reaching, and beyond her brightest dreams; there was the certainty +that she was amongst the very first, for the deafening ring of +universal applause was in her ears; and, above all, there was youth. +Sometimes it seemed to her that she had almost too much, and that some +dreadful thing must happen to her; yet if there were moments when she +faintly regretted the calmer, sweeter life she might have led, she +knew that she would have given that life up, over and over again, for +the splendid joy of holding thousands spellbound while she sang. She +had the real lyric artist's temperament, for that breathless silence +of the many while her voice rang out alone, and trilled and died away +to a delicate musical echo, was more to her than the roar of applause +that could be heard through the walls and closed doors in the street +outside. To such a moment as that Faustus himself would have cried +'Stay!' though the price of satisfied desire were his soul. And there +had been many such moments in Cordova's life. They satisfied something +much deeper than greedy vanity and stronger than hungry ambition. Call +it what you will, according to the worth you set on such art, it is +a longing which only artists feel, and to which only something in +themselves can answer. To listen to perfect music is a feast for gods, +but to be the living instrument beyond compare is to be a god oneself. +Of our five senses, sight calls up visions, divine as well as earthly, +but hearing alone can link body, mind, and soul with higher things, by +the word and by the word made song. The mere memory of hearing when it +is lost is still enough for the ends of genius; for the poet and the +composer touch the blind most deeply, perhaps, when other senses do +not count at all; but a painter who loses his sight is as helpless in +the world of art as a dismasted ship in the middle of the ocean. + +Some of these thoughts passed through Margaret's brain as she stood +beside the ventilator with her friend's new book in her hand, and, +although her reflections were not new to her, it was the first time +she clearly understood that her life had made two natures out of her +original self, and that the two did not always agree. She felt that +she was not halved by the process, but doubled. She was two women +instead of one, and each woman was complete in herself. She had not +found this out by any elaborate self-study, for healthy people do not +study themselves. She simply felt it, and she was sure it was true, +because she knew that each of her two selves was able to do, suffer, +and enjoy as much as any one woman could. The one might like what the +other disliked and feared, but the contradiction was open and natural, +not secret or morbid. The two women were called respectively Madame +Cordova and Miss Donne. Miss Donne thought Madame Cordova very showy, +and much too tolerant of vulgar things and people, if not a little +touched with vulgarity herself. On the other hand, the brilliantly +successful Cordova thought Margaret Donne a good girl, but rather +silly. Miss Donne was very fond of Edmund Lushington, the writer, but +the Primadonna had a distinct weakness for Constantine Logotheti, the +Greek financier who lived in Paris, and who wore too many rubies and +diamonds. + +On two points, at least, the singer and the modest English girl +agreed, for they both detested Rufus Van Torp, and each had positive +proof that he was in love with her, if what he felt deserved the name. + +For in very different ways she was really loved by Lushington and by +Logotheti; and since she had been famous she had made the acquaintance +of a good many very high and imposing personages, whose names are to +be found in the first and second part of the _Almanack de Gotha_, in +the Olympian circle of the reigning or the supernal regions of the +Serene Mediatized, far above the common herd of dukes and princes; +they had offered her a share in the overflowing abundance of their +admirative protection; and then had seemed surprised, if not deeply +moved, by the independence she showed in declining their intimacy. +Some of them were frankly and contentedly cynical; some were of a +brutality compared with which the tastes and manners of a bargee would +have seemed ladylike; some were as refined and sensitive as English +old maids, though less scrupulous and much less shy; the one was +as generous as an Irish sailor, the next was as mean as a Normandy +peasant; some had offered her rivers of rubies, and some had proposed +to take her incognito for a drive in a cab, because it would be so +amusing--and so inexpensive. Yet in their families and varieties +they were all of the same species, all human and all subject to the +ordinary laws of attraction and repulsion. Rufus Van Torp was not like +them. + +Neither of Margaret's selves could look upon him as a normal human +being. At first sight there was nothing so very unusual in his face, +certainly nothing that suggested a monster; and yet, whatever mood she +chanced to be in, she could not be with him five minutes without being +aware of something undefinable that always disturbed her profoundly, +and sometimes became positively terrifying. She always felt the +sensation coming upon her after a few moments, and when it had +actually come she could hardly hide her repulsion till she felt, as +to-day, that she must run from him, without the least consideration +of pride or dignity. She might have fled like that before a fire or a +flood, or from the scene of an earthquake, and more than once nothing +had kept her in her place but her strong will and healthy nerves. She +knew that it was like the panic that seizes people in the presence of +an appalling disturbance of nature. + +Doubtless, when she had talked with Mr. Van Torp just now, she had +been disgusted by the indifferent way in which he spoke of poor Miss +Bamberger's sudden death; it was still more certain that what he said +about the book, and his very ungentlemanly behaviour in throwing it +into the sea, had roused her justifiable anger. But she would have +smiled at the thought that an exhibition of heartlessness, or the most +utter lack of manners, could have made her wish to run away from any +other man. Her life had accustomed her to people who had no more +feeling than Schreiermeyer, and no better manners than Pompeo +Stromboli. Van Torp might have been on his very best behaviour that +morning, or at any of her previous chance meetings with him; sooner +or later she would have felt that same absurd and unreasoning fear +of him, and would have found it very hard not to turn and make her +escape. His face was so stony and his eyes were so aggressive; he was +always like something dreadful that was just going to happen. + +Yet Margarita da Cordova was a brave woman, and had lately been called +a heroine because she had gone on singing after that explosion till +the people were quiet again; and Margaret Donne was a sensible girl, +justly confident of being able to take care of herself where men were +concerned. She stood still and wondered what there was about Mr. Van +Torp that could frighten her so dreadfully. + +After a little while she went quietly back to her chair, and sat down +between Griggs and Miss More. The elderly man rose and packed her +neatly in her plaid, and she thanked him. Miss More looked at her and +smiled vaguely, as even the most intelligent people do sometimes. Then +Griggs got into his own chair again and took up his book. + +'Was that right of me?' he asked presently, so low that Miss More did +not hear him speak. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, under her breath, 'but don't let me do it +again, please.' + +They both began to read, but after a time Margaret spoke to him again +without turning her eyes. + +'He wanted to ask me about that girl who died at the theatre,' she +said, just audibly. + +'Oh--yes!' + +Griggs seemed so vague that Margaret glanced at him. He was looking at +the inside of his right hand in a meditative way, as if it recalled +something. If he had shown more interest in what she said she would +have told him what she had just learned, about the breaking off of the +engagement, but he was evidently absorbed in thought, while he slowly +rubbed that particular spot on his hand, and looked at it again and +again as if it recalled something. + +Margaret did not resent his indifference, for he was much more than +old enough to be her father; he was a man whom all younger writers +looked upon as a veteran, he had always been most kind and courteous +to her when she had met him, and she freely conceded him the right to +be occupied with his own thoughts and not with hers. With him she was +always Margaret Donne, and he seldom talked to her about music, or of +her own work. Indeed, he so rarely mentioned music that she fancied he +did not really care for it, and she wondered why he was so often in +the house when she sang. + +Mr. Van Torp did not show himself at luncheon, and Margaret began to +hope that he would not appear on deck again till the next day. In +the afternoon the wind dropped, the clouds broke, and the sun shone +brightly. Little Ida, who was tired of doing crochet work, and had +looked at all the books that had pictures, came and begged Margaret to +walk round the ship with her. It would please her small child's vanity +to show everybody that the great singer was willing to be seen walking +up and down with her, although she was quite deaf, and could not hope +ever to hear music. It was her greatest delight to be treated before +every one as if she were just like other girls, and her cleverness in +watching the lips of the person with her, without seeming too intent, +was wonderful. + +They went the whole length of the promenade deck, as if they were +reviewing the passengers, bundled and packed in their chairs, and the +passengers looked at them both with so much interest that the child +made Margaret come all the way back again. + +'The sea has a voice, too, hasn't it?' Ida asked, as they paused and +looked over the rail. + +She glanced up quickly for the answer, but Margaret did not find one +at once. + +'Because I've read poetry about the voices of the sea,' Ida explained. +'And in books they talk of the music of the waves, and then they say +the sea roars, and thunders in a storm. I can hear thunder, you know. +Did you know that I could hear thunder?' + +Margaret smiled and looked interested. + +'It bangs in the back of my head,' said the child gravely. 'But I +should like to hear the sea thunder. I often watch the waves on the +beach, as if they were lips moving, and I try to understand what they +say. Of course, it's play, because one can't, can one? But I can only +make out "Boom, ta-ta-ta-ta," getting quicker and weaker to the end, +you know, as the ripples run up the sand.' + +'It's very like what I hear,' Margaret answered. + +'Is it really?' Little Ida was delighted. 'Perhaps it's a language +after all, and I shall make it out some day. You see, until I know the +language people are speaking, their lips look as if they were talking +nonsense. But I'm sure the sea could not really talk nonsense all day +for thousands of years.' + +'No, I'm sure it couldn't!' Margaret was amused. 'But the sea is not +alive,' she added. + +'Everything that moves is alive,' the child said, 'and everything that +is alive can make a noise, and the noise must mean something. If it +didn't, it would be of no use, and everything is of some use. So +there!' + +Delighted with her own argument, the beautiful child laughed and +showed her even teeth in the sun. + +They were standing at the end of the promenade deck, which extended +twenty feet abaft the smoking-room, and took the whole beam; above +the latter, as in most modern ships, there was the boat deck, to the +after-part of which passengers had access. Standing below, it was easy +to see and talk with any one who looked over the upper rail. + +Ida threw her head back and looked up as she laughed, and Margaret +laughed good-naturedly with her, thinking how pretty she was. But +suddenly the child's expression changed, her face grew grave, and her +eyes fixed themselves intently on some point above. Margaret looked in +the same direction, and saw that Mr. Van Torp was standing alone up +there, leaning against the railing and evidently not seeing her, for +he gazed fixedly into the distance; and as he stood there, his lips +moved as if he were talking to himself. + +Margaret gave a little start of surprise when she saw him, but the +child watched him steadily, and a look of fear stole over her face. +Suddenly she grasped Margaret's arm. + +'Come away! Come away!' she cried in a low tone of terror. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Margaret was sorry to say good-bye to Miss More and little Ida when +the voyage was over, three days later. She was instinctively fond of +children, as all healthy women are, and she saw very few of them in +her wandering life. It is true that she did not understand them very +well, for she had been an only child, brought up much alone, and +children's ways are only to be learnt and understood by experience, +since all children are experimentalists in life, and what often seems +to us foolishness in them is practical wisdom of the explorative kind. + +When Ida had pulled Margaret away from the railing after watching Mr. +Van Torp while he was talking to himself, the singer had thought +very little of it; and Ida never mentioned it afterwards. As for the +millionaire, he was hardly seen again, and he made no attempt to +persuade Margaret to take another walk with him on deck. + +'Perhaps you would like to see my place,' he said, as he bade her +good-bye on the tender at Liverpool. 'It used to be called Oxley +Paddox, but I didn't like that, so I changed the name to Torp Towers. +I'm Mr. Van Torp of Torp Towers. Sounds well, don't it?' + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, biting her lip, for she wanted to laugh. 'It +has a very lordly sound. If you bought a moor and a river in Scotland, +you might call yourself the M'Torp of Glen Torp, in the same way.' + +'I see you're laughing at me,' said the millionaire, with a quiet +smile of a man either above or beyond ridicule. 'But it's all a game +in a toy-shop anyway, this having a place in Europe. I buy a doll to +play with when I have time, and I can call it what I please, and +smash its head when I'm tired of it. It's my doll. It isn't any one's +else's. The Towers is in Derbyshire if you want to come.' + +Margaret did not 'want to come' to Torp Towers, even if the doll +wasn't 'any one's else's.' She was sorry for any person or thing +that had the misfortune to be Mr. Van Torp's doll, and she felt her +inexplicable fear of him coming upon her while he was speaking. She +broke off the conversation by saying good-bye rather abruptly. + +'Then you won't come,' he said, in a tone of amusement. + +'Really, you are very kind, but I have so many engagements.' + +'Saturday to Monday in the season wouldn't interfere with your +engagements. However, do as you like.' + +'Thank you very much. Good-bye again.' + +She escaped, and he looked after her, with an unsatisfied expression +that was almost wistful, and that would certainly not have been in his +face if she could have seen it. + +Griggs was beside her when she went ashore. + +'I had not much to do after all,' he said, glancing at Van Torp. + +'No,' Margaret answered, 'but please don't think it was all +imagination. I may tell you some day. No,' she said again, after a +short pause, 'he did not make himself a nuisance, except that once, +and now he has asked me to his place in Derbyshire.' + +'Torp Towers,' Griggs observed, with a smile. + +'Yes. I could hardly help laughing when he told me he had changed its +name.' + +'It's worth seeing,' said Griggs. 'A big old house, all full of other +people's ghosts.' + +'Ghosts?' + +'I mean figuratively. It's full of things that remind one of the +people who lived there. It has one of the oldest parks in England. +Lots of pheasants, too--but that cannot last long.' + +'Why not?' + +'He won't let any one shoot them! They will all die of overcrowding in +two or three years. His keepers are three men from the Society for the +Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.' + +'What a mad idea!' Margaret laughed. 'Is he a Buddhist?' + +'No.' Paul Griggs knew something about Buddhism. 'Certainly not! He's +eccentric. That's all.' + +They were at the pier. Half-an-hour later they were in the train +together, and there was no one else in the carriage. Miss More and +little Ida had disappeared directly after landing, but Margaret had +seen Mr. Van Torp get into a carriage on the window of which was +pasted the label of the rich and great: 'Reserved.' She could have had +the same privilege if she had chosen to ask for it or pay for it, but +it irritated her that he should treat himself like a superior being. +Everything he did either irritated her or frightened her, and she +found herself constantly thinking of him and wishing that he would get +out at the first station. Griggs was silent too, and Margaret thought +he really might have taken some trouble to amuse her. + +She had Lushington's book on her knee, for she had found it less +interesting than she had expected, and was rather ashamed of not +having finished it before meeting him, since it had been given to her. +She thought he might come down as far as Rugby to meet her, and she +was quite willing that he should find her with it in her hand. A +literary man is always supposed to be flattered at finding a friend +reading his last production, as if he did not know that the friend has +probably grabbed the volume with undignified haste the instant he was +on the horizon, with the intention of being discovered deep in it. Yet +such little friendly frauds are sweet compared with the extremes of +brutal frankness to which our dearest friends sometimes think it their +duty to go with us, for our own good. + +After a time Griggs spoke to her, and she was glad to hear his voice. +She had grown to like him during the voyage, even more than she had +ever thought probable. She had even gone so far as to wonder whether, +if he had been twenty-five years younger, he might not have been the +one man she had ever met whom she might care to marry, and she had +laughed at the involved terms of the hypothesis as soon as she thought +of it. Griggs had never been married, but elderly people remembered +that there had been some romantic tale about his youth, when he had +been an unknown young writer struggling for life as a newspaper +correspondent. + +'You saw the notice of Miss Bamberger's death, I suppose,' he said, +turning his grey eyes to hers. + +He had not alluded to the subject during the voyage. + +'Yes,' Margaret answered, wondering why he broached it now. + +'The notice said that she died of heart failure, from shock,' Griggs +continued. 'I should like to know what you think about it, as you were +with her when she died. Have you any idea that she may have died of +anything else?' + +'No.' Margaret was surprised. 'The doctor said it was that.' + +'I know. I only wanted to have your own impression. I believe that +when people die of heart failure in that way, they often make +desperate efforts to explain what has happened, and go on trying to +talk when they can only make inarticulate sounds. Do you remember if +it was at all like that?' + +'Not at all,' Margaret said. 'She whispered the last words she spoke, +but they were quite distinct. Then she drew three or four deep +breaths, and all at once I saw that she was dead, and I called the +doctor from the next room.' + +'I suppose that might be heart failure,' said Griggs thoughtfully. +'You are quite sure that you thought it was only that, are you not?' + +'Only what?' Margaret asked with growing surprise. + +'Only fright, or the result of having been half-suffocated in the +crowd.' + +'Yes, I think I am sure. What do you mean? Why do you insist so much?' + +'It's of no use to tell other people,' said Griggs, 'but you may just +as well know. I found her lying in a heap behind a door, where there +could not have been much of a crowd.' + +'Perhaps she had taken refuge there, to save herself,' Margaret +suggested. + +'Possibly. But there was another thing. When I got home I found that +there was a little blood on the palm of my hand. It was the hand I had +put under her waist when I lifted her.' + +'Do you mean to say you think she was wounded?' Margaret asked, +opening her eyes wide. + +'There was blood on the inside of my hand,' Griggs answered, 'and I +had no scratch to account for it. I know quite well that it was on the +hand that I put under her waist--a little above the waist, just in the +middle of her back.' + +'But it would have been seen afterwards.' + +'On the dark red silk she wore? Not if there was very little of it. +The doctor never thought of looking for such a wound. Why should he? +He had not the slightest reason for suspecting that the poor girl had +been murdered.' + +'Murdered?' + +Margaret looked hard at Griggs, and then she suddenly shuddered from +head to foot. She had never before had such a sensation; it was like +a shock from an electric current at the instant when the contact is +made, not strong enough to hurt, but yet very disagreeable. She felt +it at the moment when her mind connected what Griggs was saying with +the dying girl's last words, 'he did it'; and with little Ida's look +of horror when she had watched Mr. Van Torp's lips while he was +talking to himself on the boat-deck of the _Leofric_; and again, with +the physical fear of the man that always came over her when she had +been near him for a little while. When she spoke to Griggs again the +tone of her voice had changed. + +'Please tell me how it could have been done,' she said. + +'Easily enough. A steel bodkin six or seven inches long, or even a +strong hat-pin. It would be only a question of strength.' + +Margaret remembered Mr. Van Torp's coarse hands, and shuddered again. + +'How awful!' she exclaimed. + +'One would bleed to death internally before long,' Griggs said. + +'Are you sure?' + +'Yes. That is the reason why the three-cornered blade for duelling +swords was introduced in France thirty years ago. Before that, men +often fought with ordinary foils filed to a point, and there were many +deaths from internal hemorrhage.' + +'What odd things you always know! That would be just like being run +through with a bodkin, then?' + +'Very much the same.' + +'But it would have been found out afterwards,' Margaret said, 'and the +papers would have been full of it.' + +'That does not follow,' Griggs answered. 'The girl was an only child, +and her mother had been divorced and married again. She lived alone +with her father, and he probably was told the truth. But Isidore +Bamberger is not the man to spread out his troubles before the public +in the newspapers. On the contrary, if he found out that his daughter +had been killed--supposing that she was--he probably made up his mind +at once that the world should not know it till he had caught the +murderer. So he sent for the best detective in America, put the matter +in his hands, and inserted a notice of his daughter's death that +agreed with what the doctor had said. That would be the detective's +advice, I'm sure, and probably Van Torp approved of it.' + +'Mr. Van Torp? Do you think he was told about it? Why?' + +'First, because Bamberger is Van Torp's banker, broker, figure-head, +and general representative on earth,' answered Griggs. 'Secondly, +because Van Torp was engaged to marry the girl.' + +'The engagement was broken off,' Margaret said. + +'How do you know that?' asked Griggs quickly. + +'Mr. Van Torp told me, on the steamer. They had broken it off that +very day, and were going to let it be known the next morning. He told +me so, that afternoon when I walked with him.' + +'Really!' + +Griggs was a little surprised, but as he did not connect Van Torp with +the possibility that Miss Bamberger had been murdered, his thoughts +did not dwell on the broken engagement. + +'Why don't you try to find out the truth?' Margaret asked rather +anxiously. 'You know so many people everywhere--you have so much +experience.' + +'I never had much taste for detective work,' answered the literary +man, 'and besides, this is none of my business. But Bamberger and Van +Torp are probably both of them aware by this time that I found the +girl and carried her to the manager's room, and when they are ready +to ask me what I know, or what I remember, the detective they +are employing will suddenly appear to me in the shape of a new +acquaintance in some out-of-the-way place, who will go to work +scientifically to make me talk to him. He will very likely have a +little theory of his own, to the effect that since it was I who +brought Miss Bamberger to Schreiermeyer's room, it was probably I who +killed her, for some mysterious reason!' + +'Shall you tell him about the drop of blood on your hand?' + +'Without the slightest hesitation. But not until I am asked, and I +shall be very glad if you will not speak of it.' + +'I won't,' Margaret said; 'but I wonder why you have told me if you +mean to keep it a secret!' + +The veteran man of letters turned his sad grey eyes to hers, while his +lips smiled. + +'The world is not all bad,' he said. 'All men are not liars, and all +women do not betray confidence.' + +'It's very good to hear a man like you say that,' Margaret answered. +'It means something.' + +'Yes,' assented Griggs thoughtfully. 'It means a great deal to me to +be sure of it, now that most of my life is lived.' + +'Were you unhappy when you were young?' + +She asked the question as a woman sometimes does who feels herself +strongly drawn to a man much older than she. Griggs did not answer at +once, and when he spoke his voice was unusually grave, and his eyes +looked far away. + +'A great misfortune happened to me,' he said. 'A great misfortune,' he +repeated slowly, after a pause, and his tone and look told Margaret +how great that calamity had been better than a score of big words. + +'Forgive me,' Margaret said softly; 'I should have known.' + +'No,' Griggs answered after a moment. 'You could not have known. It +happened very long ago, perhaps ten years before you were born.' + +Again he turned his sad grey eyes to hers, but no smile lingered now +about the rather stern mouth. The two looked at each other quietly +for five or six seconds, and that may seem a long time. When Margaret +turned away from the elderly man's more enduring gaze, both felt that +there was a bond of sympathy between them which neither had quite +acknowledged till then. There was silence after that, and Margaret +looked out of the window, while her hand unconsciously played with the +book on her knee, lifting the cover a little and letting it fall again +and again. + +Suddenly she turned to Griggs once more and held the book out to him +with a smile. + +'I'm not an autograph-hunter,' she said, 'but will you write something +on the fly-leaf? Just a word or two, without your name, if you like. +Do you think I'm very sentimental?' + +She smiled again, and he took the book from her and produced a pencil. + +'It's a book I shall not throw away,' she went on, 'because the man +who wrote it is a great friend of mine, and I have everything he has +ever written. So, as I shall keep it, I want it to remind me that you +and I grew to know each other better on this voyage.' + +It occurred to the veteran that while this was complimentary to +himself it was not altogether promising for Lushington, who was the +old friend in question. A woman who loves a man does not usually ask +another to write a line in that man's book. Griggs set the point of +the pencil on the fly-leaf as if he were going to write; but then he +hesitated, looked up, glanced at Margaret, and at last leaned back in +the seat, as if in deep thought. + +'I didn't mean to give you so much trouble,' Margaret said, still +smiling. 'I thought it must be so easy for a famous author like you to +write half-a-dozen words!' + +'A "sentiment" you mean!' Griggs laughed rather contemptuously, and +then was grave again. + +'No!' Margaret said, a little disappointed. 'You did not understand +me. Don't write anything at all. Give me back the book.' + +She held out her hand for it; but as if he had just made up his mind, +he put his pencil to the paper again, and wrote four words in a small +clear hand. She leaned forwards a little to see what he was writing. + +'You know enough Latin to read that,' he said, as he gave the book +back to her. + +She read the words aloud, with a puzzled expression. + +'"Credo in resurrectionem mortuorum."' She looked at him for some +explanation. + +'Yes,' he said, answering her unspoken question. '"I believe in the +resurrection of the dead."' + +'It means something especial to you--is that it?' + +'Yes.' His eyes were very sad again as they met hers. + +'My voice?' she asked. 'Some one--who sang like me? Who died?' + +'Long before you were born,' he answered gently. + +There was another little pause before she spoke again, for she was +touched. + +'Thank you,' she said. 'Thank you for writing that.' + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +Mr. Van Torp arrived in London alone, with one small valise, for he +had sent his man with his luggage to the place in Derbyshire. At +Euston a porter got him a hansom, and he bargained with the cabman to +take him and his valise to the Temple for eighteenpence, a sum which, +he explained, allowed sixpence for the valise, as the distance could +not by any means be made out to be more than two miles. + +Such close economy was to be expected from a millionaire, travelling +incognito; what was more surprising was that, when the cab stopped +before a door in Hare Court and Mr. Van Torp received his valise from +the roof of the vehicle, he gave the man half-a-crown, and said it was +'all right.' + +'Now, my man,' he observed, 'you've not only got an extra shilling, +to which you had no claim whatever, but you've had the pleasure of a +surprise which you could not have bought for that money.' + +The cabman grinned as he touched his hat and drove away, and Mr. Van +Torp took his valise in one hand and his umbrella in the other and +went up the dark stairs. He went up four flights without stopping +to take breath, and without so much as glancing at any of the names +painted in white letters on the small black boards beside the doors on +the right and left of each landing. + +The fourth floor was the last, and though the name on the left had +evidently been there a number of years, for the white lettering was of +the tint of a yellow fog, it was still quite clear and legible. + +MR.I. BAMBERGER. + +That was the name, but the millionaire did not look at it any more +than he had looked at the others lower down. He knew them all by +heart. He dropped his valise, took a small key from his pocket, opened +the door, picked up his valise again, and, as neither hand was free, +he shut the door with his heel as he passed in, and it slammed behind +him, sending dismal echoes down the empty staircase. + +The entry was almost quite dark, for it was past six o'clock in the +afternoon, late in March, and the sky was overcast; but there was +still light enough to see in the large room on the left into which Mr. +Van Torp carried his things. + +It was a dingy place, poorly furnished, but some one had dusted the +table, the mantelpiece, and the small bookcase, and the fire was laid +in the grate, while a bright copper kettle stood on a movable hob. Mr. +Van Torp struck a match and lighted the kindling before he took off +his overcoat, and in a few minutes a cheerful blaze dispelled the +gathering gloom. He went to a small old-fashioned cupboard in a corner +and brought from it a chipped cup and saucer, a brown teapot, and a +cheap japanned tea-caddy, all of which he set on the table; and as +soon as the fire burned brightly, he pushed the movable hob round with +his foot till the kettle was over the flame of the coals. Then he took +off his overcoat and sat down in the shabby easy-chair by the hearth, +to wait till the water boiled. + +His proceedings, his manner, and his expression would have surprised +the people who had been his fellow-passengers on the _Leofric_, and +who imagined Mr. Van Torp driving to an Olympian mansion, somewhere +between Constitution Hill and Sloane Square, to be received at his own +door by gravely obsequious footmen in plush, and to drink Imperial +Chinese tea from cups of Old Saxe, or Bleu du Roi, or Capo di Monte. + +Paul Griggs, having tea and a pipe in a quiet little hotel in Clarges +Street, would have been much surprised if he could have seen Rufus Van +Torp lighting a fire for himself in that dingy room in Hare Court. +Madame Margarita da Cordova, waiting for an expected visitor in her +own sitting-room, in her own pretty house in Norfolk Crescent, would +have been very much surprised indeed. The sight would have plunged her +into even greater uncertainty as to the man's real character, and it +is not unlikely that she would have taken his mysterious retreat to be +another link in the chain of evidence against him which already seemed +so convincing. She might naturally have wondered, too, what he had +felt when he had seen that board beside the door, and she could hardly +have believed that he had gone in without so much as glancing at the +yellowish letters that formed the name of Bamberger. + +But he seemed quite at home where he was, and not at all uncomfortable +as he sat before the fire, watching the spout of the kettle, his +elbows on the arms of the easy-chair and his hands raised before him, +with the finger-tips pressed against each other, in the attitude +which, with most men, means that they are considering the two sides of +a question that is interesting without being very important. + +Perhaps a thoughtful observer would have noticed at once that there +had been no letters waiting for him when he had arrived, and would +have inferred either that he did not mean to stay at the rooms +twenty-four hours, or that, if he did, he had not chosen to let any +one know where he was. + +Presently it occurred to him that there was no longer any light in +the room except from the fire, and he rose and lit the gas. The +incandescent light sent a raw glare into the farthest corners of the +large room, and just then a tiny wreath of white steam issued from the +spout of the kettle. This did not escape Mr. Van Torp's watchful eye, +but instead of making tea at once he looked at his watch, after which +he crossed the room to the window and stood thoughtfully gazing +through the panes at the fast disappearing outlines of the roofs and +chimney-pots which made up the view when there was daylight outside. +He did not pull down the shade before he turned back to the fire, +perhaps because no one could possibly look in. + +But he poured a little hot water into the teapot, to scald it, and +went to the cupboard and got another cup and saucer, and an old +tobacco-tin of which the dingy label was half torn off, and which +betrayed by a rattling noise that it contained lumps of sugar. The +imaginary thoughtful observer already mentioned would have inferred +from all this that Mr. Van Torp had resolved to put off making tea +until some one came to share it with him, and that the some one +might take sugar, though he himself did not; and further, as it was +extremely improbable, on the face of it, that an afternoon visitor +should look in by a mere chance, in the hope of finding some one in +Mr. Isidore Bamberger's usually deserted rooms, on the fourth floor of +a dark building in Hare Court, the observer would suppose that Mr. Van +Torp was expecting some one to come and see him just at that hour, +though he had only landed in Liverpool that day, and would have been +still at sea if the weather had been rough or foggy. + +All this might have still further interested Paul Griggs, and would +certainly have seemed suspicious to Margaret, if she could have known +about it. + +Five minutes passed, and ten, and the kettle was boiling furiously, +and sending out a long jet of steam over the not very shapely toes of +Mr. Van Torp's boots, as he leaned back with his feet on the fender. +He looked at his watch again and apparently gave up the idea of +waiting any longer, for he rose and poured out the hot water from the +teapot into one of the cups, as a preparatory measure, and took off +the lid to put in the tea. But just as he had opened the caddy, he +paused and listened. The door of the room leading to the entry was +ajar, and as he stood by the table he had heard footsteps on the +stairs, still far down, but mounting steadily. + +He went to the outer door and listened. There was no doubt that +somebody was coming up; any one not deaf could have heard the sound. +It was more strange that Mr. Van Torp should recognise the step, +for the rooms on the other side of the landing were occupied, and a +stranger would have thought it quite possible that the person who +was coming up should be going there. But Mr. Van Torp evidently knew +better, for he opened his door noiselessly and stood waiting to +receive the visitor. The staircase below was dimly lighted by gas, but +there was none at the upper landing, and in a few seconds a dark form +appeared, casting a tall shadow upwards against the dingy white paint +of the wall. The figure mounted steadily and came directly to the open +door--a lady in a long black cloak that quite hid her dress. She wore +no hat, but her head was altogether covered by one of those things +which are neither hoods nor mantillas nor veils, but which serve women +for any of the three, according to weather and circumstances. The +peculiarity of the one the lady wore was that it cast a deep shadow +over her face. + +'Come in,' said Mr. Van Torp, withdrawing into the entry to make way. + +She entered and went on directly to the sitting-room, while he shut +the outer door. Then he followed her, and shut the second door behind +him. She was standing before the fire spreading her gloved hands to +the blaze, as if she were cold. The gloves were white, and they fitted +very perfectly. As he came near, she turned and held out one hand. + +'All right?' he inquired, shaking it heartily, as if it had been a +man's. + +A sweet low voice answered him. + +'Yes--all right,' it said, as if nothing could ever be wrong with +its possessor. 'But you?' it asked directly afterwards, in a tone of +sympathetic anxiety. + +'I? Oh--well--' Mr. Van Torp's incomplete answer might have meant +anything, except that he too was 'all right.' + +'Yes,' said the lady gravely. 'I read the telegram the next day. Did +you get my cable? I did not think you would sail.' + +'Yes, I got your cable. Thank you. Well--I did sail, you see. Take off +your things. The water's boiling and we'll have tea in a minute.' + +The lady undid the fastening at her throat so that the fur-lined cloak +opened and slipped a little on her white shoulders. She held it in +place with one hand, and with the other she carefully turned back the +lace hood from her face, so as not to disarrange her hair. Mr. Van +Torp was making tea, and he looked up at her over the teapot. + +'I dressed for dinner,' she said, explaining. + +'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp, looking at her, 'I should think you did!' + +There was real admiration in his tone, though it was distinctly +reluctant. + +'I thought it would save half an hour and give us more time together,' +said the lady simply. + +She sat down in the shabby easy-chair, and as she did so the cloak +slipped and lay about her waist, and she gathered one side of it over +her knees. Her gown was of black velvet, without so much as a bit of +lace, except at the sleeves, and the only ornament she wore was a +short string of very perfect pearls clasped round her handsome young +throat. + +She was handsome, to say the least. If tired ghosts of departed +barristers were haunting the dingy room in Hare Court that night, they +must have blinked and quivered for sheer pleasure at what they saw, +for Mr. Van Torp's visitor was a very fine creature to look at; and if +ghosts can hear, they heard that her voice was sweet and low, like an +evening breeze and flowing water in a garden, even in the Garden of +Eden. + +She was handsome, and she was young; and above all she had the +freshness, the uncontaminated bloom, the subdued brilliancy of +nature's most perfect growing things. It was in the deep clear eyes, +in the satin sheen of her bare shoulders under the sordid gaslight; it +was in the strong smooth lips, delicately shaded from salmon colour to +the faintest peach-blossom; it was in the firm oval of her face, in +the well-modelled ear, the straight throat and the curving neck; it +was in her graceful attitude; it was everywhere. 'No doubt,' the +ghosts might have said, 'there are more beautiful women in England +than this one, but surely there is none more like a thoroughbred and a +Derby winner!' + +'You take sugar, don't you?' asked Mr. Van Torp, having got the lid +off the old tobacco-tin with some difficulty, for it had developed an +inclination to rust since it had last been moved. + +'One lump, please,' said the thoroughbred, looking at the fire. + +'I thought I remembered,' observed the millionaire. 'The tea's good,' +he added, 'and you'll have to excuse the cup. And there's no cream.' + +'I'll excuse anything,' said the lady, 'I'm so glad to be here!' + +'Well, I'm glad to see you too,' said Mr. Van Torp, giving her the +cup. 'Crackers? I'll see if there're any in the cupboard. I forgot.' + +He went to the corner again and found a small tin of biscuits, which +he opened and examined under gaslight. + +'Mouldy,' he observed. 'Weevils in them, too. Sorry. Does it matter +much?' + +'Nothing matters,' answered the lady, sweet and low. 'But why do you +put them away if they are bad? It would be better to burn them and be +done with it.' + +He was taking the box back to the cupboard. + +'I suppose you're right,' he said reluctantly. 'But it always seems +wicked to burn bread, doesn't it?' + +'Not when it's weevilly,' replied the thoroughbred, after sipping the +hot tea. + +He emptied the contents of the tin upon the coal fire, and the room +presently began to smell of mouldy toast. + +'Besides,' he said, 'it's cruel to burn weevils, I suppose. If I'd +thought of that, I'd have left them alone. It's too late now. They're +done for, poor beasts! I'm sorry. I don't like to kill things.' + +He stared thoughtfully at the already charred remains of the +holocaust, and shook his head a little. The lady sipped her tea and +looked at him quietly, perhaps affectionately, but he did not see her. + +'You think I'm rather silly sometimes, don't you?' he asked, still +gazing at the fire. + +'No,' she answered at once. 'It's never silly to be kind, even to +weevils.' + +'Thank you for thinking so,' said Mr. Van Torp, in an oddly humble +tone, and he began to drink his own tea. + +If Margaret Donne could have suddenly found herself perched among the +chimney-pots on the opposite roof, and if she had then looked at his +face through the window, she would have wondered why she had ever felt +a perfectly irrational terror of him. It was quite plain that the lady +in black velvet had no such impression. + +'You need not be so meek,' she said, smiling. + +She did not laugh often, but sometimes there was a ripple in her fresh +voice that would turn a man's head. Mr. Van Torp looked at her in a +rather dull way. + +'I believe I feel meek when I'm with you. Especially just now.' + +He swallowed the rest of his tea at a gulp, set the cup on the table, +and folded his hands loosely together, his elbows resting on his +knees; in this attitude he leaned forward and looked at the burning +coals. Again his companion watched his hard face with affectionate +interest. + +'Tell me just how it happened,' she said. 'I mean, if it will help you +at all to talk about it.' + +'Yes. You always help me,' he answered, and then paused. 'I think I +should like to tell you the whole thing,' he added after an instant. +'Somehow, I never tell anybody much about myself.' + +'I know.' + +She bent her handsome head in assent. Just then it would have been +very hard to guess what the relations were between the oddly assorted +pair, as they sat a little apart from each other before the grate. +Mr. Van Torp was silent now, as if he were making up his mind how to +begin. + +In the pause, the lady quietly held out her hand towards him. He saw +without turning further, and he stretched out his own. She took it +gently, and then, without warning, she leaned very far forward, bent +over it and touched it with her lips. He started and drew it back +hastily. It was as if the leaf of a flower had settled upon it, and +had hovered an instant, and fluttered away in a breath of soft air. + +'Please don't!' he cried, almost roughly. 'There's nothing to thank me +for. I've often told you so.' + +But the lady was already leaning back in the old easy-chair again as +if she had done nothing at all unusual. + +'It wasn't for myself,' she said. 'It was for all the others, who will +never know.' + +'Well, I'd rather not,' he answered. 'It's not worth all that. Now, +see here! I'm going to tell you as near as I can what happened, and +when you know you can make up your mind. You never saw but one side of +me anyhow, but you've got to see the other sooner or later. No, I know +what you're going to say--all that about a dual nature, and Jekyll and +Hyde, and all the rest of it. That may be true for nervous people, but +I'm not nervous. Not at all. I never was. What I know is, there are +two sides to everybody, and one's always the business side. The other +may be anything. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. Sometimes +it cares for a woman, sometimes it's a collector of art things, +Babylonian glass, and Etruscan toys and prehistoric dolls. It may +gamble, or drink, or teach a Sunday school, or read Dante, or shoot, +or fish, or anything that's of no use. But one side's always the +business side. That's certain.' + +Mr. Van Torp paused, and looked at his companion's empty cup. Seeing +that he was going to get up in order to give her more, she herself +rose quickly and did it for herself. He sat still and watched her, +probably because the business side of his nature judged that he could +be of no use. The fur-lined cloak was now lying in the easy-chair, and +there was nothing to break the sweeping lines of the black velvet from +her dazzling shoulders to her waist, to her knee, to her feet. Mr. Van +Torp watched her in silence, till she sat down again. + +'You know me well enough to understand that,' he said, going on. 'My +outside's my business side, and that's what matters most. Now the +plain truth is this. My engagement to Miss Bamberger was just a +business affair. Bamberger thought of it first, and suggested it to +me, and he asked her if she'd mind being engaged to me for a few +weeks; and she said she wouldn't provided she wasn't expected to marry +me. That was fair and square, anyway, on both sides. Wasn't it?' + +'It depends on why you did it,' said the lady, going to the point +directly. + +'That was the business side,' answered her companion. 'You see, a big +thing like the Nickel Trust always has a lot of enemies, besides a +heap of people who want to get some of it cheap. This time they put +their heads together and got up one of the usual stories. You see, +Isidore H. Bamberger is the president and I only appear as a director, +though most of it's mine. So they got up a story that he was operating +on his own account to get behind me, and that we were going to quarrel +over it, and there was going to be a slump, and people began to +believe it. It wasn't any use talking to the papers. We soon found +that out. Sometimes the public won't believe anything it's told, and +sometimes it swallows faster than you can feed to it. I don't know +why, though I've had a pretty long experience, but I generally do know +which state it's in. I feel it. That's what's called business ability. +It's like fishing. Any old fisherman can judge in half an hour whether +the fish are going to bite all day or not. If he's wrong once, he'll +be right a hundred times. Well, I felt talking was no good, and so did +Bamberger, and the shares began to go down before the storm. If the +big slump had come there'd have been a heap of money lost. I don't say +we didn't let the shares drop a couple of points further than they +needed to, and Bamberger bought any of it that happened to be lying +around, and the more he bought the quicker it wanted to go +down, because people said there was going to be trouble and an +investigation. But if we'd gone on, lots of people would have been +ruined, and yet we didn't just see how to stop it sharp, till +Bamberger started his scheme. Do you understand all that?' + +The lady nodded gravely. + +'You make it clear,' she said. + +'Well, I thought it was a good scheme,' continued her companion, +'and as the girl said she didn't mind, we told we were engaged. That +settled things pretty quick. The shares went up again in forty-eight +hours, and as we'd bought for cash we made the points, and the other +people were short and lost. But when everything was all right again we +got tired of being engaged, Miss Bamberger and I; and besides, there +was a young fellow she'd a fancy for, and he kept writing to her that +he'd kill himself, and that made her nervous, you see, and she said if +it went on another day she knew she'd have appendicitis or something. +So we were going to announce that the engagement was broken. And the +very night before--' + +He paused. Not a muscle of the hard face moved, there was not a change +in the expression of the tremendous mouth, there was not a tremor in +the tone; but the man kept his eyes steadily on the fire. + +'Oh, well, she's dead now, poor thing,' he said presently. 'And that's +what I wanted to tell you. I suppose it's not a very pretty story, is +it? But I'll tell you one thing. Though we made a little by the turn +of the market, we saved a heap of small fry from losing all they'd put +in. If we'd let the slump come and then bought we should have made a +pile; but then we might have had difficulty in getting the stock up to +anywhere near par again for some time.' + +'Besides,' said the lady quietly, 'you would not have ruined all those +little people if you could help it.' + +'You think I wouldn't?' He turned his eyes to her now. + +'I'm sure you would not,' said the lady with perfect confidence. + +'I don't know, I'm sure,' answered Mr. Van Torp in a doubtful tone. +'Perhaps I wouldn't. But it would only have been business if I had. +It's not as if Bamberger and I had started a story on purpose about +our quarrelling in order to make things go down. I draw the line +there. That's downright dishonest, I call it. But if we'd just let +things slide and taken advantage of what happened, it would only have +been business after all. Except for that doubt about getting back +to par,' he added, as an afterthought. 'But then I should have felt +whether it was safe or not.' + +'Then why did you not let things slide, as you call it?' + +'I don't know, I'm sure. Maybe I was soft-hearted. We don't always +know why we do things in business. There's a great deal more in the +weather where big money is moving than you might think. For instance, +there was never a great revolution in winter. But as for making people +lose their money, those who can't keep it ought not to have it. +They're a danger to society, and half the time it's they who upset the +market by acting like lunatics. They get a lot of sentimental pity +sometimes, those people; but after all, if they didn't try to cut in +without capital, and play the game without knowing the rules, business +would be much steadier and there would be fewer panics. They're the +people who get frightened and run, not we. The fact is, they ought +never to have been there. That's why I believe in big things myself.' + +He paused, having apparently reached the end of his subject. + +'Were you with the poor girl when she died?' asked the lady presently. + +'No. She'd dined with a party and was in their box, and they were the +last people who saw her. You read about the explosion. She bolted +from the box in the dark, I was told, and as she couldn't be found +afterwards they concluded she had rushed out and taken a cab home. It +seemed natural, I suppose.' + +'Who found her at last?' + +'A man called Griggs--the author, you know. He carried her to the +manager's room, still alive. They got a doctor, and as she wanted +to see a woman, they sent for Cordova, the singer, from her +dressing-room, and the girl died in her arms. They said it was heart +failure, from shock.' + +'It was very sad.' + +'I'm sorry for poor Bamberger,' said Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully. 'She +was his only child, and he doted on her. I never saw a man so cut up +as he looked. I wanted to stay, but he said the mere sight of me drove +him crazy, poor fellow, and as I had business over here and my passage +was taken, I just sailed. Sometimes the kindest thing one can do is +to get out. So I did. But I'm very sorry for him. I wish I could do +anything to make it easier for him. It was nobody's fault, I suppose, +though I do think the people she was with might have prevented her +from rushing out in the dark.' + +'They were frightened themselves. How could any one be blamed for her +death?' + +'Exactly. But if any one could be made responsible, I know Bamberger +would do for him in some way. He's a resentful sort of man if any one +does him an injury. Blood for blood is Bamberger's motto, every time. +One thing I'm sure of. He'll run down whoever was responsible for +that explosion, and he'll do for him, whoever he is, if it costs one +million to get a conviction. I wouldn't like to be the fellow!' + +'I can understand wishing to be revenged for the death of one's only +child,' said the lady thoughtfully. 'Cannot you?' + +The American turned his hard face to her. + +'Yes,' he said, 'I can. It's only human, after all.' + +She sighed and looked into the fire. She was married, but she was +childless, and that was a constant regret to her. Mr. Van Torp knew it +and understood. + +'To change the subject,' he said cheerfully, 'I suppose you need +money, don't you?' + +'Oh yes! Indeed I do!' + +Her momentary sadness had already disappeared, and there was almost a +ripple in her tone again as she answered. + +'How much?' asked the millionaire smiling. + +She shook her head and smiled too; and as she met his eyes she +settled herself and leaned far back in the shabby easy-chair. She was +wonderfully graceful and good to look at in her easy attitude. + +'I'm afraid to tell you how much!' She shook her head again, as she +answered. + +'Well,' said Mr. Van Torp in an encouraging tone, 'I've brought some +cash in my pocket, and if it isn't enough I'll get you some more +to-morrow. But I won't give you a cheque. It's too compromising. I +thought of that before I left New York, so I brought some English +notes from there.' + +'How thoughtful you always are for me!' + +'It's not much to do for a woman one likes. But I'm sorry if I've +brought too little. Here it is, anyway.' + +He produced a large and well-worn pocket-book, and took from it a +small envelope, which he handed to her. + +'Tell me how much more you'll need,' he said, 'and I'll give it to +you to-morrow. I'll put the notes between the pages of a new book and +leave it at your door. He wouldn't open a package that was addressed +to you from a bookseller's, would he?' + +'No,' answered the lady, her expression changing a little, 'I think he +draws the line at the bookseller.' + +'You see, this was meant for you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'There are your +initials on it.' + +She glanced at the envelope, and saw that it was marked in pencil with +the letters M.L. in one corner. + +'Thank you,' she said, but she did not open it. + +'You'd better count the notes,' suggested the millionaire. 'I'm open +to making mistakes myself.' + +The lady took from the envelope a thin flat package of new Bank of +England notes, folded together in four. Without separating them she +glanced carelessly at the first, which was for a hundred pounds, and +then counted the others by the edges. She counted four after the +first, and Mr. Van Torp watched her face with evident amusement. + +'You need more than that, don't you?' he asked, when she had finished. + +'A little more, perhaps,' she said quietly, though she could not quite +conceal her disappointment, as she folded the notes and slipped them +into the envelope again. 'But I shall try to make this last. Thank you +very much.' + +'I like you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'You're the real thing. They'd call +you a chief's daughter in the South Seas. But I'm not so mean as all +that. I only thought you might need a little cash at once. That's +all.' + +A loud knocking at the outer door prevented the lady from answering. + +She looked at Mr. Van Torp in surprise. + +'What's that?' she asked, rather anxiously. + +'I don't know,' he answered. 'He couldn't guess that you were here, +could he?' + +'Oh no! That's quite out of the question!' + +'Then I'll open the door,' said the millionaire, and he left the +sitting-room. + +The lady had not risen, and she still leaned back in her seat. She +idly tapped the knuckles of her gloved hand with the small envelope. + +The knocking was repeated, she heard the outer door opened, and the +sound of voices followed directly. + +'Oh!' Mr. Van Torp exclaimed in a tone of contemptuous surprise, 'it's +you, is it? Well, I'm busy just now. I can't see you till to-morrow.' + +'My business will not keep till to-morrow,' answered an oily voice in +a slightly foreign accent. + +At the very first syllables the lady rose quickly to her feet, and +resting one hand on the table she leant forward in the direction of +the door, with an expression that was at once eager and anxious, and +yet quite fearless. + +'What you call your business is going to wait my convenience,' said +Mr. Van Torp. 'You'll find me here to-morrow morning until eleven +o'clock.' + +From the sounds the lady judged that the American now attempted to +shut the door in his visitor's face, but that he was hindered and that +a scuffle followed. + +'Hold him!' cried the oily voice in a tone of command. 'Bring him in! +Lock the door!' + +It was clear enough that the visitor had not come alone, and that Mr. +Van Torp had been overpowered. The lady bit her salmon-coloured lip +angrily and contemptuously. + +A moment later a tall heavily-built man with thick fair hair, a long +moustache, and shifty blue eyes, rushed into the room and did not stop +till there was only the small table between him and the lady. + +'I've caught you! What have you to say?' he asked. + +'To you? Nothing!' + +She deliberately turned her back on her husband, rested one elbow on +the mantelpiece and set one foot upon the low fender, drawing up +her velvet gown over her instep. But a moment later she heard other +footsteps in the room, and turned her head to see Mr. Van Torp enter +the room between two big men who were evidently ex-policemen. The +millionaire, having failed to shut the door in the face of the three +men, had been too wise to attempt any further resistance. + +The fair man glanced down at the table and saw the envelope with his +wife's initials lying beside the tea things. She had dropped it there +when she had risen to her feet at the sound of his voice. He snatched +it away as soon as he saw the pencilled letters on it, and in a moment +he had taken out the notes and was looking over them. + +'I should like you to remember this, please,' he said, addressing the +two men who had accompanied him. 'This envelope is addressed to my +wife, under her initials, in the handwriting of Mr. Van Torp. Am +I right in taking it for your handwriting?' he inquired, in a +disagreeably polite tone, and turning towards the millionaire. + +'You are,' answered the American, in a perfectly colourless voice and +without moving a muscle. 'That's my writing.' + +'And this envelope,' continued the husband, holding up the notes +before the men, 'contains notes to the amount of four thousand one +hundred pounds.' + +'Five hundred pounds, you mean,' said the lady coldly. + +'See for yourself!' retorted the fair man, raising his eyebrows and +holding out the notes. + +'That's correct,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling and looking at the lady. +'Four thousand one hundred. Only the first one was for a hundred, and +the rest were thousands. I meant it for a little surprise, you see.' + +'Oh, how kind! How dear and kind!' cried the lady gratefully, and with +amazing disregard of her husband's presence. + +The two ex-policemen had not expected anything so interesting as this, +and their expressions were worthy of study. They had been engaged, +through a private agency, to assist and support an injured husband, +and afterwards to appear as witnesses of a vulgar clandestine meeting, +as they supposed. It was not the first time they had been employed on +such business, but they did not remember ever having had to deal with +two persons who exhibited such hardened indifference; and though the +incident of the notes was not new to them, they had never been in a +case where the amount of cash received by the lady at one time was so +very large. + +'It is needless,' said the fair man, addressing them both, 'to ask +what this money was for.' + +'Yes,' said Mr. Van Torp coolly. 'You needn't bother. But I'll call +your attention to the fact that the notes are not yours, and that I'd +like to see them put back into that envelope and laid on that table +before you go. You broke into my house by force anyhow. If you take +valuables away with you, which you found here, it's burglary in +England, whatever it may be in your country; and if you don't know it, +these two professional gentlemen do. So you just do as I tell you, if +you want to keep out of gaol.' + +The fair man had shown a too evident intention of slipping the +envelope into his own pocket, doubtless to be produced in evidence, +but Mr. Van Torp's final argument seemed convincing. + +'I have not the smallest intention of depriving my wife of the price +of my honour, sir. Indeed, I am rather flattered to find that you both +value it so highly.' + +Mr. Van Torp's hard face grew harder, and a very singular light came +into his eyes. He moved forwards till he was close to the fair man. + +'None of that!' he said authoritatively. 'If you say another word +against your wife in my hearing I'll make it the last you ever said to +anybody. Now you'd better be gone before I telephone for the police. +Do you understand?' + +The two ex-policemen employed by a private agency thought the case was +becoming more and more interesting; but at the same time they were +made vaguely nervous by Mr. Van Torp's attitude. + +'I think you are threatening me,' said the fair man, drawing back a +step, and leaving the envelope on the table. + +'No,' answered his adversary, 'I'm warning you off my premises, and +if you don't go pretty soon I'll telephone for the police. Is that a +threat?' + +The last question was addressed to the two men. + +'No, sir,' answered one of them. + +'It would hardly be to your advantage to have more witnesses of my +wife's presence here,' observed the fair man coldly, 'but as I intend +to take her home we may as well go at once. Come, Maud! The carriage +is waiting.' + +The lady, whose name was now spoken for the first time since she had +entered Mr. Van Torp's lodging, had not moved from the fireplace since +she had taken up her position there. Women are as clever as Napoleon +or Julius Caesar in selecting strong positions when there is to be an +encounter, and a fireplace, with a solid mantelpiece to lean against, +to strike, to cry upon or to cling to, is one of the strongest. +The enemy is thus reduced to prowling about the room and handling +knick-knacks while he talks, or smashing them if he is of a violent +disposition. + +The lady now leant back against the dingy marble shelf and laid one +white-gloved arm along it, in an attitude that was positively regal. +Her right hand might appropriately have been toying with the orb of +empire on the mantelpiece, and her left, which hung down beside her, +might have loosely held the sceptre. Mr. Van Torp, who often bought +large pictures, was reminded of one recently offered to him in +America, representing an empress. He would have bought the portrait if +the dealer could have remembered which empress it represented, but the +fact that he could not had seemed suspicious to Mr. Van Torp. It was +clearly the man's business to know empresses by sight. + +From her commanding position the Lady Maud refused her husband's +invitation to go home with him. + +'I shall certainly not go with you,' she said. 'Besides, I'm dining +early at the Turkish Embassy and we are going to the play. You need +not wait for me. I'll take care of myself this evening, thank you.' + +'This is monstrous!' cried the fair man, and with a peculiarly +un-English gesture he thrust his hand into his thick hair. + +The foreigner in despair has always amused the genuine Anglo-Saxon. +Lady Maud's lip did not curl contemptuously now, she did not raise +her eyebrows, nor did her eyes flash with scorn. On the contrary, +she smiled quite frankly, and the sweet ripple was in her voice, the +ripple that drove some men almost crazy. + +'You needn't make such a fuss,' she said. 'It's quite absurd, you +know. Mr. Van Torp is an old friend of mine, and you have known him +ever so long, and he is a man of business. You are, are you not?' she +asked, looking to the American for assent. + +'I'm generally thought to be that,' he answered. + +'Very well. I came here, to Mr. Van Torp's rooms in the Temple, +before going to dinner, because I wished to see him about a matter of +business, in what is a place of business. It's all ridiculous nonsense +to talk about having caught me--and worse. That money is for a +charity, and I am going to take it before your eyes, and thank Mr. Van +Torp for being so splendidly generous. Now go, and take those persons +with you, and let me hear no more of this!' + +Thereupon Lady Maud came forward from the mantelpiece and deliberately +took from the table the envelope which contained four thousand one +hundred pounds in new Bank of England notes; and she put it into the +bosom of her gown, and smiled pleasantly at her husband. + +Mr. Van Torp watched her with genuine admiration, and when she looked +at him and nodded her thanks again, he unconsciously smiled too, and +answered by a nod of approval. + +The fair-haired foreign gentleman turned to his two ex-policemen with +considerable dignity. + +'You have heard and seen,' he said impressively. 'I shall expect you +to remember all this when you are in the witness-box. Let us go.' +He made a sweeping bow to his wife and Mr. Van Torp. 'I wish you an +agreeable evening,' he said. + +Thereupon he marched out of the room, followed by his men, who each +made an awkward bow at nothing in particular before going out. Mr. Van +Torp followed them at some distance towards the outer door, judging +that as they had forced their way in they could probably find their +way out. He did not even go to the outer threshold, for the last of +the three shut the door behind him. + +When the millionaire came back Lady Maud was seated in the easy-chair, +leaning forward and looking thoughtfully into the fire. Assuredly no +one would have suspected from her composed face that anything unusual +had happened. She glanced at her friend when he came in, but did not +speak, and he began to walk up and down on the other side of the +table, with his hands behind him. + +'You've got pretty good nerves,' he said presently. + +'Yes,' answered Lady Maud, still watching the coals, 'they really are +rather good.' + +A long silence followed, during which she did not move and Mr. Van +Torp steadily paced the floor. + +'I didn't tell a fib, either,' she said at last. 'It's charity, in its +way.' + +'Certainly,' assented her friend. 'What isn't either purchase-money or +interest, or taxes, or a bribe, or a loan, or a premium, or a present, +or blackmail, must be charity, because it must be something, and it +isn't anything else you can name.' + +'A present may be a charity,' said Lady Maud, still thoughtful. + +'Yes,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'It may be, but it isn't always.' + +He walked twice the length of the room before he spoke again. + +'Do you think it's really to be war this time?' he asked, stopping +beside the table. 'Because if it is, I'll see a lawyer before I go to +Derbyshire.' + +Lady Maud looked up with a bright smile. Clearly she had been thinking +of something compared with which the divorce court was a delightful +contrast. + +'I don't know,' she answered. 'It must come sooner or later, because +he wants to be free to marry that woman, and as he has not the courage +to cut my throat, he must divorce me--if he can!' + +'I've sometimes thought he might take the shorter way,' said Van Torp. + +'He?' Lady Maud almost laughed, but her companion looked grave. + +'There's a thing called homicidal mania,' he said. 'Didn't he shoot a +boy in Russia a year ago?' + +'A young man--one of the beaters. But that was an accident.' + +'I'm not so sure. How about that poor dog at the Theobalds' last +September?' + +'He thought the creature was mad,' Lady Maud explained. + +'He knows as well as you do that there's no rabies in the British +Isles,' objected Mr. Van Torp. 'Count Leven never liked that dog for +some reason, and he shot him the first time he got a chance. He's +always killing things. Some day he'll kill you, I'm afraid.' + +'I don't think so,' answered the lady carelessly. 'If he does, I hope +he'll do it neatly! I should hate to be maimed or mangled.' + +'Do you know it makes me uncomfortable to hear you talk like that? I +wish you wouldn't! You can't deny that your husband's half a lunatic, +anyway. He was behaving like one here only a quarter of an hour ago, +and it's no use denying it.' + +'But I'm not denying anything!' + +'No, I know you're not,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'If you don't know how +crazy he is, I don't suppose any one else does. But your nerves are +better than mine, as I told you. The idea of killing anything makes +me uncomfortable, and when it comes to thinking that he really might +murder you some day--well, I can't stand it, that's all! If I didn't +know that you lock your door at night I shouldn't sleep, sometimes. +You do lock it, always, don't you?' + +'Oh yes!' + +'Be sure you do to-night. I wonder whether he is in earnest about the +divorce this time, or whether the whole scene was just bluff, to get +my money.' + +'I don't know,' answered Lady Maud, rising. 'He needs money, I +believe, but I'm not sure that he would try to get it just in that +way.' + +'Too bad? Even for him?' + +'Oh dear, no! Too simple! He's a tortuous person.' + +'He tried to pocket those notes with a good deal of directness!' +observed Mr. Van Torp. + +'Yes. That was an opportunity that turned up unexpectedly, but he +didn't know it would. How could he? He didn't come here expecting to +find thousands of pounds lying about on the table! It was easy enough +to know that I was here, of course. I couldn't go out of my own house +on foot, in a dinner-gown, and pick up a hansom, could I? I had one +called and gave the address, and the footman remembered it and told my +husband. There's nothing more foolish than making mysteries and giving +the cabman first one address and then another. If Boris is really +going to bring a suit, the mere fact that there was no concealment as +to where I was going this evening would be strong evidence, wouldn't +it? Evidence he cannot deny, too, since he must have learnt the +address from the footman, who heard me give it! And people who make no +secret of a meeting are not meeting clandestinely, are they?' + +'You argue that pretty well,' said Mr. Van Torp, smiling. + +'And besides,' rippled Lady Maud's sweet voice, as she shook out the +folds of her black velvet, 'I don't care.' + +Her friend held up the fur-lined cloak and put it over her shoulders. +She fastened it at the neck and then turned to the fire for a moment +before leaving. + +'Rufus,' she said gravely, after a moment's pause, and looking down at +the coals, 'you're an angel.' + +'The others in the game don't think so,' answered Mr. Van Torp. + +'No one was ever so good to a woman as you've been to me,' said Maud. + +And all at once the joyful ring had died away from her voice and there +was another tone in it that was sweet and low too, but sad and tender +and grateful, all at once. + +'There's nothing to thank me for,' answered Mr. Van Torp. 'I've often +told you so. But I have a good deal of reason to be grateful to you +for all you've given me.' + +'Nonsense!' returned the lady, and the sadness was gone again, but +not all the tenderness. 'I must be going,' she added a moment later, +turning away from the fire. + +'I'll take you to the Embassy in a hansom,' said the millionaire, +slipping on his overcoat. + +'No. You mustn't do that--we should be sure to meet some one at the +door. Are you going anywhere in particular? I'll drop you wherever you +like, and then go on. It will give us a few minutes more together.' + +'Goodness knows we don't get too many!' + +'No, indeed!' + +So the two went down the dismal stairs of the house in Hare Court +together. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +The position of a successful lyric primadonna with regard to other +artists and the rest of the world is altogether exceptional, and +is not easy to explain. Her value for purposes of advertisement +apparently exceeds that of any other popular favourite, not to mention +the majority of royal personages. A respectable publisher has been +known to bring out a book in which he did not believe, solely because +a leading lyric soprano promised him to say in an interview that it +was the book of the year. Countless brands of cigars, cigarettes, +wines and liquors, have been the fashion with the flash crowd that +frequents public billiard-rooms and consumes unlimited tobacco and +drink, merely because some famous 'Juliet' or 'Marguerite' has +'consented' to lend her name to the articles in question; and half +the grog-shops on both sides of the Atlantic display to the admiring +street the most alarming pink and white caricatures, or monstrously +enlarged photographs, of the three or four celebrated lyric sopranos +who happen to be before the public at any one time. In the popular +mind those artists represent something which they themselves do not +always understand. There is a legend about each; she is either an +angel of purity and light, or a beautiful monster of iniquity; she +has turned the heads of kings--'kings' in a vaguely royal +plural--completely round on their shoulders, or she has built out of +her earnings a hospital for crippled children; the watery-sentimental +eye of the flash crowd in its cups sees in her a Phryne, a Mrs. Fry, +or a Saint Cecilia. Goethe said that every man must be either the +hammer or the anvil; the billiard-room public is sure that every +primadonna is a siren or a martyred wife, or else a public +benefactress, unless she is all three by turns, which is even more +interesting. + +In any case, the reporters are sure that every one wants to know just +what she thinks about everything. In the United States, for instance, +her opinion on political matters is often asked, and is advertised +with 'scare-heads' that would stop a funeral or arrest the attention +of a man on his way to the gallows. + +Then, too, she has her 'following' of 'girls,' thousands of whom have +her photograph, or her autograph, or both, and believe in her, and are +ready to scratch out the eyes of any older person who suggests that +she is not perfection in every way, or that to be a primadonna like +her ought not to be every girl's highest ambition. They not only +worship her, but many of them make real sacrifices to hear her sing; +for most of them are anything but well off, and to hear an opera means +living without little luxuries, and sometimes without necessaries, for +days together. Their devotion to their idol is touching and true; and +she knows it and is good-natured in the matter of autographs for them, +and talks about 'my matinee girls' to the reporters, as if those +eleven thousand virgins and more were all her younger sisters and +nieces. An actress, even the most gifted, has no such 'following.' The +greatest dramatic sopranos that ever sing Brunhilde and Kundry +enjoy no such popularity. It belongs exclusively to the nightingale +primadonnas, whose voices enchant the ear if they do not always +stir the blood. It may be explicable, but no explanation is at all +necessary, since the fact cannot be disputed. + +To this amazing popularity Margaret Donne had now attained; and she +was known to the matinee girls' respectful admiration as Madame +Cordova, to the public generally and to her comrades as Cordova, to +sentimental paragraph-writers as Fair Margaret, and to her friends as +Miss Donne, or merely as Margaret. Indeed, from the name each person +gave her in speaking of her, it was easy to know the class to which +each belonged. + +She had bought a house in London, because in her heart she still +thought England the finest country in the world, and had never felt +the least desire to live anywhere else. She had few relations left and +none whom she saw; for her father, the Oxford scholar, had not had +money, and they all looked with disapproval on the career she had +chosen. Besides, she had been very little in England since her +parents' death. Her mother's American friend, the excellent Mrs. +Rushmore, who had taken her under her wing, was now in Versailles, +where she had a house, and Margaret actually had the audacity to live +alone, rather than burden herself with a tiresome companion. + +Her courage in doing so was perhaps mistaken, considering what the +world is and what it generally thinks of the musical and theatrical +professions; and Mrs. Rushmore, who was quite powerless to influence +Margaret's conduct, did not at all approve of it. The girl's will had +always been strong, and her immense success had so little weakened +her belief in herself, or softened her character, that she had grown +almost too independent. The spirit of independence is not a fault in +women, but it is a defect in the eyes of men. Darwin has proved that +the dominant characteristic of male animals is vanity; and what is +to become of that if women show that they can do without us? If the +emancipation of woman had gone on as it began when we were boys, we +should by this time be importing wives for our sons from Timbuctoo or +the Friendly Islands. Happily, women are practical beings who rarely +stray far from the narrow path along which usefulness and pleasure may +still go hand in hand; for considering how much most women do that +is useful, the amount of pleasure they get out of life is perfectly +amazing; and when we try to keep up with them in the chase after +amusement we are surprised at the number of useful things they +accomplish without effort in twenty-four hours. + +But, indeed, women are to us very like the moon, which has shown the +earth only one side of herself since the beginning, though she has +watched and studied our world from all its sides through uncounted +ages. We men are alternately delighted, humiliated, and terrified when +women anticipate our wishes, perceive our weaknesses, and detect our +shortcomings, whether we be frisky young colts in the field or sober +stagers plodding along between the matrimonial shafts in harness and +blinkers. We pride ourselves on having the strength to smash the +shafts, shake off the harness, and kick the cart to pieces if we +choose, and there are men who can and do. But the man does not live +who knows what the dickens women are up to when he is going quietly +along the road, as a good horse should. Sometimes they are driving us, +and then there is no mistake about it; and sometimes they are just +sitting in the cart and dozing, and we can tell that they are behind +us by their weight; but very often we are neither driven by them nor +are we dragging them, and we really have not the faintest idea where +they are, so that we are reduced to telling ourselves, with a little +nervousness which we do not care to acknowledge, that it is noble and +beautiful to trust what we love. + +A part of the great feminine secret is the concealment of that +independence about which there has been so much talk in our time. As +for suffrage, wherever there is such a thing, the woman who does not +vote always controls far more men's votes than the woman who goes to +the polls, and has only her own vote to give. + +Margaret, the primadonna, did not want to vote for or against +anything; but she was a little too ready to assert that she could and +would lead her own life as she pleased, without danger to her good +name, because she had never done anything to be ashamed of. The +natural consequence was that she was gradually losing something +which is really much more worth having than commonplace, technical +independence. Her friend Lushington realised the change as soon as she +landed, and it hurt him to see it, because it seemed to him a great +pity that what he had thought an ideal, and therefore a natural +manifestation of art, should be losing the fine outlines that had +made it perfect to his devoted gaze. But this was not all. His rather +over-strung moral sense was offended as well as his artistic taste. +He felt that Margaret was blunting the sensibilities of her feminine +nature and wronging a part of herself, and that the delicate bloom +of girlhood was opening to a blossom that was somewhat too evidently +strong, a shade too vivid and more brilliant than beautiful. + +There were times when she reminded him of his mother, and those were +some of the most painful moments of his present life. It is true that +compared with Madame Bonanni in her prime, as he remembered her, +Margaret was as a lily of the valley to a giant dahlia; yet when he +recalled the sweet and healthy English girl he had known and loved in +Versailles three years ago, the vision was delicate and fairy-like +beside the strong reality of the successful primadonna. She was so +very sure of herself now, and so fully persuaded that she was not +accountable to any one for her doings, her tastes, or the choice of +her friends! If not actually like Madame Bonanni, she was undoubtedly +beginning to resemble two or three of her famous rivals in the +profession who were nearer to her own age. Her taste did not run in +the direction of white fox cloaks, named diamonds, and imperial jade +plates; she did not use a solid gold toothbrush with emeralds set in +the handle, like Ismail Pacha; bridge did not amuse her at all, nor +could she derive pleasure from playing at Monte Carlo; she did not +even keep an eighty-horse-power motor-car worth five thousand pounds. +Paul Griggs, who was old-fashioned, called motor-cars 'sudden-death +carts,' and Margaret was inclined to agree with him. She cared for +none of these things. + +Nevertheless there was a quiet thoroughgoing luxury in her existence, +an unseen private extravagance, such as Rufus Van Torp, the +millionaire, had never dreamt of. She had first determined to be a +singer in order to support herself, because she had been cheated of +a fortune by old Alvah Moon; but before she had actually made her +_debut_ a handsome sum had been recovered for her, and though she was +not exactly what is now called rich, she was at least extremely well +off, apart from her professional earnings, which were very large +indeed. In the certainty that if her voice failed she would always +have a more than sufficient income for the rest of her life, and +considering that she was not under the obligation of supporting a +number of poor relations, it was not surprising that she should spend +a great deal of money on herself. + +It is not every one who can be lavish without going a little beyond +the finely-drawn boundary which divides luxury from extravagance; for +useless profusion is by nature as contrary to what is aesthetic as fat +in the wrong place, and is quite as sure to be seen. To spend well +what rich people are justified in expending over and above an ample +provision for the necessities and reasonable comforts of a large +existence is an art in itself, and the modest muse of good taste loves +not the rich man for his riches, nor the successful primadonna for the +thousands she has a right to throw away if she likes. + +Mr. Van Torp vaguely understood this, without at all guessing how the +great artist spent her money. He had understood at least enough to +hinder him from trying to dazzle her in the beginning of the New York +season, when he had brought siege against her. + +A week after her arrival in London, Margaret was alone at her piano +and Lushington was announced. Unlike the majority of musicians in real +fiction she had not been allowing her fingers to 'wander over the +keys,' a relaxation that not seldom leads to outer darkness, where the +consecutive fifth plays hide-and-seek with the falling sub-tonic to +superinduce gnashing of teeth in them that hear. Margaret was learning +her part in the _Elisir d'Amore_, and instead of using her voice she +was whistling from the score and playing the accompaniment. The old +opera was to be revived during the coming season with her and the +great Pompeo Stromboli, and she was obliged to work hard to have it +ready. + +The music-room had a polished wooden floor, and the furniture +consisted chiefly of a grand piano and a dozen chairs. The walls were +tinted a pale green; there were no curtains at the windows, because +they would have deadened sound, and a very small wood fire was burning +in an almost miniature fireplace quite at the other end of the room. +The sun had not quite set yet, and as the blinds were still open, +a lurid glare came in from the western sky, over the houses on the +opposite side of the wide square. There had been a heavy shower, but +the streets were already drying. One shaded electric lamp stood on the +desk of the piano, and the rest of the room was illuminated by the +yellowish daylight. + +Margaret was very much absorbed in her work, and did not hear the door +open; but the servant came slowly towards her, purposely making his +steps heard on the wooden floor in order to attract her attention. +When she stopped playing and whistling, and looked round, the man said +that Mr. Lushington was downstairs. + +'Ask him to come up,' she answered, without hesitation. + +She rose from the piano, went to the window and looked out at the +smoky sunset. + +Lushington entered the room in a few moments and saw only the outline +of her graceful figure, as if she were cut out in black against the +glare from the big window. She turned, and a little of the shaded +light from the piano fell upon her face, just enough to show him her +expression, and though her glad smile welcomed him, there was anxiety +in her brown eyes. He came forward, fair and supernaturally neat, as +ever, and much more self-possessed than in former days. It was not +their first meeting since she had landed, for he had been to see her +late in the afternoon on the day of her arrival, and she had expected +him; but she had felt a sort of constraint in his manner then, which +was new to her, and they had talked for half an hour about indifferent +things. Moreover, he had refused a second cup of tea, which was a sure +sign that something was wrong. So she had asked him to come again a +week later, naming the day, and she had been secretly disappointed +because he did not protest against being put off so long. She wondered +what had happened, for his letters, his cable to her when she had left +America, and the flowers he had managed to send on board the steamer, +had made her believe that he had not changed since they had parted +before Christmas. + +As she was near the piano she sat down on the stool, while he took a +small chair and established himself near the corner of the instrument, +at the upper end of the keyboard. The shaded lamp cast a little light +on both their faces, as the two looked at each other, and Margaret +realised that she was not only very fond of him, but that his whole +existence represented something she had lost and wished to get back, +but feared that she could never have again. For many months she had +not felt like her old self till a week ago, when he had come to see +her after she had landed. + +They had been in love with each other before she had begun her career, +and she would have married him then, but a sort of quixotism, which +was highly honourable if nothing else, had withheld him. He had felt +that his mother's son had no right to marry Margaret Donne, though she +had told him as plainly as a modest girl could that she was not of the +same opinion. Then had come Logotheti's mad attempt to carry her off +out of the theatre, after the dress rehearsal before her debut, and +Madame Bonanni and Lushington between them had spirited her away just +in time. After that it had been impossible for him to keep up the +pretence of avoiding her, and a sort of intimacy had continued, which +neither of them quite admitted to be love, while neither would have +called it mere friendship. + +The most amazing part of the whole situation was that Margaret had +continued to see Logotheti as if he had not actually tried to carry +her off in his motor-car, very much against her will. And in spite of +former jealousies and a serious quarrel Logotheti and Lushington spoke +to each other when they met. Possibly Lushington consented to treat +him civilly because the plot for carrying off Margaret had so +completely failed that its author had got himself locked up on +suspicion of being a fugitive criminal. Lushington, feeling that he +had completely routed his rival on that occasion, could afford to be +generous. Yet the man of letters, who was a born English gentleman on +his father's side, and who was one altogether by his bringing up, was +constantly surprised at himself for being willing to shake hands with +a Greek financier who had tried to run away with an English girl; and +possibly, in the complicated workings of his mind and conflicting +sensibilities, half Anglo-Saxon and half Southern French, his present +conduct was due to the fact that Margaret Donne had somehow ceased to +be a 'nice English girl' when she joined the cosmopolitan legion that +manoeuvres on the international stage of 'Grand Opera.' How could a +'nice English girl' remain herself if she associated daily with +such people as Pompeo Stromboli, Schreiermeyer, Herr Tiefenbach and +Signorina Baci-Roventi, the Italian contralto who could pass for a man +so well that she was said to have fought a real duel with sabres and +wounded her adversary before he discovered that she was the very lady +he had lately left for another--a regular Mademoiselle de Maupin! Had +not Lushington once seen her kiss Margaret on both cheeks in a moment +of enthusiastic admiration? He was not the average young man who falls +in love with a singer, either; he knew the stage and its depths only +too well, for he had his own mother's life always before him, a +perpetual reproach. + +Though Margaret had at first revolted inwardly against the details of +her professional surroundings, she had grown used to them by sure and +fatal degrees, and things that would once have disgusted her were +indifferent to her now. Men who have been educated in conditions of +ordinary refinement and who have volunteered in the ranks or gone to +sea before the mast have experienced something very like what befell +Margaret; but men are not delicately nurtured beings whose bloom is +damaged by the rough air of reality, and the camp and the forecastle +are not the stage. Perhaps nothing that is necessary shocks really +sensible people; it is when disagreeable things are perfectly useless +and quite avoidable--in theory--that they are most repugnant to men +like Edmund Lushington. He had warned Margaret of what was in store +for her, before she had taken the final step; but he had not warned +himself that in spite of her bringing-up she might get used to it +all and end by not resenting it any more than the rest of the +professionals with whom she associated. It was this that chilled him. + +'I hope I'm not interrupting your work,' he said as he sat down. + +'My work?' + +'I heard you studying when they let me in.' + +'Oh!' + +His voice sounded very indifferent, and a pause followed Margaret's +mild ejaculation. + +'It's rather a thankless opera for the soprano, I always think,' he +observed. 'The tenor has it all his own way.' + +'_The Elisir d'Amore_?' + +'Yes.' + +'I've not rehearsed it yet,' said Margaret rather drearily. 'I don't +know.' + +He evidently meant to talk of indifferent things again, as at their +last meeting, and she felt that she was groping in the dark for +something she had lost. There was no sympathy in his voice, no +interest, and she was inclined to ask him plainly what was the matter; +but her pride hindered her still, and she only looked at him with an +expression of inquiry. He laid his hand on the corner of the piano, +and his eyes rested on the shaded lamp as if it attracted him. +Perhaps he wondered why he had nothing to say to her, and why she was +unwilling to help the conversation a little, since her new part might +be supposed to furnish matter for a few commonplace phrases. The smoky +sunset was fading outside and the room was growing dark. + +'When do the rehearsals begin?' he asked after a long interval, and as +if he was quite indifferent to the answer. + +'When Stromboli comes, I suppose.' + +Margaret turned on the piano stool, so as to face the desk, and she +quietly closed the open score and laid it on the little table on her +other side, as if not caring to talk of it any more, but she did not +turn to him again. + +'You had a great success in New York,' he said, after some time. + +To this she answered nothing, but she shrugged her shoulders a little, +and though he was not looking directly at her he saw the movement, +and was offended by it. Such a little shrug was scarcely a breach of +manners, but it was on the verge of vulgarity in his eyes, because +he was persuaded that she had begun to change for the worse. He had +already told himself that her way of speaking was not what it had been +last year, and he felt that if the change went on she would set +his teeth on edge some day; and that he was growing more and more +sensitive, while she was continually becoming less so. + +Margaret could not have understood that, and would have been hurt if +he had tried to explain it. She was disappointed, because his letters +had made her think that she was going to find him just as she had left +him, as indeed he had been till the moment when he saw her after her +arrival; but then he had changed at once. He had been disappointed +then, as she was now, and chilled, as she was now; he had felt that he +was shrinking from her then, as she now shrank from him. He suffered a +good deal in his quiet way, for he had never known any woman who had +moved him as she once had; but she suffered too, and in a much more +resentful way. Two years of maddening success had made her very sure +that she had a prime right to anything she wanted--within reason! If +she let him alone he would sit out his half-hour's visit, making an +idle remark now and then, and he would go away; but she would not let +him do that. It was too absurd that after a long and affectionate +intimacy they should sit there in the soft light and exchange +platitudes. + +'Tom,' she said, suddenly resolving to break the ice, 'we have +been much too good friends to behave in this way to each other. If +something has come between us, I think you ought to tell me--don't +you?' + +'I wish I could,' Lushington answered, after a moment's hesitation. + +'If you know, you can,' said Margaret, taking the upper hand and +meaning to keep it. + +'That does not quite follow.' + +'Oh yes, it does,' retorted Margaret energetically. 'I'll tell you +why. If it's anything on your side, it's not fair and honest to keep +it from me after writing to me as you have written all winter. But if +it's the other way, there's nothing you can possibly know about me +which you cannot tell me, and if you think there is, then some one has +been telling you what is not true.' + +'It's nothing against you; I assure you it's not.' + +'Then there is a woman in the case. Why should you not say so frankly? +We are not bound to each other in any way, I'm sure. I believe I once +asked you to marry me, and you refused!' She laughed rather sharply. +'That does not constitute an engagement!' + +'You put the point rather brutally, I think,' said Lushington. + +'Perhaps, but isn't it quite true? It was not said in so many words, +but you knew I meant it, and but for a quixotic scruple of yours we +should have been married. I remember asking you what we were making +ourselves miserable about, since we both cared so much. It was at +Versailles, the last time we walked together, and we had stopped, and +I was digging little round holes in the road with my parasol. I'm not +going to ask you again to marry me, so there is no reason in the world +why you should behave differently to me if you have fallen in love +with some one else.' + +'I'm not in love with any one,' said Lushington sharply. + +'Then something you have heard about me has changed you in spite of +what you say, and I have a right to know what it is, because I've done +nothing I'm ashamed of.' + +'I've not heard a word against you,' he answered, almost angrily. 'Why +do you imagine such things?' + +'Because I'm honest enough to own that your friendship has meant a +great deal to me, even at a distance; and as I see that it has broken +its neck at some fence or other, I'm natural enough to ask what the +jump was like!' + +He would not answer. He only looked at her suddenly for an instant, +with a slight pinching of the lids, and his blue eyes glittered a +little; then he turned away with a displeased air. + +'Am I just or not?' Margaret asked, almost sternly. + +'Yes, you are just,' he said, for it was impossible not to reply. + +'And do you think it is just to me to change your manner altogether, +without giving me a reason? I don't!' + +'You will force me to say something I would rather not say.' + +'That is what I am trying to do,' Margaret retorted. + +'Since you insist on knowing the truth,' answered Lushington, yielding +to what was very like necessity, 'I think you are very much changed +since I saw you last. You do not seem to me the same person.' + +For a moment Margaret looked at him with something like wonder, and +her lips parted, though she said nothing. Then they met again and shut +very tight, while her brown eyes darkened till they looked almost +black; she turned a shade paler, too, and there was something almost +tragic in her face. + +'I'm sorry,' Lushington said, watching her, 'but you made me tell +you.' + +'Yes,' she answered slowly. 'I made you tell me, and I'm glad I did. +So I have changed as much as that, have I? In two years!' + +She folded her hands on the little shelf of the empty music desk, bent +far forwards and looked down between the polished wooden bars at the +strings below, as if she were suddenly interested in the mechanism of +the piano. + +Lushington turned his eyes to the darkening windows, and both sat thus +in silence for some time. + +'Yes,' she repeated at last, 'I'm glad I made you tell me. It explains +everything very well.' + +Still Lushington said nothing, and she was still examining the +strings. Her right hand stole to the keys, and she pressed down one +note so gently that it did not strike; she watched the little hammer +that rose till it touched the string and then fell back into its +place. + +'You said I should change--I remember your words.' Her voice was quiet +and thoughtful, whatever she felt. 'I suppose there is something about +me now that grates on your nerves.' + +There was no resentment in her tone, nor the least intonation of +sarcasm. But Lushington said nothing; he was thinking of the time when +he had thought her an ideal of refined girlhood, and had believed in +his heart that she could never stand the life of the stage, and would +surely give it up in sheer disgust, no matter how successful she might +be. Yet now, she did not even seem offended by what he had told her. +So much the better, he thought; for he was far too truthful to take +back one word in order to make peace, even if she burst into tears. +Possibly, of the two, his reflections were sadder than hers just then, +but she interrupted them with a question. + +'Can you tell me of any one thing I do that jars on you?' she asked. +'Or is it what I say, or my way of speaking? I should like to know.' + +'It's nothing, and it's everything,' answered Lushington, taking +refuge in a commonplace phrase, 'and I suppose no one else would ever +notice it. But I'm so awfully sensitive about certain things. You know +why.' + +She knew why; yet it was with a sort of wonder that she asked herself +what there was in her tone or manner that could remind him of his +mother; but though she had spoken quietly, and almost humbly, a cold +and secret anger was slowly rising in her. The great artist, who held +thousands spellbound and breathless, could not submit easily to losing +in such a way the only friendship that had ever meant much to her. The +man who had just told her that she had lost her charm for him meant +that she was sinking to the level of her surroundings, and he was the +only man she had ever believed that she loved. Two years ago, and even +less, she would have been generously angry with him, and would have +spoken out, and perhaps all would have been over; but those two years +of life on the stage had given her the self-control of an actress when +she chose to exercise it, and she had acquired an artificial command +of her face and voice which had not belonged to her original frank and +simple self. Perhaps Lushington knew that too, as a part of the change +that offended his taste. At twenty-two, Margaret Donne would have +coloured, and would have given him a piece of her young mind very +plainly; Margarita da Cordova, aged twenty-four, turned a trifle +paler, shut her lips, and was frigidly angry, as if some ignorant +music-hall reporter had attacked her singing in print. She was +convinced that Lushington was mistaken, and that he was merely +yielding to that love of finding fault with what he liked which a +familiar passage in Scripture attributes to the Divinity, but with +which many of us are better acquainted in our friends; in her opinion, +such fault-finding was personal criticism, and it irritated her +vanity, over-fed with public adulation and the sincere praise of +musical critics. 'If you don't like me as I am, there are so many +people who do that you don't count!' That was the sub-conscious form +of her mental retort, and it was in the manner of Cordova, and not of +Margaret. + +Once upon a time, when his exaggerated sense of honour was driving him +away, she had said rather foolishly that if he left her she would not +answer for herself. She had felt a little desperate, but he had told +her quietly that he, who knew her, would answer for her, and her mood +had changed, and she had been herself again. But it was different this +time. He meant much more than he said; he meant that she had lowered +herself, and she was sure that he would not 'answer' for her now. On +the contrary, it was his intention to let her know that he no longer +believed in her, and perhaps no longer respected or trusted her. Yet, +little by little, during their last separation, his belief in her, and +his respect for her, had grown in her estimation, because they alone +still connected her with the maidenliness and feminine refinement in +which she had grown up. Lushington had broken a link that had been +strong. + +She was at one of the cross-roads of her life; she was at a turning +point in the labyrinth, after passing which it would be hard to come +back and find the right way. Perhaps old Griggs could help her if it +occurred to him; but that was unlikely, for he had reached the age +when men who have seen much take people as they find them. Logotheti +would certainly not help her, though she knew instinctively that she +was still to him what she had always been, and that if he ever had the +opportunity he sought, her chances of escape would be small indeed. + +Therefore she felt more lonely after Lushington had spoken than she +had ever felt since her parents had died, and much more desperate. But +nothing in the world would have induced her to let him know it, and +her anger against him rose slowly, and it was cold and enduring, as +that sort of resentment is. She was so proud that it gave her the +power to smile carelessly after a minute's silence, and she asked him +some perfectly idle questions about the news of the day. He should +not know that he had hurt her very much; he should not suspect for a +moment that she wished him to go away. + +She rose presently and turned up the lights, rang the bell, and +when the window curtains were drawn, and tea was brought, she did +everything she could to make Lushington feel at his ease; she did it +out of sheer pride, for she did not meditate any vengeance, but was +only angry, and wished to get rid of him without a scene. + +At last he rose to go away, and when he held out his hand there was a +dramatic moment. + +'I hope you're not angry with me,' he said with a cheerful smile, for +he was quite sure that she bore him no lasting grudge. + +'I?' + +She laughed so frankly and musically after pronouncing the syllable, +that he took it for a disclaimer. + +So he went away, shutting the door after him in a contented way, +not sharply as if he were annoyed with her, nor very softly and +considerately as if he were sorry for her, but with a moderate, +businesslike snap of the latch as if everything were all right. + +She went back to the piano when she was alone, and sat down on the +music-stool, but her hands did not go to the keys till she was sure +that Lushington was already far from the house. + +A few chords, and then she suddenly began to sing with the full power +of her voice, as if she were on the stage. She sang Rosina's song in +the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ as she had never sung it in her life, and +for the first time the words pleased her. + + '... una vipera saro!' + +What 'nice English girl' ever told herself or any one else that she +would be a 'viper'? + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +Two days later Margaret was somewhat surprised by an informal +invitation to dine at the Turkish Embassy. The Ambassador had lately +been transferred to London from Paris, where she had known him through +Logotheti and had met him two or three times. The latter, as a +Fanariote Greek, was a Turkish subject, and although he had once told +Margaret that the Turks had murdered his father in some insurrection, +and though he himself might have hesitated to spend much time in +Constantinople, he nevertheless maintained friendly relations with +the representatives of what was his country; and for obvious reasons, +connected with Turkish finance, they treated him with marked +consideration. On general principles and in theory Turks and Greeks +hate each other; in practice they can live very amicably side by side. +In the many cases in which Armenians have been attacked and killed by +the Turks no Greek has ever been hurt except by accident; on the other +hand, none has lifted a hand to defend an Armenian in distress, +which sufficiently proves that the question of religion has not been +concerned at all. + +Margaret accepted the Ambassador's invitation, feeling tolerably sure +of meeting Logotheti at the dinner. If there were any other women they +would be of the meteoric sort, the fragments of former social planets +that go on revolving in the old orbit, more or less divorced, +bankrupt, or otherwise unsound, though still smart, the kind of women +who are asked to fill a table on such occasions 'because they +won't mind'--that is to say, they will not object to dining with a +primadonna or an actress whose husband has become nebulous and whose +reputation is mottled. The men, of whom there might be several, would +be either very clever or overpoweringly noble, because all geniuses +and all peers are supposed to like their birds of paradise a little +high. I wonder why. I have met and talked with a good many men +of genius, from Wagner and Liszt to Zola and some still living +contemporaries, and, really, their general preference for highly +correct social gatherings has struck me as phenomenal. There are even +noblemen who seem to be quite respectable, and pretend that they would +rather talk to an honest woman at a dinner party than drink bumpers of +brut champagne out of Astarte's satin slipper. + +Mustapha Pasha, the Turkish Ambassador, was a fair, pale man of fifty, +who had spiritual features, quiet blue eyes, and a pleasant smile. His +hands were delicately made and very white, but not effeminate. He had +been educated partly in England, and spoke English without difficulty +and almost without accent, as Logotheti did. He came forward to meet +Margaret as she entered the room, and he greeted her warmly, thanking +her for being so good as to come at short notice. + +Logotheti was the next to take her hand, and she looked at him +attentively when her eyes met his, wondering whether he, too, would +think her changed. He himself was not, at all events. Mustapha Pasha, +a born Musalman and a genuine Turk, never arrested attention in an +English drawing-room by his appearance; but Constantino Logotheti, the +Greek, was an Oriental in looks as well as in character. His beautiful +eyes were almond-shaped, his lips were broad and rather flat, and the +small black moustache grew upwards and away from them so as not to +hide his mouth at all. He had an even olive complexion, and any judge +of men would have seen at a glance that he was thoroughly sound and +as strong as a professional athlete. His coat had a velvet collar; a +single emerald stud, worth several thousand pounds, diffused a green +refulgence round itself in the middle of his very shiny shirt front; +his waistcoat was embroidered and adorned with diamond buttons, his +trousers were tight, and his name, with those of three or four other +European financiers, made it alternately possible or impossible for +impecunious empires and kingdoms to raise money in England, France and +Germany. In matters of business, in the East, the Jew fears the Greek, +the Greek fears the Armenian, the Armenian fears the Persian, and +the Persian fears only Allah. One reason why the Jews do not care to +return to Palestine and Asia Minor is that they cannot get a living +amongst Christians and Mohammedans, a plain fact which those +eminent and charitable European Jews who are trying to draw their +fellow-believers eastward would do well to consider. Even in Europe +there are far more poor Jews than Christians realise; in Asia there +are hardly any rich ones. The Venetians were too much for Shylock, +and he lost his ducats and his daughter; amongst Christian Greeks, +Christian Armenians, and Musalman Persians, from Constantinople to +Tiflis, Teheran, Bagdad and Cairo, the poor man could not have saved +sixpence a year. + +This is not a mere digression, since it may serve to define +Logotheti's position in the scale of the financial forces. + +Margaret took his hand and looked at him just a little longer than she +had looked at Mustapha Pasha. He never wrote to her, and never took +the trouble to let her know where he was; but when they met his time +was hers, and when he could be with her he seemed to have no other +pre-occupation in life. + +'I came over from Paris to-day,' he said. 'When may I come and see +you?' + +That was always the first question, for he never wasted time. + +'To-morrow, if you like. Come late--about seven.' + +The Ambassador was on her other side. A little knot of men and one +lady were standing near the fire in an expectant sort of way, ready to +be introduced to Margaret. She saw the bony head of Paul Griggs, and +she smiled at him from a distance. He was talking to a very handsome +and thoroughbred looking woman in plain black velvet, who had the most +perfectly beautiful shoulders Margaret had ever seen. + +Mustapha Pasha led the Primadonna to the group. + +'Lady Maud,' he said to the beauty, 'this is my old friend Senorita da +Cordova. Countess Leven,' he added, for Margaret's benefit. + +She had not met him more than three times, but she did not resent +being called his old friend. It was well meant, she thought. + +Lady Maud held out her hand cordially. + +'I've wanted to know you ever so long,' she said, in her sweet low +voice. + +'That's very kind of you,' Margaret answered. + +It is not easy to find a proper reply to people who say they have long +hoped to meet you, but Griggs came to the rescue, as he shook hands in +his turn. + +'That was not a mere phrase,' he said with a smile. 'It's quite true. +Lady Maud wanted me to give her a letter to you a year ago.' + +'Indeed I did,' asseverated the beauty, nodding, 'but Mr. Griggs said +he didn't know you well enough!' + +'You might have asked me,' observed Logotheti. 'I'm less cautious than +Griggs.' + +'You're too exotic,' retorted Lady Maud, with a ripple in her voice. + +The adjective described the Greek so well that the others laughed. + +'Exotic,' Margaret repeated the word thoughtfully. + +'For that matter,' put in Mustapha Pasha with a smile, 'I can hardly +be called a native!' + +The Countess Leven looked at him critically. + +'You could pass for one,' she said, 'but Monsieur Logotheti couldn't.' +The other men, whom Margaret did not know, had been listening in +silence, and maintained their expectant attitude. In the pause which +followed Lady Maud's remark the Ambassador introduced them in foreign +fashion: one was a middle-aged peer who wore gold-rimmed spectacles +and looked like a student or a man of letters; another was the most +successful young playwright of the younger generation, and he wore a +very good coat and was altogether well turned out, for in his heart he +prided himself on being the best groomed man in London; a third was +a famous barrister who had a crisp and breezy way with him that made +flat calms in conversation impossible. Lastly, a very disagreeable +young man, who seemed a mere boy, was introduced to the Primadonna. + +'Mr. Feist,' said the Ambassador, who never forgot names. + +Margaret was aware of a person with an unhealthy complexion, thick +hair of a dead-leaf brown colour, and staring blue eyes that made her +think of glass marbles. The face had an unnaturally youthful look, and +yet, at the same time, there was something profoundly vicious about +it. Margaret wondered who in the world the young man might be and why +he was at the Turkish Embassy, apparently invited there to meet her. +She at once supposed that in spite of his appearance he must have some +claim to celebrity. + +'I'm a great admirer of yours, Senorita,' said Mr. Feist in a womanish +voice and with a drawl. 'I was in the Metropolitan in New York when +you sang in the dark and prevented a panic. I suppose that was about +the finest thing any singer ever did.' + +Margaret smiled pleasantly, though she felt the strongest repulsion +for the man. + +'I happened to be on the stage,' she said modestly. 'Any of the others +would have done the same.' + +'Well,' drawled Mr. Feist, 'may be. I doubt it.' + +Dinner was announced. + +'Will you keep house for me?' asked the Ambassador of Lady Maud. + +'There's something rather appropriate about your playing Ambassadress +here,' observed Logotheti. + +Margaret heard but did not understand that her new acquaintance was +a Russian subject. Mustapha Pasha held out his arm to take her in to +dinner. The spectacled peer took in Lady Maud, and the men straggled +in. At table Lady Maud sat opposite the Pasha, with the peer on her +right and the barrister on her left. Margaret was on the right of the +Ambassador, on whose other side Griggs was placed, and Logotheti +was Margaret's other neighbour. Feist and the young playwright were +together, between Griggs and the nobleman. + +Margaret glanced round the table at the people and wondered about +them. She had heard of the barrister and the novelist, and the peer's +name had a familiar sound that suggested something unusual, though she +could not quite remember what it was. It might be pictures, or the +north pole, or the divorce court, or a new idiot asylum; it would +never matter much. The new acquaintances on whom her attention fixed +itself were Lady Maud, who attracted her strongly, and Mr. Feist, +who repelled her. She wished she could speak Greek in order to ask +Logotheti who the latter was and why he was present. To judge by +appearances he was probably a rich young American who travelled and +frequented theatres a good deal, and who wished to be able to say +that he knew Cordova. He had perhaps arrived lately with a letter +of introduction to the Ambassador, who had asked him to the first +nondescript informal dinner he gave, because the man would not have +fitted in anywhere else. + +Logotheti began to talk at once, while Mustapha Pasha plunged into a +political conversation with Griggs. + +'I'm much more glad to see you than you can imagine,' the Greek said, +not in an undertone, but just so softly that no one else could hear +him. + +'I'm not good at imagining,' answered Margaret. 'But I'm glad you are +here. There are so many new faces.' + +'Happily you are not shy. One of your most enviable qualities is your +self-possession.' + +'You're not lacking in that way either,' laughed Margaret. 'Unless you +have changed very much.' + +'Neither of us has changed much since last year. I only wish you +would!' + +Margaret turned her head to look at him. + +'So you think I am not changed!' she said, with a little pleased +surprise in her tone. + +'Not a bit. If anything, you have grown younger in the last two +years.' + +'Does that mean more youthful? More frisky? I hope not!' + +'No, not at all. What I see is the natural effect of vast success on a +very, nice woman. Formerly, even after you had begun your career, +you had some doubts as to the ultimate result. The future made you +restless, and sometimes disturbed the peace of your face a little, +when you thought about it too much. That's all gone now, and you are +your real self, as nature meant you to be.' + +'My real self? You mean, the professional singer!' + +'No. A great artist, in the person of a thoroughly nice woman.' + +Margaret had thought that blushing was a thing of the past with her, +but a soft colour rose in her cheeks now, from sheer pleasure at what +he had said. + +'I hope you don't think it impertinent of me to tell you so,' said +Logotheti with a slight intonation of anxiety. + +'Impertinent!' cried Margaret. 'It's the nicest thing any one has said +to me for months, and thank goodness I'm not above being pleased.' + +Nor was Logotheti above using any art that could please her. His +instinct about women, finding no scruples in the way, had led him into +present favour by the shortest road. It is one thing to say brutally +that all women like flattery; it is quite another to foresee just what +form of flattery they will like. People who do not know professional +artistic life from the inner side are much too ready to cry out that +first-class professionals will swallow any amount of undiscriminating +praise. The ability to judge their own work is one of the gifts which +place them above the second class. + +'I said what I thought,' observed Logotheti with a sudden air of +conscientious reserve. 'For once in our acquaintance, I was not +thinking of pleasing you. And then I was afraid that I had displeased +you, as I so often have.' + +The last words were spoken with a regret that was real. + +'I have forgiven you,' said Margaret quietly; 'with conditions!' she +added, as an afterthought, and smiling. + +'Oh, I know--I'll never do it again.' + +'That's what a runaway horse seems to say when he walks quietly home, +with his head down and his ears limp, after nearly breaking one's +neck!' + +'I was a born runaway,' said Logotheti meekly, 'but you have cured +me.' + +In the pause that followed this speech, Mr. Feist leaned forward and +spoke to Margaret across the table. + +'I think we have a mutual friend, Madame,' he said. + +'Indeed?' Margaret spoke coolly; she did not like to be called +'Madame' by people who spoke English. + +'Mr. Van Torp,' explained the young man. + +'Yes,' Margaret said, after a moment's hesitation, 'I know Mr. Van +Torp; he came over on the same steamer.' + +The others at the table were suddenly silent, and seemed to be +listening. Lady Maud's clear eyes rested on Mr. Feist's face. + +'He's quite a wonderful man, I think,' observed the latter. + +'Yes,' assented the Primadonna indifferently. + +'Don't you think he is a wonderful man?' insisted Mr. Feist, with his +disagreeable drawl. + +'I daresay he is,' Margaret answered, 'but I don't know him very +well.' + +'Really? That's funny!' + +'Why?' + +'Because I happen to know that he thinks everything of you, Madame +Cordova. That's why I supposed, you were intimate friends.' + +The others had listened hitherto in a sort of mournful silence, +distinctly bored. Lady Maud's eyes now turned to Margaret, but the +latter still seemed perfectly indifferent, though she was wishing that +some one else would speak. Griggs turned to Mr. Feist, who was next to +him. + +'You mean that he is a wonderful man of business, perhaps,' he said. + +'Well, we all know he's that, anyway,' returned his neighbour. 'He's +not exactly a friend of mine, not exactly!' A meaning smile wrinkled +the unhealthy face and suddenly made it look older. 'All the same, I +think he's quite wonderful. He's not merely an able man, he's a man of +powerful intellect.' + +'A Nickel Napoleon,' suggested the barrister, who was bored to death +by this time, and could not imagine why Lady Maud followed the +conversation with so much interest. + +'Your speaking of nickel,' said the peer, at her elbow, 'reminds me of +that extraordinary new discovery--let me see--what is it?' + +'America?' suggested the barrister viciously. + +'No,' said his lordship, with perfect gravity, 'it's not that. Ah yes, +I remember! It's a process for making nitric acid out of air.' + +Lady Maud nodded and smiled, as if she knew all about it, but her eyes +were again scrutinising Mr. Feist's face. Her neighbour, whose hobby +was applied science, at once launched upon a long account of the +invention. From time to time the beauty nodded and said that she quite +understood, which was totally untrue, but well meant. + +'That young man has the head of a criminal,' said the barrister on her +other side, speaking very low. + +She bent her head very slightly, to show that she had heard, and she +continued to listen to the description of the new process. By this +time every one was talking again. Mr. Feist was in conversation with +Griggs, and showed his profile to the barrister, who quietly studied +the retreating forehead and the ill-formed jaw, the latter plainly +discernible to a practised eye, in spite of the round cheeks. The +barrister was a little mad on the subject of degeneracy, and knew that +an unnaturally boyish look in a grown man is one of the signs of it. +In the course of a long experience at the bar he had appeared in +defence of several 'high-class criminals.' By way of comparing Mr. +Feist with a perfectly healthy specimen of humanity, he turned to look +at Logotheti beside him. Margaret was talking with the Ambassador, and +the Greek was just turning to talk to his neighbour, so that their +eyes met, and each waited for the other to speak first. + +'Are you a judge of faces?' asked the barrister after a moment. + +'Men of business have to be, to some extent,' answered Logotheti. + +'So do lawyers. What should you say was the matter with that one?' + +It was impossible to doubt that he was speaking of the only abnormal +head at the table, and Logotheti looked across the wide table at Mr. +Feist for several seconds before he answered. + +'Drink,' he said in an undertone, when he had finished his +examination. + +'Yes. Anything else?' + +'May go mad any day, I should think,' observed Logotheti. + +'Do you know anything about him?' + +'Never saw him before.' + +'And we shall probably never see him again,' said the Englishman. +'That's the worst of it. One sees such heads occasionally, but one +very rarely hears what becomes of them.' + +The Greek did not care a straw what became of Mr. Feist's head, for he +was waiting to renew his conversation with Margaret. + +Mustapha Pasha told her that she should go to Constantinople some day +and sing to the Sultan, who would give her a pretty decoration in +diamonds; and she laughed carelessly and answered that it might be +very amusing. + +'I shall be very happy to show you the way,' said the Pasha. 'Whenever +you have a fancy for the trip, promise to let me know.' + +Margaret had no doubt that he was quite in earnest, and would enjoy +the holiday vastly. She was used to such kind offers and knew how to +laugh at them, though she was very well aware that they were not made +in jest. + +'I have a pretty little villa on the Bosphorus,' said the Ambassador, +'If you should ever come to Constantinople it is at your disposal, +with everything in it, as long as you care to use it.' + +'It's too good of you!' she answered. 'But I have a small house of my +own here which is very comfortable, and I like London.' + +'I know,' answered the Pasha blandly; 'I only meant to suggest a +little change.' + +He smiled pleasantly, as if he had meant nothing, and there was a +pause, of which Logotheti took advantage. + +'You are admirable,' he said. + +'I have had much more magnificent invitations,' she answered. 'You +once wished to give me your yacht as a present if I would only make +a trip to Crete--with a party of archaeologists! An archduke once +proposed to take me for a drive in a cab!' + +'If I remember,' said Logotheti, 'I offered you the owner with the +yacht. But I fancy you thought me too "exotic," as Countess Leven +calls me.' + +'Oh, much!' Margaret laughed again, and then lowered her voice, 'by +the bye, who is she?' + +'Lady Maud? Didn't you know her? She is Lord Creedmore's daughter, one +of seven or eight, I believe. She married a Russian in the diplomatic +service, four years ago--Count Leven--but everybody here calls her +Lady Maud. She hadn't a penny, for the Creedmores are poor. Leven was +supposed to be rich, but there are all sorts of stories about him, and +he's often hard up. As for her, she always wears that black velvet +gown, and I've been told that she has no other. I fancy she gets a new +one every year. But people say--' + +Logotheti broke off suddenly. + +'What do they say?' Margaret was interested. + +'No, I shall not tell you, because I don't believe it.' + +'If you say you don't believe the story, what harm can there be in +telling it?' + +'No harm, perhaps. But what is the use of repeating a bit of wicked +gossip?' + +Margaret's curiosity was roused about the beautiful Englishwoman. + +'If you won't tell me, I may think it is something far worse!' + +'I'm sure you could not imagine anything more unlikely!' + +'Please tell me! Please! I know it's mere idle curiosity, but you've +roused it, and I shall not sleep unless I know.' + +'And that would be bad for your voice.' + +'Of course! Please--' + +Logotheti had not meant to yield, but he could not resist her winning +tone. + +'I'll tell you, but I don't believe a word of it, and I hope you will +not either. The story is that her husband found her with Van Torp +the other evening in rooms he keeps in the Temple, and there was an +envelope on the table addressed to her in his handwriting, in which +there were four thousand one hundred pounds in notes.' + +Margaret looked thoughtfully at Lady Maud before she answered. + +'She? With Mr. Van Torp, and taking money from him? Oh no! Not with +that face!' + +'Besides,' said Logotheti, 'why the odd hundred? The story gives too +many details. People never know as much of the truth as that.' + +'And if it is true,' returned Margaret, 'he will divorce her, and then +we shall know.' + +'For that matter,' said the Greek contemptuously, 'Leven would not be +particular, provided he had his share of the profits.' + +'Is it as bad as that? How disgusting! Poor woman!' + +'Yes. I fancy she is to be pitied. In connection with Van Torp, may I +ask an indiscreet question?' + +'No question you can ask me about him can be indiscreet. What is it?' + +'Is it true that he once asked you to marry him and you refused him?' + +Margaret turned her pale face to Logotheti with a look of genuine +surprise. + +'Yes. It's true. But I never told any one. How in the world did you +hear it?' + +'And he quite lost his head, I heard, and behaved like a madman--' + +'Who told you that?' asked Margaret, more and more astonished, and not +at all pleased. + +'He behaved so strangely that you ran into the next room and bolted +the door, and waited till he went away--' + +'Have you been paying a detective to watch me?' + +There was anger in her eyes for a moment, but she saw at once that she +was mistaken. + +'No,' Logotheti answered with a smile, 'why should I? If a detective +told me anything against you I should not believe it, and no one could +tell me half the good I believe about you!' + +'You're really awfully nice,' laughed Margaret, for she could not help +being flattered. 'Forgive me, please!' + +'I would rather that the Nike of Samothrace should think dreadful +things of me than that she should not think of me at all!' + +'Do I still remind you of her?' asked Margaret. + +'Yes. I used to be quite satisfied with my Venus, but now I want the +Victory from the Louvre. It's not a mere resemblance. She is you, and +as she has no face. I see yours when I look at her. The other day I +stood so long on the landing where she is, that a watchman took me for +an anarchist waiting to deposit a bomb, and he called a policeman, who +asked me my name and occupation. I was very near being arrested--on +your account again! You are destined to turn the heads of men of +business!' + +At this point Margaret became aware that she and Logotheti were +talking in undertones, while the conversation at the table had become +general, and she reluctantly gave up the idea of again asking where he +had got his information about her interview with Mr. Van Torp in New +York. The dinner came to an end before long, and the men went out with +the ladies, and began to smoke in the drawing-room, standing round the +coffee. + +Lady Maud put her arm through Margaret's. + +'Cigarettes are bad for your throat, I'm sure,' she said, 'and I hate +them.' + +She led the Primadonna away through a curtained door to a small room +furnished according to Eastern ideas of comfort, and she sat down on a +low, hard divan, which was covered with a silk carpet. The walls were +hung with Persian silks, and displayed three or four texts from the +Koran, beautifully written in gold on a green ground. Two small inlaid +tables stood near the divan, one at each end, and two deep English +easy-chairs, covered with red leather, were placed symmetrically +beside them. There was no other furniture, and there were no gimcracks +about, such as Europeans think necessary in an 'oriental' room. + +With her plain black velvet, Lady Maud looked handsomer than ever in +the severely simple surroundings. + +'Do you mind?' she asked, as Margaret sat down beside her. 'I'm afraid +I carried you off rather unceremoniously!' + +'No,' Margaret answered. 'I'm glad to be quiet, it's so long since I +was at a dinner-party.' + +'I've always hoped to meet you,' said Lady Maud, 'but you're quite +different from what I expected. I did not know you were really so +young--ever so much younger than I am.' + +'Really?' + +'Oh, yes! I'm seven-and-twenty, and I've been married four years.' + +'I'm twenty-four,' said Margaret, 'and I'm not married yet.' + +She was aware that the clear eyes were studying her face, but she did +not resent their scrutiny. There was something about her companion +that inspired her with trust at first sight, and she did not even +remember the impossible story Logotheti had told her. + +'I suppose you are tormented by all sorts of people who ask things, +aren't you?' + +Margaret wondered whether the beauty was going to ask her to sing for +nothing at a charity concert. + +'I get a great many begging letters, and some very amusing ones,' she +answered cautiously. 'Young girls, of whom I never heard, write +and ask me to give them pianos and the means of getting a musical +education. I once took the trouble to have one of those requests +examined. It came from a gang of thieves in Chicago.' + +Lady Maud smiled, but did not seem surprised. + +'Millionaires get lots of letters of that sort,' she said. 'Think of +poor Mr. Van Torp!' + +Margaret moved uneasily at the name, which seemed to pursue her since +she had left New York; but her present companion was the first person +who had applied to him the adjective 'poor.' + +'Do you know him well?' she asked, by way of saying something. + +Lady Maud was silent for a moment, and seemed to be considering the +question. + +'I had not meant to speak of him,' she answered presently. 'I like +him, and from what you said at dinner I fancy that you don't, so we +shall never agree about him.' + +'Perhaps not,' said Margaret. 'But I really could not have answered +that odious man's question in any other way, could I? I meant to +be quite truthful. Though I have met Mr. Van Torp often since last +Christmas, I cannot say that I know him very well, because I have not +seen the best side of him.' + +'Few people ever do, and you have put it as fairly as possible. When +I first met him I thought he was a dreadful person, and now we're +awfully good friends. But I did not mean to talk about him!' + +'I wish you would,' protested Margaret. 'I should like to hear the +other side of the case from some one who knows him well.' + +'It would take all night to tell even what I know of his story,' said +Lady Maud. 'And as you've never seen me before you probably would not +believe me,' she added with philosophical calm. 'Why should you? The +other side of the case, as I know it, is that he is kind to me, and +good to people in trouble, and true to his friends.' + +'You cannot say more than that of any man,' Margaret observed gravely. + +'I could say much more, but I want to talk to you about other things.' + +Margaret, who was attracted by her, and who was sure that the story +Logotheti had told was a fabrication, as he said it was, wished that +her new acquaintance would leave other matters alone and tell her what +she knew about Van Torp. + +'It all comes of my having mentioned him accidentally,' said Lady +Maud. 'But I often do--probably because I think about him a good +deal.' + +Margaret thought her amazingly frank, but nothing suggested itself in +the way of answer, so she remained silent. + +'Did you know that your father and my father were friends at Oxford?' +Lady Maud asked, after a little pause. + +'Really?' Margaret was surprised. + +'When they were undergrads. Your name is Donne, isn't it? Margaret +Donne? My father was called Foxwell then. That's our name, you know. +He didn't come into the title till his uncle died, a few years ago.' + +'But I remember a Mr. Foxwell when I was a child,' said Margaret. 'He +came to see us at Oxford sometimes. Do you mean to say that he was +your father?' + +'Yes. He is alive, you know--tremendously alive!--and he remembers you +as a little girl, and wants me to bring you to see him. Do you mind +very much? I told him I was to meet you this evening.' + +'I should be very glad indeed,' said Margaret. + +'He would come to see you,' said Lady Maud, rather apologetically, +'but he sprained his ankle the other day. He was chivvying a cat +that was after the pheasants at Creedmore--he's absurdly young, you +know--and he came down at some hurdles.' + +'I'm so sorry! Of course I shall be delighted to go.' + +'It's awfully good of you, and he'll be ever so pleased. May I come +and fetch you? When? To-morrow afternoon about three? Are you quite +sure you don't mind?' + +Margaret was quite sure; for the prospect of seeing an old friend of +her father's, and one whom she herself remembered well, was pleasant +just then. She was groping for something she had lost, and the merest +thread was worth following. + +'If you like I'll sing for him,' she said. + +'Oh, he simply hates music!' answered Lady Maud, with unconscious +indifference to the magnificence of such an offer from the greatest +lyric soprano alive. + +Margaret laughed in spite of herself. + +'Do you hate music too?' she asked. + +'No, indeed! I could listen to you for ever. But my father is quite +different. I believe he hears half a note higher with one ear than +with the other. At all events the effect of music on him is dreadful. +He behaves like a cat in a thunderstorm. If you want to please him, +talk to him about old bindings. Next to shooting he likes bindings +better than anything in the world--in fact he's a capital bookbinder +himself.' + +At this juncture Mustapha Pasha's pale and spiritual face appeared +between the curtains of the small room, and he interrupted the +conversation by a single word. + +'Bridge?' + +Lady Maud was on her feet in an instant. + +'Rather!' + +'Do you play?' asked the Ambassador, turning to Margaret, who rose +more slowly. + +'Very badly. I would rather not.' + +The diplomatist looked disappointed, and she noticed his expression, +and suspected that he would feel himself obliged to talk to her +instead of playing. + +'I'm very fond of looking on,' she added quickly, 'if you will let me +sit beside you.' + +They went back to the drawing-room, and presently the celebrated +Senorita da Cordova, who was more accustomed to being the centre of +interest than she realised, felt that she was nobody at all, as +she sat at her host's elbow watching the game through a cloud of +suffocating cigarette smoke. Even old Griggs, who detested cards, +had sacrificed himself in order to make up the second table. As for +Logotheti, he was too tactful to refuse a game in which every one knew +him to be a past master, in order to sit out and talk to her the whole +evening. + +Margaret watched the players with some little interest at first. The +disagreeable Mr. Feist lost and became even more disagreeable, and +Margaret reflected that whatever he might be he was certainly not an +adventurer, for she had seen a good many of the class. The Ambassador +lost even more, but with the quiet indifference of a host who plays +because his guests like that form of amusement. Lady Maud and the +barrister were partners, and seemed to be winning a good deal; the +peer whose hobby was applied science revoked and did dreadful things +with his trumps, but nobody seemed to care in the least, except the +barrister, who was no respecter of persons, and had fought his way to +celebrity by terrorising juries and bullying the Bench. + +At last Margaret let her head rest against the back of her comfortable +chair, and when she closed her eyes because the cigarette smoke made +them smart, she forgot to open them again, and went sound asleep; for +she was a healthy young person, and had eaten a good dinner, and on +evenings when she did not sing she was accustomed to go to bed at ten +o'clock, if not earlier. + +No one even noticed that she was sleeping, and the game went on till +nearly midnight, when she was awakened by the sound of voices, and +sprang to her feet with the impression of having done something +terribly rude. Every one was standing, the smoke was as thick as ever, +and it was tempered by a smell of Scotch whisky. The men looked more +or less tired, but Lady Maud had not turned a hair. + +The peer, holding a tall glass of weak whisky and soda in his hand, +and blinking through his gold-rimmed spectacles, asked her if she were +going anywhere else. + +'There's nothing to go to yet,' she said rather regretfully. + +'There are women's clubs,' suggested Logotheti. + +'That's the objection to them,' answered the beauty with more sarcasm +than grammatical sequence. + +'Bridge till all hours, though,' observed the barrister. + +'I'd give something to spend an evening at a smart women's club,' said +the playwright in a musing tone. 'Is it true that the Crown Prince of +Persia got into the one in Mayfair as a waiter?' + +'They don't have waiters,' said Lady Maud. 'Nothing is ever true. I +must be going home.' + +Margaret was only too glad to go too. When they were downstairs she +heard a footman ask Lady Maud if he should call a hansom for her. He +evidently knew that she had no carriage. + +'May I take you home?' Margaret asked. + +'Oh, please do!' answered the beauty with alacrity. 'It's awfully good +of you!' + +It was raining as the two handsome women got into the singer's +comfortable brougham. + +'Isn't there room for me too?' asked Logotheti, putting his head in +before the footman could shut the door. + +'Don't be such a baby,' answered Lady Maud in a displeased tone. + +The Greek drew back with a laugh and put up his umbrella; Lady Maud +told the footman where to go, and the carriage drove away. + +'You must have had a dull evening,' she said. + +'I was sound asleep most of the time,' Margaret answered. 'I'm afraid +the Ambassador thought me very rude.' + +'Because you went to sleep? I don't believe he even noticed it. And if +he did, why should you mind? Nobody cares what anybody does nowadays. +We've simplified life since the days of our fathers. We think more of +the big things than they did, and much less of the little ones.' + +'All the same, I wish I had kept awake!' + +'Nonsense!' retorted Lady Maud. 'What is the use of being famous if +you cannot go to sleep when you are sleepy? This is a bad world as +it is, but it would be intolerable if one had to keep up one's +school-room manners all one's life, and sit up straight and spell +properly, as if Society, with a big S, were a governess that could +send us to bed without our supper if we didn't!' + +Margaret laughed a little, but there was no ripple in Lady Maud's +delicious voice as she made these singular statements. She was +profoundly in earnest. + +'The public is my schoolmistress,' said Margaret. 'I'm so used to +being looked at and listened to on the stage that I feel as if people +were always watching me and criticising me, even when I go out to +dinner.' + +'I've no right at all to give you my opinion, because I'm nobody in +particular,' answered Lady Maud, 'and you are tremendously famous and +all that! But you'll make yourself miserable for nothing if you get +into the way of caring about anybody's opinion of you, except on the +stage. And you'll end by making the other people uncomfortable too, +because you'll make them think that you mean to teach them manners!' + +'Heaven forbid!' Margaret laughed again. + +The carriage stopped, and Lady Maud thanked her, bade her good-night, +and got out. + +'No,' she said, as the footman was going to ring the bell, 'I have a +latch-key, thank you.' + +It was a small house in Charles Street, Berkeley Square, and the +windows were quite dark. There was not even a light in the hall when +Margaret saw Lady Maud open the front door and disappear within. + +Margaret went over the little incidents of the evening as she drove +home alone, and felt better satisfied with herself than she had been +since Lushington's visit, in spite of having deliberately gone to +sleep in Mustapha Pasha's drawing-room. No one had made her feel that +she was changed except for the better, and Lady Maud, who was most +undoubtedly a smart woman of the world, had taken a sudden fancy to +her. Margaret told herself that this would be impossible if she were +ever so little vulgarised by her stage life, and in this reflection +she consoled herself for what Lushington had said, and nursed her +resentment against him. + +The small weaknesses of celebrities are sometimes amazing. There was a +moment that evening, as she stood before her huge looking-glass before +undressing and scrutinised her face in it, when she would have given +her fame and her fortune to be Lady Maud, who trusted to a passing +hansom or an acquaintance's carriage for getting home from an Embassy, +who let herself into a dark and cheerless little house with a +latch-key, who was said to be married to a slippery foreigner, and +about whom the gossips invented unedifying tales. + +Margaret wondered whether Lady Maud would ever think of changing +places with her, to be a goddess for a few hours every week, to have +more money than she could spend on herself, and to be pursued with +requests for autographs and grand pianos, not to mention invitations +to supper from those supernal personages whose uneasy heads wear +crowns or itch for them; and Senorita da Cordova told herself rather +petulantly that Lady Maud would rather starve than be the most +successful soprano that ever trilled on the high A till the house +yelled with delight, and the royalties held up their stalking-glasses +to watch the fluttering of her throat, if perchance they might see how +the pretty noise was made. + +But at this point Margaret Donne was a little ashamed of herself, and +went to bed; and she dreamt that Edmund Lushington had suddenly taken +to wearing a little moustache, very much turned up and flattened on +his cheeks, and a single emerald for a stud, which cast a greenish +refulgence round it upon a shirt-front that was hideously shiny; +and the effect of these changes in his appearance was to make him +perfectly odious. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +Lord Creedmore had begun life as a poor barrister, with no particular +prospects, had entered the House of Commons early, and had been a +hard-working member of Parliament till he had inherited a title and a +relatively exiguous fortune when he was over fifty by the unexpected +death of his uncle and both the latter's sons within a year. He had +married young; his wife was the daughter of a Yorkshire country +gentleman, and had blessed him with ten children, who were all alive, +and of whom Lady Maud was not the youngest. He was always obliged to +make a little calculation to remember how old she was, and whether +she was the eighth or the ninth. There were three sons and seven +daughters. The sons were all in the army, and all stood between +six and seven feet in their stockings; the daughters were all +good-looking, but none was as handsome as Maud; they were all married, +and all but she had children. Lady Creedmore had been a beauty too, +but at the present time she was stout and gouty, had a bad temper, and +alternately soothed and irritated her complaint and her disposition by +following cures or committing imprudences. Her husband, who was now +over sixty, had never been ill a day in his life; he was as lean and +tough as a greyhound and as active as a schoolboy, a good rider, and a +crack shot. + +His connection with this tale, apart from the friendship which grew +up between Margaret and Lady Maud, lies in the fact that his land +in Derbyshire adjoined the estate which Mr. Van Torp had bought and +re-named after himself. It was here that Lady Maud and the American +magnate had first met, two years after her marriage, when she had come +home on a long visit, very much disillusionised as to the supposed +advantages of the marriage bond as compared with the freedom of a +handsome English girl of three-and-twenty, who is liked in her set and +has the run of a score of big country houses without any chaperonial +encumbrance. For the chaperon is going down to the shadowy kingdom of +the extinct, and is already reckoned with dodos, stagecoaches, muzzle +loaders, crinolines, Southey's poems, the Thirty-nine Articles, +Benjamin Franklin's reputation, the British workman, and the late +Herbert Spencer's philosophy. + +On the previous evening Lady Maud had not told Margaret that Lord +Creedmore lived in Surrey, having let his town house since his +youngest daughter had married. She now explained that it would be +absurd to think of driving such a distance when one could go almost +all the way by train. The singer was rather scared at the prospect of +possibly missing trains, waiting in draughty stations, and getting wet +by a shower; she was accustomed to think nothing of driving twenty +miles in a closed carriage to avoid the slightest risk of a wetting. + +But Lady Maud piloted her safely, and showed an intimate knowledge +of the art of getting about by public conveyances which amazed her +companion. She seemed to know by instinct the difference between one +train and another, when all looked just alike, and when she had to +ask a question of a guard or a porter her inquiry was met with +business-like directness and brevity, and commanded the respect which +all officials feel for people who do not speak to them without a +really good reason--so different from their indulgent superiority when +we enter into friendly conversation with them. + +The journey ended in a walk of a quarter of a mile from the station to +the gate of the small park in which the house stood. Lady Maud said +she was sorry she had forgotten to telephone for a trap to be sent +down, but added cheerfully that the walk would do Margaret good. + +'You know your way wonderfully well,' Margaret said. + +'Yes,' answered her companion carelessly. 'I don't think I could lose +myself in London, from Limehouse to Wormwood Scrubs.' + +She spoke quite naturally, as if it were not in the least surprising +that a smart woman of the world should possess such knowledge. + +'You must have a marvellous memory for places,' Margaret ventured to +say. + +'Why? Because I know my way about? I walk a great deal, that's all.' + +Margaret wondered whether the Countess Leven habitually took her walks +in the direction of Limehouse in the east or Shepherd's Bush in the +west; and if so, why? As for the distance, the thoroughbred looked +as if she could do twenty miles without turning a hair, and Margaret +wished she would not walk quite so fast, for, like all great singers, +she herself easily got out of breath if she was hurried; it was not +the distance that surprised her, however, but the fact that Lady Maud +should ever visit such regions. + +They reached the house and found Lord Creedmore in the library, his +lame foot on a stool and covered up with a chudder. His clear brown +eyes examined Margaret's face attentively while he held her hand in +his. + +'So you are little Margery,' he said at last, with a very friendly +smile. 'Do you remember me at all, my dear? I suppose I have changed +almost more than you have.' + +Margaret remembered him very well indeed as Mr. Foxwell, who used +always to bring her certain particularly delicious chocolate wafers +whenever he came to see her father in Oxford. She sat down beside him +and looked at his face--clean-shaven, kindly, and energetic--the face +of a clever lawyer and yet of a keen sportsman, a type you will hardly +find out of England. + +Lady Maud left the two alone after a few minutes, and Margaret found +herself talking of her childhood and her old home, as if nothing very +much worth mentioning had happened in her life during the last ten or +a dozen years. While she answered her new friend's questions and +asked others of him she unconsciously looked about the room. The +writing-table was not far from her, and she saw on it two photographs +in plain ebony frames; one was of her father, the other was a likeness +of Lady Maud. Little by little she understood that her father had been +Lord Creedmore's best friend from their schoolboy days till his death. +Yet although they had constantly exchanged short visits, the one +living in Oxford and the other chiefly in town, their wives had hardly +known each other, and their children had never met. + +'Take him all in all,' said the old gentleman gravely, 'Donne was the +finest fellow I ever knew, and the only real friend I ever had.' + +His eyes turned to the photograph on the table with a far-away manly +regret that went to Margaret's heart. Her father had been a reticent +man, and as there was no reason why he should have talked much about +his absent friend Foxwell, it was not surprising that Margaret should +never have known how close the tie was that bound them. But now, +coming unawares upon the recollection of that friendship in the man +who had survived, she felt herself drawn to him as if he were of +her own blood, and she thought she understood why she had liked his +daughter so much at first sight. + +They talked for more than half an hour, and Margaret did not even +notice that he had not once alluded to her profession, and that she +had so far forgotten herself for the time as not to miss the usual +platitudes about her marvellous voice and her astoundingly successful +career. + +'I hope you'll come and stop with us in Derbyshire in September,' +he said at last. 'I'm quite ashamed to ask you there, for we are +dreadfully dull people; but it would give us a great deal of +pleasure.' + +'You are very kind indeed,' Margaret said. 'I should be delighted to +come.' + +'Some of our neighbours might interest you,' said Lord Creedmore. +'There's Mr. Van Torp, for instance, the American millionaire. His +land joins mine.' + +'Really?' + +Margaret wondered if she should ever again go anywhere without hearing +of Mr. Van Torp. + +'Yes. He bought Oxley Paddox some time ago and promptly re-christened +it Torp Towers. But he's not a bad fellow. Maud likes him, though Lady +Creedmore calls him names. He has such a nice little girl--at least, +it's not exactly his child, I believe,' his lordship ran on rather +hurriedly; 'but he's adopted her, I understand--at least, I fancy so. +At all events she was born deaf, poor little thing; but he has had her +taught to speak and to understand from the lips. Awfully pretty child! +Maud delights in her. Nice governess, too--I forget her name; but +she's a faithful sort of woman. It's a dreadfully hard position, don't +you know, to be a governess if you're young and good-looking, and +though Van Torp is rather a decent sort, I never feel quite sure--Maud +likes him immensely, it's true, and that is a good sign; but Maud is +utterly mad about a lot of things, and besides, she's singularly well +able to take care of herself.' + +'Yes,' said Margaret; but she thought of the story Logotheti had told +her on the previous evening. 'I know Mr. Van Torp, and the little girl +and Miss More,' she said after a moment. 'We came over in the same +steamer.' + +She thought it was only fair to say that she had met the people of +whom he had been speaking. There was no reason why Lord Creedmore +should be surprised by this, and he only nodded and smiled pleasantly. + +'All the better. I shall set Maud on you to drag you down to +Derbyshire in September,' he said. 'Women never have anything to do in +September. Let me see--you're an actress, aren't you, my dear?' + +Margaret laughed. It was positively delightful to feel that he had +never heard of her theatrical career. + +'No; I'm a singer,' she said. 'My stage name is Cordova.' + +'Oh yes, yes,' answered Lord Creedmore, very vaguely. 'It's the same +thing--you cannot possibly have anything to do in September, can you?' + +'We shall see. I hope not, this year.' + +'If it's not very indiscreet of me, as an old friend, you know, do you +manage to make a living by the stage?' + +'Oh--fair!' Margaret almost laughed again. + +Lady Maud returned at this juncture, and Margaret rose to go, feeling +that she had stayed long enough. + +'Margery has half promised to come to us in September,' said Lord +Creedmore to his daughter, 'You don't mind if I call you Margery, do +you?' he asked, turning to Margaret. 'I cannot call you Miss Donne +since you really remember the chocolate wafers! You shall have some as +soon as I can go to see you!' + +Margaret loved the name she had been called by as a child. Mrs. +Rushmore had severely eschewed diminutives. + +'Margery,' repeated Lady Maud thoughtfully. 'I like the name awfully +well. Do you mind calling me Maud? We ought to have known each other +when we were in pinafores!' + +In this way it happened that Margaret found herself unexpectedly +on something like intimate terms with her father's friend and the +latter's favourite child less than twenty-four hours after meeting +Lady Maud, and this was how she was asked to their place in the +country for the month of September. But that seemed very far away. + +Lady Maud took Margaret home, as she had brought her, without making +her wait more than three minutes for a train, without exposing her to +a draught, and without letting her get wet, all of which would seem +easy enough to an old Londoner, but was marvellous in the eyes of the +young Primadonna, and conveyed to her an idea of freedom that was +quite new to her. She remembered that she used to be proud of her +independence when she first went into Paris from Versailles alone for +her singing lessons; but that trip, contrasted with the one from her +own house to Lord Creedmore's on the Surrey side, was like going out +for an hour's sail in a pleasure-boat on a summer's afternoon compared +with working a sea-going vessel safely through an intricate and +crowded channel at night. + +Margaret noticed, too, that although Lady Maud was a very striking +figure, she was treated with respect in places where the singer knew +instinctively that if she herself had been alone she would have been +afraid that men would speak to her. She knew very well how to treat +them if they did, and was able to take care of herself if she chose +to travel alone; but she ran the risk of being annoyed where the +beautiful thoroughbred was in no danger at all. That was the +difference. + +Lady Maud left her at her own door and went off on foot, though the +hansom that had brought them from the Baker Street Station was still +lurking near. + +Margaret had told Logotheti to come and see her late in the afternoon, +and as she entered the hall she was surprised to hear voices upstairs. +She asked the servant who was waiting. + +With infinite difficulty in the matter of pronunciation the man +informed her that the party consisted of Monsieur Logotheti, Herr +Schreiermeyer, Signor Stromboli, the Signorina Baci-Roventi, and +Fraeulein Ottilie Braun. The four professionals had come at the very +moment when Logotheti had gained admittance on the ground that he had +an appointment, which was true, and they had refused to be sent away. +In fact, unless he had called the police the poor footman could not +have kept them out. The Signorina Baci-Roventi alone, black-browed, +muscular, and five feet ten in her shoes, would have been almost a +match for him alone; but she was backed by Signor Pompeo Stromboli, +who weighed fifteen stone in his fur coat, was as broad as he was +long, and had been seen to run off the stage with Madame Bonanni +in his arms while he yelled a high G that could have been heard in +Westminster if the doors had been open. Before the onslaught of such +terrific foreigners a superior London footman could only protest with +dignity and hold the door open for them to pass. Braver men than +he had quailed before Schreiermeyer's stony eye, and gentle little +Fraeulein Ottilie slipped in like a swallow in the track of a storm. + +Margaret felt suddenly inclined to shut herself up in her room +and send word that she had a headache and could not see them. But +Schreiermeyer was there. He would telephone for three doctors, and +would refuse to leave the house till they signed an assurance that she +was perfectly well and able to begin rehearsing the _Elisir d'Amore_ +the next morning. That was what Schreiermeyer would do, and when she +next met him he would tell her that he would have 'no nonsense, no +stupid stuff,' and that she had signed an engagement and must sing or +pay. + +She had never shammed an illness, either, and she did not mean to +begin now. It was only that for two blessed hours and more, with her +dead father's best friend and Maud, she had felt like her old self +again, and had dreamt that she was with her own people. She had even +disliked the prospect of seeing Logotheti after that, and she felt a +much stronger repugnance for her theatrical comrades. She went to her +own room before meeting them, and she sighed as she stood before the +tall looking-glass for a moment after taking off her coat and hat. In +pulling out the hat-pins her hair had almost come down, and Alphonsine +proposed to do it over again, but Margaret was impatient. + +'Give me something--a veil, or anything,' she said impatiently. 'They +are waiting for me.' + +The maid instantly produced from a near drawer a peach-coloured veil +embroidered with green and gold. It was a rather vivid modern Turkish +one given her by Logotheti, and she wrapped it quickly over her +disordered hair, like a sort of turban, tucking one end in, and +left the room almost without glancing at the glass again. She was +discontented with herself now for having dreamt of ever again being +anything but what she was--a professional singer. + +The little party greeted her noisily as she entered the music-room. +Her comrades had not seen her since she had left them in New York, and +the consequence was that Signorina Baci-Roventi kissed her on both +cheeks with dramatic force, and she kissed Fraeulein Ottilie on both +cheeks, and Pompeo Stromboli offered himself for a like favour and had +to be fought off, while Schreiermeyer looked on gravely, very much as +a keeper at the Zoo watches the gambols of the animals in his charge; +but Logotheti shook hands very quietly, well perceiving that his +chance of pleasing her just then lay in being profoundly respectful +while the professionals were overpoweringly familiar. His +almond-shaped eyes asked her how in the world she could stand it all, +and she felt uncomfortable at the thought that she was used to it. + +Besides, these good people really liked her. The only members of the +profession who hated her were the other lyric sopranos. Schreiermeyer, +rapacious and glittering, had a photograph of her hideously enamelled +in colours inside the cover of his watch, and the facsimile of her +autograph was engraved across the lid of his silver cigarette-case. +Pompeo Stromboli carried some of her hair in a locket which he wore on +his chain between two amulets against the Evil Eye. Fraeulein Ottilie +treasured a little water-colour sketch of her as Juliet on which +Margaret had written a few friendly words, and the Baci-Roventi +actually went to the length of asking her advice about the high notes +the contralto has to sing in such operas as _Semiramide_. It would be +hard to imagine a more sincere proof of affection and admiration than +this. + +Margaret knew that the greeting was genuine and that she ought to be +pleased, but at the first moment the noise and the kissing and the +rough promiscuity of it all disgusted her. + +Then she saw that all had brought her little presents, which were +arranged side by side on the piano, and she suddenly remembered that +it was her birthday. They were small things without value, intended +to make her laugh. Stromboli had sent to Italy for a Neapolitan clay +figure of a shepherd, cleverly modelled and painted, and vaguely +resembling himself--he had been a Calabrian goatherd. The contralto, +who came from Bologna, the city of sausages, gave Margaret a tiny pig +made of silver with holes in his back, in which were stuck a number of +quill toothpicks. + +'You will think of me when you use them at table,' she said, +charmingly unconscious of English prejudices. + +Schreiermeyer presented her with a bronze statuette of Shylock +whetting his knife upon his thigh. + +'It will encourage you to sign our next agreement,' he observed +with stony calm. 'It is the symbol of business. We are all symbolic +nowadays.' + +Fraeulein Ottilie Braun had wrought a remarkable little specimen of +German sentiment. She had made a little blue pin-cushion and had +embroidered some little flowers on it in brown silk. Margaret had no +difficulty in looking pleased, but she also looked slightly puzzled. + +'They are forget-me-nots,' said the Fraeulein, 'but because my name is +Braun I made them brown. You see? So you will remember your little +Braun forget-me-not!' + +Margaret laughed at the primitively simple little jest, but she was +touched too, and somehow she felt that her eyes were not quite dry +as she kissed the good little woman again. But Logotheti could not +understand at all, and thought it all extremely silly. He did not like +Margaret's improvised turban, either, though he recognised the veil as +one he had given her. The headdress was not classic, and he did not +think it becoming to the Victory of Samothrace. + +He also had remembered her birthday and he had a small offering in +his pocket, but he could not give it to her before the others. +Schreiermeyer would probably insist on looking at it and would guess +its value, whereas Logotheti was sure that Margaret would not. He +would give it to her when they were alone, and would tell her that it +was nothing but a seal for her writing-case, a common green stone of +some kind with a little Greek head on it; and she would look at it and +think it pretty, and take it, because it did not look very valuable to +her unpractised eye. But the 'common green stone' was a great emerald, +and the 'little Greek head' was an intaglio of Anacreon, cut some two +thousand and odd hundred years ago by an art that is lost; and the +setting had been made and chiselled for Maria de' Medici when she +married Henry the Fourth of France. Logotheti liked to give Margaret +things vastly more rare than she guessed them to be. + +Margaret offered her visitors tea, and she and Logotheti took theirs +while the others looked on or devoured the cake and bread and butter. + +'Tea?' repeated Signor Stromboli. 'I am well. Why should I take tea? +The tea is for to perspire when I have a cold.' + +The Signorina Baci-Roventi laughed at him. + +'Do you not know that the English drink tea before dinner to give +themselves an appetite?' she asked. 'It is because they drink tea that +they eat so much.' + +'All the more,' answered Stromboli. 'Do you not see that I am fat? Why +should I eat more? Am I to turn into a monument of Victor Emanuel?' + +'You eat too much bread,' said Schreiermeyer in a resentful tone. + +'It is my vice,' said the tenor, taking up four thin slices of bread +and butter together and popping them all into his mouth without the +least difficulty. 'When I see bread, I eat it. I eat all there is.' + +'We see you do,' returned Schreiermeyer bitterly. + +'I cannot help it. Why do they bring bread? They are in league to make +me fat. The waiters know me. I go into the Carlton; the head-waiter +whispers; a waiter brings a basket of bread; I eat it all. I go into +Boisin's, or Henry's; the head-waiter whispers; it is a basket of +bread; while I eat a few eggs, a chicken, a salad, a tart or two, some +fruit, cheese, the bread is all gone. I am the tomb of all the bread +in the world. So I get fat. There,' he concluded gravely, 'it is as I +tell you. I have eaten all.' + +And in fact, while talking, he had punctuated each sentence with a +tiny slice or two of thin bread and butter, and everybody laughed, +except Schreiermeyer, as the huge singer gravely held up the empty +glass dish and showed it. + +'What do you expect of me?' he asked. 'It is a vice, and I am not +Saint Anthony, to resist temptation.' + +'Perhaps,' suggested Fraeulein Ottilie timidly, 'if you exercised a +little strength of character--' + +'Exercise?' roared Stromboli, not understanding her, for they spoke +a jargon of Italian, German, and English. 'Exercise? The more I +exercise, the more I eat! Ha, ha, ha! Exercise, indeed! You talk like +crazy!' + +'You will end on wheels,' said Schreiermeyer with cold contempt. 'You +will stand on a little truck which will be moved about the stage from +below. You will be lifted to Juliet's balcony by a hydraulic crane. +But you shall pay for the machinery. Oh yes, oh yes! I will have it +in the contract! You shall be weighed. So much flesh to move, so much +money.' + +'Shylock!' suggested Logotheti, glancing at the statuette and +laughing. + +'Yes, Shylock and his five hundred pounds of flesh,' answered +Schreiermeyer, with a faint smile that disappeared again at once. + +'But I meant character--' began Fraeulein Ottilie, trying to go back +and get in a word. + +'Character!' cried the Baci-Roventi with a deep note that made the +open piano vibrate. 'His stomach is his heart, and his character is +his appetite!' + +She bent her heavy brows and fixed her gleaming black eyes on him with +a tragic expression. + +'"Let them cant about decorum who have characters to lose,"' quoted +Logotheti softly. + +This delicate banter went on for twenty minutes, very much to +Schreiermeyer's inward satisfaction, for it proved that at least four +members of his company were on good terms with him and with each +other; for when they had a grudge against him, real or imaginary, they +became sullen and silent in his presence, and eyed him with the coldly +ferocious expression of china dogs. + +At last they all rose and went away in a body, leaving Margaret with +Logotheti. + +'I had quite forgotten that it was my birthday,' she said, when they +were gone. + +'I've brought you a little seal,' he answered, holding out the +intaglio. + +She took it and looked at it. + +'How pretty!' she exclaimed. 'It's awfully kind of you to have +remembered to-day, and I wanted a seal very much.' + +'It's a silly little thing, just a head on some sort of green stone. +But I tried it on sealing-wax, and the impression is not so bad. I +shall be very happy if it's of any use, for I'm always puzzling my +brain to find something you may like.' + +'Thanks very much. It's the thought I care for.' She laid the seal on +the table beside her empty cup. 'And now that we are alone,' she went +on, 'please tell me.' + +'What?' + +'How you found out what you told me at dinner last night.' + +She leant back in the chair, raising her arms and joining her hands +above her head against the high top of the chair, and stretching +herself a little. The attitude threw the curving lines of her figure +into high relief, and was careless enough, but the tone in which she +spoke was almost one of command, and there was a sort of expectant +resentfulness in her eyes as they watched his face while she waited +for his answer. She believed that he had paid to have her watched by +some one who had bribed her servants. + +'I did not find out anything,' he said quietly. 'I received an +anonymous letter from New York giving me all the details of the scene. +The letter was written with the evident intention of injuring Mr. Van +Torp. Whoever wrote it must have heard what you said to each other, +and perhaps he was watching you through the keyhole. It is barely +possible that by some accident he overheard the scene through the +local telephone, if there was one in the room. Should you care to see +that part of the letter which concerns you? It is not very delicately +worded!' + +Margaret's expression had changed; she had dropped her hands and was +leaning forward, listening with interest. + +'No,' she said, 'I don't care to see the letter, but who in the world +can have written it? You say it was meant to injure Mr. Van Torp--not +me.' + +'Yes. There is nothing against you in it. On the contrary, the writer +calls attention to the fact that there never was a word breathed +against your reputation, in order to prove what an utter brute Van +Torp must be.' + +'Tell me,' Margaret said, 'was that story about Lady Maud in the same +letter?' + +'Oh dear, no! That is supposed to have happened the other day, but I +got the letter last winter.' + +'When?' + +'In January, I think.' + +'He came to see me soon after New Year's Day,' said Margaret.' I wish +I knew who told--I really don't believe it was my maid.' + +'I took the letter to one of those men who tell character by +handwriting,' answered Logotheti. 'I don't know whether you believe in +that, but I do a little. I got rather a queer result, considering that +I only showed half-a-dozen lines, which could not give any idea of the +contents.' + +'What did the man say?' + +'He said the writer appeared to be on the verge of insanity, if not +actually mad; that he was naturally of an accurate mind, with ordinary +business capacities, such as a clerk might have, but that he had +received a much better education than most clerks get, and must at one +time have done intellectual work. His madness, the man said, would +probably take some violent form.' + +'There's nothing very definite about all that,' Margaret observed. +'Why in the world should the creature have written to you, of all +people, to destroy Mr. Van Torp's character?' + +'The interview with you was only an incident,' answered Logotheti. +'There were other things, all tending to show that he is not a safe +person to deal with.' + +'Why should you ever deal with him?' + +Logotheti smiled. + +'There are about a hundred and fifty men in different countries who +are regarded as the organs of the world's financial body. The very big +ones are the vital organs. Van Torp has grown so much of late that he +is probably one of them. Some people are good enough to think that I'm +another. The blood of the financial body--call it gold, or credit, or +anything you like--circulates through all the organs, and if one of +the great vital ones gets out of order the whole body is likely to +suffer. Suppose that Van Torp wished to do something with the Nickel +Trust in Paris, and that I had private information to the effect that +he was not a man to be trusted, and that I believed this information, +don't you see that I should naturally warn my friends against him, and +that our joint weight would be an effective obstacle in his way?' + +'Yes, I see that. But, dear me! do you mean to say that all financiers +must be strictly virtuous, like little woolly white lambs?' + +Margaret laughed carelessly. If Lushington had heard her, his teeth +would have been set on edge, but Logotheti did not notice the shade of +expression and tone. + +'I repeat that the account of the interview with you was a mere +incident, thrown in to show that Van Torp occasionally loses his head +and behaves like a madman.' + +'I don't want to see the letter,' said Margaret, 'but what sort of +accusations did it contain? Were they all of the same kind?' + +'No. There was one other thing--something about a little girl called +Ida, who is supposed to be the daughter of that old Alvah Moon who +robbed your mother. You can guess the sort of thing the letter said +without my telling you.' + +Margaret leaned forward and poked the small wood fire with a pair of +unnecessarily elaborate gilt tongs, and she nodded, for she remembered +how Lord Creedmore had mentioned the child that afternoon. He had +hesitated a little, and had then gone on speaking rather hurriedly. +She watched the sparks fly upward each time she touched the log, and +she nodded slowly. + +'What are you thinking of?' asked Logotheti. + +But she did not answer for nearly half a minute. She was reflecting on +a singular little fact which made itself clear to her just then. She +was certainly not a child; she was not even a very young girl, at +twenty-four; she had never been prudish, and she did not affect the +pre-Serpentine innocence of Eve before the fall. Yet it was suddenly +apparent to her that because she was a singer men treated her as if +she were a married woman, and would have done so if she had been +even five years younger. Talking to her as Margaret Donne, in Mrs. +Rushmore's house, two years earlier, Logotheti would not have +approached such a subject as little Ida Moon's possible relation to +Mr. Van Torp, because the Greek had been partly brought up in England +and had been taught what one might and might not say to a 'nice +English girl.' Margaret now reflected that since the day she had set +foot upon the stage of the Opera she had apparently ceased to be a +'nice English girl' in the eyes of men of the world. The profession of +singing in public, then, presupposed that the singer was no longer the +more or less imaginary young girl, the hothouse flower of the social +garden, whose perfect bloom the merest breath of worldly knowledge +must blight for ever. Margaret might smile at the myth, but she could +not ignore the fact that she was already as much detached from it in +men's eyes as if she had entered the married state. The mere fact of +realising that the hothouse blossom was part of the social legend +proved the change in herself. + +'So that is the secret about the little girl,' she said at last. Then +she started a little, as if she had made a discovery. 'Good heavens!' +she exclaimed, poking the fire sharply. 'He cannot be as bad as +that--even he!' + +'What do you mean?' asked Logotheti, surprised. + +'No--really--it's too awful,' Margaret said slowly, to herself. +'Besides,' she added, 'one has no right to believe an anonymous +letter.' + +'The writer was well informed about you, at least,' observed +Logotheti. 'You say that the details are true.' + +'Absolutely. That makes the other thing all the more dreadful.' + +'It's not such a frightful crime, after all,' Logotheti answered with +a little surprise. 'Long before he fell in love with you he may have +liked some one else! Such things may happen in every man's life.' + +'That one thing--yes, no doubt. But you either don't know, or you +don't realise just what all the rest has been, up to the death of that +poor girl in the theatre in New York.' + +'He was engaged to her, was he not?' + +'Yes.' + +'I forget who she was.' + +'His partner's daughter. She was called Ida Bamberger.' + +'Ida? Like the little girl?' + +'Yes. Bamberger divorced his wife, and she married Senator Moon. Don't +you see?' + +'And the girls were half-sisters--and--?' Logotheti stopped and +stared. + +'Yes.' Margaret nodded slowly again and poked the fire. + +'Good heavens!' The Greek knew something of the world's wickedness, +but his jaw dropped. 'Oedipus!' he ejaculated. + +'It cannot be true,' Margaret said, quite in earnest. 'I detest him, +but I cannot believe that of him.' + +For in her mind all that she knew and that Griggs had told her, and +that Logotheti did not know yet, rose up in orderly logic, and joined +what was now in her mind, completing the whole hideous tale of +wickedness that had ended in the death of Ida Bamberger, who had +been murdered, perhaps, in desperation to avert a crime even more +monstrous. The dying girl's faint voice came back to Margaret across +the ocean. + +'He did it--' + +And there was the stain on Paul Griggs' hand; and there was little +Ida's face on the steamer, when she had looked up and had seen Van +Torp's lips moving, and had understood what he was saying to himself, +and had dragged Margaret away in terror. And not least, there was the +indescribable fear of him which Margaret felt when he was near her for +a few minutes. + +On the other side, what was there to be said for him? Miss More, +quiet, good, conscientious Miss More, devoting her life to the child, +said that he was one of the kindest men living. There was Lady Maud, +with her clear eyes, her fearless ways, and her knowledge of the world +and men, and she said that Van Torp was kind, and good to people in +trouble and true to his friends. Lord Creedmore, the intimate friend +of Margaret's father, a barrister half his life, and as keen as a +hawk, said that Mr. Van Torp was a very decent sort of man, and he +evidently allowed his daughter to like the American. It was true that +a scandalous tale about Lady Maud and the millionaire was already +going from mouth to mouth, but Margaret did not believe it. If she +had known that the facts were accurately told, whatever their meaning +might be, she would have taken them for further evidence against the +accused. As for Miss More, she was guided by her duty to her employer, +or her affection for little Ida, and she seemed to be of the +charitable sort, who think no evil; but after what Lord Creedmore had +said, Margaret had no doubt but that it was Mr. Van Torp who provided +for the child, and if she was his daughter, the reason for Senator +Moon's neglect of her was patent. + +Then Margaret thought of Isidore Bamberger, the hard-working man of +business who was Van Torp's right hand and figure-head, as Griggs had +said, and who had divorced the beautiful, half-crazy mother of the two +Idas because Van Torp had stolen her from him--Van Torp, his partner, +and once his trusted friend. She remembered the other things Griggs +had told her: how old Bamberger must surely have discovered that his +daughter had been murdered, and that he meant to keep it a secret till +he caught the murderer. Even now the detectives might be on the right +scent, and if he whose child had been killed, and whose wife had been +stolen from him by the man he had once trusted, learnt the whole truth +at last, he would not be easily appeased. + +'You have had some singular offers of marriage,' said Logotheti in a +tone of reflection. 'You will probably marry a beggar some day--a +nice beggar, who has ruined himself like a gentleman, but a beggar +nevertheless!' + +'I don't know,' Margaret said carelessly. 'Of one thing I am sure. I +shall not marry Mr. Van Torp.' + +Logotheti laughed softly. + +'Remember the French proverb,' he said. '"Say not to the fountain, I +will not drink of thy water."' + +'Proverbs,' returned Margaret, 'are what Schreiermeyer calls stupid +stuff. Fancy marrying that monster!' + +'Yes,' assented Logotheti, 'fancy!' + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Three weeks later, when the days were lengthening quickly and London +was beginning to show its better side to the cross-grained people who +abuse its climate, the gas was lighted again in the dingy rooms in +Hare Court. No one but the old woman who came to sweep had visited +them since Mr. Van Torp had gone into the country in March, after Lady +Maud had been to see him on the evening of his arrival. + +As then, the fire was laid in the grate, but the man in black who sat +in the shabby arm-chair had not put a match to the shavings, and the +bright copper kettle on the movable hob shone coldly in the raw glare +from the incandescent gaslight. The room was chilly, and the man had +not taken off his black overcoat or his hat, which had a broad band +on it. His black gloves lay on the table beside him. He wore patent +leather boots with black cloth tops, and he turned in his toes as he +sat. His aquiline features were naturally of the melancholic type, and +as he stared at the fireplace his expression was profoundly sad. He +did not move for a long time, but suddenly he trembled, as a man does +who feels the warning chill in a malarious country when the sun goes +down, and two large bright tears ran down his lean dark cheeks and +were quickly lost in his grizzled beard. Either he did not feel them, +or he would not take the trouble to dry them, for he sat quite still +and kept his eyes on the grate. + +Outside it was quite dark and the air was thick, so that the +chimney-pots on the opposite roof were hardly visible against the +gloomy sky. It was the time of year when spring seems very near in +broad daylight, but as far away as in January when the sun goes down. + +Mr. Isidore Bamberger was waiting for a visitor, as his partner Mr. +Van Torp had waited in the same place a month earlier, but he made no +preparations for a cheerful meeting, and the cheap japanned tea-caddy, +with the brown teapot and the chipped cups and saucers, stood +undisturbed in the old-fashioned cupboard in the corner, while the +lonely man sat before the cold fireplace and let the tears trickle +down his cheeks as they would. + +At the double stroke of the spring door-bell, twice repeated, his +expression changed as if he had been waked from a dream. He dried his +cheeks roughly with the back of his hand, and his very heavy black +eyebrows were drawn down and together, as if the tension of the man's +whole nature had been relaxed and was now suddenly restored. The look +of sadness hardened to an expression that was melancholy still, but +grim and unforgiving, and the grizzled beard, clipped rather close at +the sides, betrayed the angles of the strong jaw as he set his teeth +and rose to let in his visitor. He was round-shouldered and slightly +bow-legged when he stood up; he was heavily and clumsily built, but he +was evidently strong. + +He went out into the dark entry and opened the door, and a moment +later he came back with Mr. Feist, the man with the unhealthy +complexion whom Margaret had seen at the Turkish Embassy. Isidore +Bamberger sat down in the easy-chair again without ceremony, leaving +his guest to bring up a straight-backed chair for himself. + +Mr. Feist was evidently in a very nervous condition. His hand shook +perceptibly as he mopped his forehead after sitting down, and he moved +his chair uneasily twice because the incandescent light irritated his +eyes. He did not wait for Bamberger to question him, however. + +'It's all right,' he said, 'but he doesn't care to take steps till +after this season is over. He says the same thing will happen again to +a dead certainty, and that the more evidence he has the surer he'll be +of the decree. I think he's afraid Van Torp has some explanation up +his sleeve that will swing things the other way.' + +'Didn't he catch her here?' asked the elder man, evidently annoyed. +'Didn't he find the money on this table in an envelope addressed +to her? Didn't he have two witnesses with him? Or is all that an +invention?' + +'It happened just so. But he's afraid there's some explanation--' + +'Feist,' said Isidore Bamberger slowly, 'find out what explanation the +man's afraid of, pretty quick, or I'll get somebody who will. It's my +belief that he's just a common coward, who takes money from his wife +and doesn't care how she gets it. I suppose she refused to pay one +day, so he strengthened his position by catching her; but he doesn't +want to divorce the goose that lays the golden egg as long as he's +short of cash. That's about the measure of it, you may depend.' + +'She may be a goose,' answered Feist, 'but she's a wild one, and +she'll lead us a chase too. She's up to all sorts of games, I've +ascertained. She goes out of the house at all hours and comes home +when she's ready, and it isn't to meet your friend either, for he's +not been in London again since he landed.' + +'Then who else is it?' asked Bamberger. + +Feist smiled in a sickly way. + +'Don't know,' he said. 'Can't find out.' + +'I don't like people who don't know and can't find out,' answered the +other. 'I'm in a hurry, I tell you. I'm employing you, and paying you +a good salary, and taking a great deal of trouble to have you pushed +with letters of introduction where you can see her, and now you come +here and tell me you don't know and you can't find out. It won't do, +Feist. You're no better than you used to be when you were my secretary +last year. You're a pretty bright young fellow when you don't drink, +but when you do you're about as useful as a painted clock--and even a +painted clock is right twice in twenty-four hours. It's more than you +are. The only good thing about you is that you can hold your tongue, +drunk or sober. I admit that.' + +Having relieved himself of this plain opinion Isidore Bamberger waited +to hear what Feist had to say, keeping his eyes fixed on the unhealthy +face. + +'I've not been drinking lately, anyhow,' he answered, 'and I'll tell +you one thing, Mr. Bamberger, and that is, that I'm just as anxious as +you can be to see this thing through, every bit.' + +'Well, then, don't waste time! I don't care a cent about the divorce, +except that it will bring the whole affair into publicity. As soon as +all the papers are down on him, I'll start in on the real thing. I +shall be ready by that time. I want public opinion on both sides of +the ocean to run strong against him, as it ought to, and it's just +that it should. If I don't manage that, he may get off in the end in +spite of your evidence.' + +'Look here, Mr. Bamberger,' said Feist, waking up, 'if you want my +evidence, don't talk of dropping me as you did just now, or you won't +get it, do you understand? You've paid me the compliment of telling me +that I can hold my tongue. All right. But it won't suit you if I hold +my tongue in the witness-box, will it? That's all, Mr. Bamberger. I've +nothing more to say about that.' + +There was a sudden vehemence in the young man's tone which portrayed +that in spite of his broken nerves he could still be violent. But +Isidore Bamberger was not the man to be brow-beaten by any one he +employed. He almost smiled when Feist stopped speaking. + +'That's all right,' he said half good-naturedly and half +contemptuously. 'We understand each other. That's all right.' + +'I hope it is,' Feist answered in a dogged way. 'I only wanted you to +know.' + +'Well, I do, since you've told me. But you needn't get excited like +that. It's just as well you gave up studying medicine and took to +business, Feist, for you haven't got what they call a pleasant bedside +manner.' + +Mr. Feist had once been a medical student, but had given up the +profession on inheriting a sum of money with which he at once began to +speculate. After various vicissitudes he had become Mr. Bamberger's +private secretary, and had held that position some time in spite of +his one failing, because he had certain qualities which made him +invaluable to his employer until his nerves began to give away. One of +those qualities was undoubtedly his power of holding his tongue +even when under the influence of drink; another was his really +extraordinary memory for details, and especially for letters he had +written under dictation, and for conversations he had heard. He was +skilful, too, in many ways when in full possession of his faculties; +but though Isidore Bamberger used him, he despised him profoundly, +as he despised every man who preferred present indulgence to future +profit. + +Feist lit a cigarette and blew a vast cloud of smoke round him, but +made no answer to his employer's last observation. + +'Now this is what I want you to do,' said the latter. 'Go to this +Count Leven and tell him it's a cash transaction or nothing, and that +he runs no risk. Find out what he'll really take, but don't come +talking to me about five thousand pounds or anything of that kind, for +that's ridiculous. Tell him that if proceedings are not begun by the +first of May his wife won't get any more money from Van Torp, and he +won't get any more from his wife. Use any other argument that strikes +you. That's your business, because that's what I pay you for. What I +want is the result, and that's justice and no more, and I don't care +anything about the means. Find them and I'll pay. If you can't find +them I'll pay somebody who can, and if nobody can I'll go to the end +without. Do you understand?' + +'Oh, I understand right enough,' answered Feist, with his bad smile.' +If I can hit on the right scheme I won't ask you anything extra +for it, Mr. Bamberger! By the bye, I wrote you I met Cordova, the +Primadonna, at the Turkish Embassy, didn't I? She hates him as much +as the other woman likes him, yet she and the other have struck up a +friendship. I daresay I shall get something out of that too.' + +'Why does Cordova hate him?' asked Bamberger. + +'Don't quite know. Thought perhaps you might.' + +'No.' + +'He was attentive to her last winter,' Feist said. 'That's all I know +for certain. He's a brutal sort of man, and maybe he offended her +somehow.' + +'Well,' returned Isidore Bamberger, 'maybe; but singers aren't often +offended by men who have money. At least, I've always understood so, +though I don't know much about that side of life myself.' + +'It would be just one thing more to break his character if Cordova +would say something against him,' suggested Feist. 'Her popularity is +something tremendous, and people always believe a woman who says that +a man has insulted her. In those things the bare word of a pretty lady +who's no better than she should be is worth more than an honest man's +character for thirty years.' + +'That's so,' said Bamberger, looking at him attentively. 'That's quite +true. Whatever you are, Feist, you're no fool. We may as well have the +pretty lady's bare word, anyway.' + +'If you approve, I'm nearly sure I can get it,' Feist answered. 'At +least, I can get a statement which she won't deny if it's published +in the right way. I can furnish the materials for an article on her +that's sure to please her--born lady, never a word against her, highly +connected, unassailable private life, such a contrast to several other +celebrities on the stage, immensely charitable, half American, half +English--every bit of that all helps, you see--and then an anecdote or +two thrown in, and just the bare facts about her having had to escape +in a hurry from a prominent millionaire in a New York hotel--fairly +ran for her life and turned the key against him. Give his name if you +like. If he brings action for libel, you can subpoena Cordova herself. +She'll swear to it if it's true, and then you can unmask your big guns +and let him have it hot.' + +'No doubt, no doubt. But how do you propose to find out if it is +true?' + +'Well, I'll see; but it will answer almost as well if it's not true,' +said Feist cynically. 'People always believe those things.' + +'It's only a detail,' said Bamberger, 'but it's worth something, +and if we can make this man Leven begin a suit against his wife, +everything that's against Van Torp will be against her too. That's not +justice, Feist, but it's fact. A woman gets considerably less pity for +making mistakes with a blackguard than for liking an honest man too +much, Feist.' + +Mr. Bamberger, who had divorced his own wife, delivered these opinions +thoughtfully, and, though she had made no defence, he might be +supposed to know what he was talking about. + +Presently he dismissed his visitor with final injunctions to lose no +time, and to 'find out' if Lady Maud was interested in any one besides +Van Torp, and if not, what was at the root of her eccentric hours. + +Mr. Feist went away, apparently prepared to obey his employer with +all the energy he possessed. He went down the dimly-lighted stairs +quickly, but he glanced nervously upwards, as if he fancied that +Isidore Bamberger might have silently opened the door again to look +over the banister and watch him from above. In the dark entry below he +paused a moment, and took a satisfactory pull at a stout flask before +going out into the yellowish gloom that had settled on Hare Court. + +When he was in the narrow alley he stopped again and laughed, without +making any sound, so heartily that he had to stand still till the fit +passed; and the expression of his unhealthy face just then would have +disturbed even Mr. Bamberger, who knew him well. + +But Mr. Bamberger was sitting in the easy-chair before the fireplace, +and his eyes were fixed on the bright point at which the shiny copper +kettle reflected the gaslight. His head had fallen slightly forward, +so that his bearded chin was out of sight below the collar of his +overcoat, leaving his eagle nose and piercing eyes above it. He was +like a bird of prey looking down over the edge of its nest. He had not +taken off his hat for Mr. Feist, and it was pushed back from his bony +forehead now, giving his face a look that would have been half comic +if it had not been almost terrifying: a tall hat set on a skull, a +little back or on one side, produces just such an effect. + +There was no moisture in the keen eyes now. In the bright spot on the +copper kettle they saw the vision of the end towards which he was +striving with all his strength, and all his heart, and all his wealth. +It was a grim little picture, and the chief figure in it was a +thick-set man who had a queer cap drawn down over his face and his +hands tied; and the eyes that saw it were sure that under the cap +there were the stony features of a man who had stolen his friend's +wife and killed his friend's daughter, and was going to die for what +he had done. + +Then Isidore Bamberger's right hand disappeared inside the breast of +his coat and closed lovingly upon a full pocket-book; but there was +only a little money in it, only a few banknotes folded flat against +a thick package of sheets of notepaper all covered with clear, close +writing, some in ink and some in pencil; and if what was written there +was all true, it was enough to hang Mr. Rufus Van Torp. + +There were other matters, too, not written there, but carefully +entered in the memory of the injured man. There was the story of his +marriage with a beautiful, penniless girl, not of his own faith, whom +he had taken in the face of strong opposition from his family. She +had been an exquisite creature, fair and ethereal, as degenerates +sometimes are; she had cynically married him for his money, deceiving +him easily enough, for he was willing to be blinded; but differences +had soon arisen between them, and had turned to open quarrelling, and +Mr. Van Torp had taken it upon himself to defend her and to reconcile +them, using the unlimited power his position gave him over his partner +to force the latter to submit to his wife's temper and caprice, as the +only alternative to ruin. Her friendship for Van Torp grew stronger, +till they spent many hours of every day together, while her husband +saw little of her, though he was never altogether estranged from her +so long as they lived under one roof. + +But the time came at last when Bamberger had power too, and Van Torp +could no longer hold him in check with a threat that had become vain; +for he was more than indispensable, he was a part of the Nickel Trust, +he was the figure-head of the ship, and could not be discarded at +will, to be replaced by another. + +As soon as he was sure of this and felt free to act, Isidore Bamberger +divorced his wife, in a State where slight grounds are sufficient. For +the sake of the Nickel Trust Van Torp's name was not mentioned. Mrs. +Bamberger made no defence, the affair was settled almost privately, +and Bamberger was convinced that she would soon marry Van Torp. +Instead, six weeks had not passed before she married Senator Moon, +a man whom her husband had supposed she scarcely knew, and to +Bamberger's amazement Van Torp's temper was not at all disturbed by +the marriage. He acted as if he had expected it, and though he hardly +ever saw her after that time, he exchanged letters with her during +nearly two years. + +Bamberger's little daughter Ida had never been happy with her +beautiful mother, who had alternately spoilt her and vented her temper +on her, according to the caprice of the moment. At the time of the +divorce the child had been only ten years old; and as Bamberger was +very kind to her and was of an even disposition, though never very +cheerful, she had grown up to be extremely fond of him. She never +guessed that he did not love her in return, for though he was cynical +enough in matters of business, he was just according to his lights, +and he would not let her know that everything about her recalled her +mother, from her hair to her tone of voice, her growing caprices, and +her silly fits of temper. He could not believe in the affection of a +daughter who constantly reminded him of the hell in which he had +lived for years. If what Van Torp told Lady Maud of his own pretended +engagement to Ida was true, it was explicable only on that ground, so +far as her father was concerned. Bamberger felt no affection for +his daughter, and saw no reason why she should not be used as an +instrument, with her own consent, for consolidating the position of +the Nickel Trust. + +As for the former Mrs. Bamberger, afterwards Mrs. Moon, she had gone +to Europe in the autumn, not many months after her marriage, leaving +the Senator in Washington, and had returned after nearly a year's +absence, bringing her husband a fine little girl, whom she had +christened Ida, like her first child, without consulting him. It soon +became apparent that the baby was totally deaf; and not very long +after this discovery, Mrs. Moon began to show signs of not being quite +sane. Three years later she was altogether out of her mind, and as +soon as this was clear the child was sent to the East to be taught. +The rest has already been told. Bamberger, of course, had never seen +little Ida, and had perhaps never heard of her existence, and Senator +Moon did not see her again before he died. + +Bamberger had not loved his own daughter in her life, but since her +tragic death she had grown dear to him in memory, and he reproached +himself unjustly with having been cold and unkind to her. Below the +surface of his money-loving nature there was still the deep and +unsatisfied sentiment to which his wife had first appealed, and by +playing on which she had deceived him into marrying her. Her treatment +of him had not killed it, and the memory of his fair young daughter +now stirred it again. He accused himself of having misunderstood her. +What had been unreal and superficial in her mother had perhaps been +true and deep in her. He knew that she had loved him; he knew it now, +and it was the recollection of that one being who had been devoted to +him for himself, since he had been a grown man, that sometimes brought +the tears from his eyes when he was alone. It would have been a +comfort, now, to have loved her in return while she lived, and to have +trusted in her love then, instead of having been tormented by the +belief that she was as false as her mother had been. + +But he had been disappointed of his heart's desire; for, strange as it +may seem to those who have not known such men as Isidore Bamberger, +his nature was profoundly domestic, and the ideal of his youth had +been to grow old in his own home, with a loving wife at his side, +surrounded by children and grandchildren who loved both himself and +her. Next to that, he had desired wealth and the power money gives; +but that had been first, until the hope of it was gone. Looking back +now, he was sure that it had all been destroyed from root to branch, +the hope and the possibility, and even the memory that might have +still comforted him, by Rufus Van Torp, upon whom he prayed that he +might live to be revenged. He sought no secret vengeance, either, no +pitfall of ruin dug in the dark for the man's untimely destruction; +all was to be in broad daylight, by the evidence of facts, under the +verdict of justice, and at the hands of the law itself. + +It had not been very hard to get what he needed, for his former +secretary, Mr. Feist, had worked with as much industry and +intelligence as if the case had been his own, and in spite of the +vice that was killing him had shown a wonderful power of holding his +tongue. It is quite certain that up to the day when Feist called on +his employer in Hare Court, Mr. Van Torp believed himself perfectly +safe. + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +A fortnight later Count Leven informed his wife that he was going home +on a short leave, but that she might stay in London if she pleased. An +aunt of his had died in Warsaw, he said, leaving him a small property, +and in spite of the disturbed state of his own country it was +necessary that he should go and take possession of the land without +delay. + +Lady Maud did not believe a word of what he said, until it became +apparent that he had the cash necessary for his journey without +borrowing of her, as he frequently tried to do, with varying success. +She smiled calmly as she bade him good-bye and wished him a pleasant +journey; he made a magnificent show of kissing her hand at parting, +and waved his hat to the window when he was outside the house, before +getting into the four-wheeler, on the roof of which his voluminous +luggage made a rather unsafe pyramid. She was not at the window, and +he knew it; but other people might be watching him from theirs, and +the servant stood at the open door. It was always worth while, in +Count Leven's opinion, to make an 'effect' if one got a chance. + +Three days later Lady Maud received a document from the Russian +Embassy informing her that her husband had brought an action to obtain +a divorce from her in the Ecclesiastical Court of the Patriarch of +Constantinople, on the ground of her undue intimacy with Rufus Van +Torp of New York, as proved by the attested depositions of detectives. +She was further informed that unless she appeared in person or by +proxy before the Patriarch of Constantinople within one month of the +date of the present notice, to defend herself against the charges made +by her husband, judgment would go by default, and the divorce would be +pronounced. + +At first Lady Maud imagined this extraordinary document to be a stupid +practical joke, invented by some half-fledged cousin to tease her. +She had a good many cousins, among whom were several beardless +undergraduates and callow subalterns in smart regiments, who would +think it no end of fun to scare 'Cousin Maud.' There was no mistaking +the official paper on which the document was written, and it bore +the seal of the Chancery of the Russian Embassy; but in Lady Maud's +opinion the mention of the Patriarch of Constantinople stamped it as +an egregious hoax. + +On reflection, however, she decided that it must have been perpetrated +by some one in the Embassy for the express purpose of annoying her, +since no outsider could have got at the seal, even if he could have +obtained possession of the paper and envelope. As soon as this view +presented itself, she determined to ascertain the truth directly, and +to bring down the ambassadorial wrath on the offender. + +Accordingly she took the paper to the Russian clerk who was in charge +of the Chancery, and inquired who had dared to concoct such a paper +and to send it to her. + +To her stupefaction, the man smiled politely and informed her that the +document was genuine. What had the Patriarch to do with it? That was +very simple. Had she not been married to a Russian subject by the +Greek rite in Paris? Certainly. Very well. All marriages of Russian +subjects out of their own country took place under the authority of +the Patriarch of Constantinople, and all suits for divorcing persons +thus married came under his jurisdiction. That was all. It was such a +simple matter that every Russian knew all about it. The clerk asked +if he could be of service to her. He had been stationed in +Constantinople, and knew just what to do; and, moreover, he had a +friend at the Chancery there, who would take charge of the case if the +Countess desired it. + +Lady Maud thanked him coldly, replaced the document in its envelope, +and left the Embassy with the intention of never setting foot in it +again. + +She understood why Leven had suddenly lost an aunt of whom she had +never heard, and had got out of the way on pretence of an imaginary +inheritance. The dates showed plainly that the move had been prepared +before he left, and that he had started when the notice of the suit +was about to be sent to her. The only explanation that occurred to her +was that her husband had found some very rich woman who was willing to +marry him if he could free himself; and this seemed likely enough. + +She hesitated as to how she should act. Her first impulse was to go +to her father, who was a lawyer and would give her good advice, but a +moment's thought showed her that it would be a mistake to go to him. +Being no longer immobilised by a sprained ankle, Lord Creedmore would +probably leave England instantly in pursuit of Leven himself, and no +one could tell what the consequences might be if he caught him; they +would certainly be violent, and they might be disastrous. + +Then Lady Maud thought of telegraphing to Mr. Van Torp to come to town +to see her about an urgent matter; but she decided against that course +too. Whatever her relations were with the American financier this was +not the moment to call attention to them. She would write to him, and +in order to see him conveniently she would suggest to her father to +have a week-end house party in the country, and to ask his neighbour +over from Oxley Paddox. Nobody but Mr. Van Torp and the post-office +called the place Torp Towers. + +She had taken a hansom to the Embassy, but she walked back to Charles +Street because she was angry, and she considered nothing so good for a +rage as a stiff walk. By the time she reached her own door she was as +cool as ever, and her clear eyes looked upon the wicked world with +their accustomed calm. + +As she laid her hand on the door-bell, a smart brougham drove up +quickly and stopped close to the pavement, and as she turned her head +Margaret was letting herself out, before the footman could get round +from the other side to open the door of the carriage. + +'May I come in?' asked the singer anxiously, and Lady Maud saw that +she seemed much disturbed, and had a newspaper in her hand. 'I'm so +glad I just caught you,' Margaret added, as the door opened. + +They went in together. The house was very small and narrow, and Lady +Maud led the way into a little sitting-room on the right of the hall, +and shut the door. + +'Is it true?' Margaret asked as soon as they were alone. + +'What?' + +'About your divorce--' + +Lady Maud smiled rather contemptuously. + +'Is it already in the papers?' she asked, glancing at the one Margaret +had brought. 'I only heard of it myself an hour ago!' + +'Then it's really true! There's a horrid article about it--' + +Margaret was evidently much more disturbed than her friend, who sat +down in a careless attitude and smiled at her. + +'It had to come some day. And besides,' added Lady Maud, 'I don't +care!' + +'There's something about me too,' answered Margaret, 'and I cannot +help caring.' + +'About you?' + +'Me and Mr. Van Torp--the article is written by some one who hates +him--that's clear!--and you know I don't like him; but that's no +reason why I should be dragged in.' + +She was rather incoherent, and Lady Maud took the paper from her hand +quietly, and found the article at once. It was as 'horrid' as the +Primadonna said it was. No names were given in full, but there could +not be the slightest mistake about the persons referred to, who were +all clearly labelled by bits of characteristic description. It was all +in the ponderously airy form of one of those more or less true stories +of which some modern weeklies seem to have an inexhaustible supply, +but it was a particularly vicious specimen of its class so far as +Mr. Van Torp was concerned. His life was torn up by the roots and +mercilessly pulled to pieces, and he was shown to the public as a +Leicester Square Lovelace or a Bowery Don Juan. His baleful career was +traced from his supposed affair with Mrs. Isidore Bamberger and her +divorce to the scene at Margaret's hotel in New York, and from that +to the occasion of his being caught with Lady Maud in Hare Court by a +justly angry husband; and there was, moreover, a pretty plain allusion +to little Ida Moon. + +Lady Maud read the article quickly, but without betraying any emotion. +When she had finished she raised her eyebrows a very little, and gave +the paper back to Margaret. + +'It is rather nasty,' she observed quietly, as if she were speaking of +the weather. + +'It's utterly disgusting,' Margaret answered with emphasis. 'What +shall you do?' + +'I really don't know. Why should I do anything? Your position is +different, for you can write to the papers and deny all that concerns +you if you like--though I'm sure I don't know why you should care. +It's not to your discredit.' + +'I could not very well deny it,' said the Primadonna thoughtfully. +Almost before the words had left her lips she was sorry she had +spoken. + +'Does it happen to be true?' asked Lady Maud, with an encouraging +smile. + +'Well, since you ask me--yes.' Margaret felt uncomfortable. + +'Oh, I thought it might be,' answered Lady Maud. 'With all his good +qualities he has a very rough side. The story about me is perfectly +true too.' + +Margaret was amazed at her friend's quiet cynicism. + +'Not that about the--the envelope on the table--' + +She stopped short. + +'Oh yes! There were four thousand one hundred pounds in it. My husband +counted the notes.' + +The singer leaned back in her chair and stared in unconcealed +surprise, wondering how in the world she could have been so completely +mistaken in her judgment of a friend who had seemed to her the best +type of an honest and fearless Englishwoman. Margaret Donne had not +been brought up in the gay world; she had, however, seen some aspects +of it since she had been a successful singer, and she did not +exaggerate its virtues; but somehow Lady Maud had seemed to be above +it, while living in it, and Margaret would have put her hand into the +fire for the daughter of her father's old friend, who now acknowledged +without a blush that she had taken four thousand pounds from Rufus Van +Torp. + +'I suppose it would go against me even in an English court,' said Lady +Maud in a tone of reflection. 'It looks so badly to take money, you +know, doesn't it? But if I must be divorced, it really strikes me +as delightfully original to have it done by the Patriarch of +Constantinople! Doesn't it, my dear?' + +'It's not usual, certainly,' said Margaret gravely. + +She was puzzled by the other's attitude, and somewhat horrified. + +'I suppose you think I'm a very odd sort of person,' said Lady Maud, +'because I don't mind so much as most women might. You see, I never +really cared for Leven, though if I had not thought I had a fancy for +him I wouldn't have married him. My people were quite against it. The +truth is, I couldn't have the husband I wanted, and as I did not mean +to break my heart about it, I married, as so many girls do. That's my +little story! It's not long, is it?' + +She laughed, but she very rarely did that, even when she was amused, +and now Margaret's quick ear detected here and there in the sweet +ripple a note that did not ring quite like the rest. The intonation +was not false or artificial, but only sad and regretful, as genuine +laughter should not be. Margaret looked at her, still profoundly +mystified, and still drawn to her by natural sympathy, though +horrified almost to disgust at what seemed her brutal cynicism. + +'May I ask one question? We've grown to be such good friends that +perhaps you won't mind.' + +Lady Maud nodded. + +'Of course,' she said. 'Ask me anything you please. I'll answer if I +can.' + +'You said that you could not marry the man you liked. Was he--Mr. Van +Torp?' + +Lady Maud was not prepared for the question. + +'Mr. Van Torp?' she repeated slowly. 'Oh dear no! Certainly not! What +an extraordinary idea!' She gazed into Margaret's eyes with a look of +inquiry, until the truth suddenly dawned upon her. 'Oh, I see!' she +cried. 'How awfully funny!' + +There was no minor note of sadness or regret in her rippling laughter +now. It was so exquisitely true and musical that the great soprano +listened to it with keen delight, and wondered whether she herself +could produce a sound half so delicious. + +'No, my dear,' said Lady Maud, as her mirth subsided. 'I never was in +love with Mr. Van Torp. But it really is awfully funny that you should +have thought so! No wonder you looked grave when I told you that I was +really found in his rooms! We are the greatest friends, and no man was +ever kinder to a woman than he has been to me for the last two years. +But that's all. Did you really think the money was meant for me? That +wasn't quite nice of you, was it?' + +The bright smile was still on her face as she spoke the last words, +for her nature was far too big to be really hurt; but the little +rebuke went home sharply, and Margaret felt unreasonably ashamed of +herself, considering that Lady Maud had not taken the slightest pains +to explain the truth to her. + +'I'm so sorry,' she said contritely. 'I'm dreadfully sorry. It was +abominably stupid of me!' + +'Oh no. It was quite natural. This is not a pretty world, and there's +no reason why you should think me better than lots of other women. And +besides, I don't care!' + +'But surely you won't let your husband get a divorce for such a reason +as that without making a defence?' + +'Before the Patriarch of Constantinople?' Lady Maud evidently thought +the idea very amusing. 'It sounds like a comic opera,' she added. 'Why +should I defend myself? I shall be glad to be free; and as for the +story, the people who like me will not believe any harm of me, and the +people who don't like me may believe what they please. But I'm very +glad you showed me that article, disgusting as it is.' + +'I was beginning to be sorry I had brought it.' + +'No. You did me a service, for I had no idea that any one was going to +take advantage of my divorce to make a cowardly attack on my friend--I +mean Mr. Van Torp. I shall certainly not make any defence before the +Patriarch, but I shall make a statement which will go to the right +people, saying that I met Mr. Van Torp in a lawyer's chambers in +the Temple, that is, in a place of business, and about a matter of +business, and that there was no secret about it, because my husband's +servant called the cab that took me there, and gave the cabman the +address. I often do go out without telling any one, and I let myself +in with a latch-key when I come home, but on that particular occasion +I did neither. Will you say that if you hear me talked about?' + +'Of course I will.' + +Nevertheless, Margaret thought that Lady Maud might have given her a +little information about the 'matter of business' which had +involved such a large sum of money, and had produced such important +consequences. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Mr. Van Torp was walking slowly down the Elm Walk in the park at Oxley +Paddox. The ancient trees were not in full leaf yet, but there were +myriads of tiny green feather points all over the rough brown branches +and the smoother twigs, and their soft colour tinted the luminous +spring air. High overhead all sorts and conditions of little birds +were chirping and trilling and chattering together and by turns, and +on the ground the sparrows were excessively busy and talkative, while +the squirrels made wild dashes across the open, and stopped suddenly +to sit bolt upright and look about them, and then dashed on again. + +Little Ida walked beside the millionaire in silence, trustfully +holding one of his hands, and as she watched the sparrows she tried +to make out what sort of sound they could be making when they hopped +forward and opened their bills so wide that she could distinctly see +their little tongues. Mr. Van Torp's other hand held a newspaper, and +he was reading the article about himself which Margaret had shown to +Lady Maud. He did not take that particular paper, but a marked copy +had been sent to him, and in due course had been ironed and laid on +the breakfast-table with those that came regularly. The article was +marked in red pencil. + +He read it slowly with a perfectly blank expression, as if it +concerned some one he did not know. Once only, when he came upon +the allusion to the little girl, his eyes left the page and glanced +quietly down at the large red felt hat with its knot of ribbands +that moved along beside him, and hid all the child's face except the +delicate chin and the corner of the pathetic little mouth. She did not +know that he looked down at her, for she was intent on the sparrows, +and he went back to the article and read to the end. + +Then, in order to fold the paper, he gently let go of Ida's hand, and +she looked up into his face. He did not speak, but his lips moved +a little as he doubled the sheet to put it into his pocket; and +instantly the child's expression changed, and she looked hurt and +frightened, and stretched up her hand quickly to cover his mouth, as +if to hide the words his lips were silently forming. + +'Please, please!' she said, in her slightly monotonous voice. 'You +promised me you wouldn't any more!' + +'Quite right, my dear,' answered Mr. Van Torp, smiling, 'and I +apologise. You must make me pay a forfeit every time I do it. What +shall the forfeit be? Chocolates?' + +She watched his lips, and understood as well as if she had heard. + +'No,' she answered demurely. 'You mustn't laugh. When I've done +anything wicked and am sorry, I say the little prayer Miss More taught +me. Perhaps you'd better learn it too.' + +'If you said it for me,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely, 'it would be +more likely to work.' + +'Oh no! That wouldn't do at all! You must say it for yourself. I'll +teach it to you if you like. Shall I?' + +'What must I say?' asked the financier. + +'Well, it's made up for me, you see, and besides, I've shortened it a +wee bit. What I say is: "Dear God, please forgive me this time, and +make me never want to do it again. Amen." Can you remember that, do +you think?' + +'I think I could,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'Please forgive me and make me +never do it again.' + +'Never want to do it again,' corrected little Ida with emphasis. 'You +must try not even to want to say dreadful things. And then you must +say "Amen." That's important.' + +'Amen,' repeated the millionaire. + +At this juncture the discordant toot of an approaching motor-car was +heard above the singing of the birds. Mr. Van Torp turned his +head quickly in the direction of the sound, and at the same time +instinctively led the little girl towards one side of the road. She +apparently understood, for she asked no questions. There was a turn in +the drive a couple of hundred yards away, where the Elm Walk ended, +and an instant later an enormous white motor-car whizzed into sight, +rushed furiously towards the two, and was brought to a standstill in +an uncommonly short time, close beside them. An active man, in the +usual driver's disguise of the modern motorist, jumped down, and at +the same instant pushed his goggles up over the visor of his cap +and loosened the collar of his wide coat, displaying the face of +Constantino Logotheti. + +'Oh, it's you, is it?' Mr. Van Torp asked the wholly superfluous +question in a displeased tone. 'How did you get in? I've given +particular orders to let in no automobiles.' + +'I always get in everywhere,' answered Logotheti coolly. 'May I see +you alone for a few minutes?' + +'If it's business, you'd better see Mr. Bamberger,' said Van Torp. +'I came here for a rest. Mr. Bamberger has come over for a few days. +You'll find him at his chambers in Hare Court.' + +'No,' returned Logotheti, 'it's a private matter. I shall not keep you +long.' + +'Then run us up to the house in your new go-cart.' + +Mr. Van Torp lifted little Ida into the motor as if she had been a +rather fragile china doll instead of a girl nine years old and quite +able to get up alone, and before she could sit down he was beside her. +Logotheti jumped up beside the chauffeur and the machine ran up the +drive at breakneck speed. Two minutes later they all got out more than +a mile farther on, at the door of the big old house. Ida ran away to +find Miss More; the two men entered together, and went into the study. + +The room had been built in the time of Edward Sixth, had been +decorated afresh under Charles the Second, the furniture was of the +time of Queen Anne, and the carpet was a modern Turkish one, woven +in colours as fresh as paint to fit the room, and as thick as a down +quilt: it was the sort of carpet which has come into existence with +the modern hotel. + +'Well?' Mr. Van Torp uttered the monosyllable as he sat down in his +own chair and pointed to a much less comfortable one, which Logotheti +took. + +'There's an article about you,' said the latter, producing a paper. + +'I've read it,' answered Mr. Van Torp in a tone of stony indifference. + +'I thought that was likely. Do you take the paper?' + +'No. Do you?' + +'No, it was sent to me,' Logotheti answered. 'Did you happen to glance +at the address on the wrapper of the one that came to you?' + +'My valet opens all the papers and irons them.' + +Mr. Van Torp looked very bored as he said this, and he stared stonily +at the pink and green waistcoat which his visitor's unfastened coat +exposed to view. Hundreds of little gold beads were sewn upon it at +the intersections of the pattern. It was a marvellous creation. + +'I had seen the handwriting on the one addressed to me before,' +Logotheti said. + +'Oh, you had, had you?' + +Mr. Van Torp asked the question in a dull tone without the slightest +apparent interest in the answer. + +'Yes,' Logotheti replied, not paying any attention to his host's +indifference. 'I received an anonymous letter last winter, and the +writing of the address was the same.' + +'It was, was it?' + +The millionaire's tone did not change in the least, and he continued +to admire the waistcoat. His manner might have disconcerted a person +of less assurance than the Greek, but in the matter of nerves the two +financiers were well matched. + +'Yes,' Logotheti answered, 'and the anonymous letter was about you, +and contained some of the stories that are printed in this article.' + +'Oh, it did, did it?' + +'Yes. There was an account of your interview with the Primadonna at a +hotel in New York. I remember that particularly well.' + +'Oh, you do, do you?' + +'Yes. The identity of the handwriting and the similarity of the +wording make it look as if the article and the letter had been written +by the same person.' + +'Well, suppose they were--I don't see anything funny about that.' + +Thereupon Mr. Van Torp turned at last from the contemplation of the +waistcoat and looked out of the bay-window at the distant trees, as if +he were excessively weary of Logotheti's talk. + +'It occurred to me,' said the latter, 'that you might like to stop any +further allusions to Miss Donne, and that if you happened to recognize +the handwriting you might be able to do so effectually.' + +'There's nothing against Madame Cordova in the article,' answered Mr. +Van Torp, and his aggressive blue eyes turned sharply to his visitor's +almond-shaped brown ones. 'You can't say there's a word against her.' + +'There may be in the next one,' suggested Logotheti, meeting the look +without emotion. 'When people send anonymous letters about broadcast +to injure men like you and me, they are not likely to stick at such a +matter as a woman's reputation.' + +'Well--maybe not.' Mr. Van Torp turned his sharp eyes elsewhere. 'You +seem to take quite an interest in Madame Cordova, Mr. Logotheti,' he +observed, in an indifferent tone. + +'I knew her before she went on the stage, and I think I may call +myself a friend of hers. At all events, I wish to spare her any +annoyance from the papers if I can, and if you have any regard for her +you will help me, I'm sure.' + +'I have the highest regard for Madame Cordova,' said Mr. Van Torp, and +there was a perceptible change in his tone; 'but after this, I guess +the best way I can show it is to keep out of her track. That's about +all there is to do. You don't suppose I'm going to bring an action +against that paper, do you?' + +'Hardly!' Logotheti smiled. + +'Well, then, what do you expect me to do, Mr. Logotheti?' + +Again the eyes of the two men met. + +'I'll tell you,' answered the Greek. 'The story about your visit to +Miss Donne in New York is perfectly true.' + +'You're pretty frank,' observed the American. + +'Yes, I am. Very good. The man who wrote the letter and the article +knows you, and that probably means that you have known him, though you +may never have taken any notice of him. He hates you, for some reason, +and means to injure you if he can. Just take the trouble to find out +who he is and suppress him, will you? If you don't, he will throw more +mud at honest women. He is probably some underling whose feelings you +have hurt, or who has lost money by you, or both.' + +'There's something in that,' answered Mr. Van Torp, showing a little +more interest. 'Do you happen to have any of his writing about you? +I'll look at it.' + +Logotheti took a letter and a torn piece of brown paper from his +pocket and handed both to his companion. + +'Read the letter, if you like,' he said. 'The handwriting seems to be +the same as that on the wrapper.' + +Mr. Van Torp first compared the address, and then proceeded to read +the anonymous letter. Logotheti watched his face quietly, but it did +not change in the least. When he had finished, he folded the sheet, +replaced it in the envelope, and returned it with the bit of paper. + +'Much obliged,' he said, and he looked out of the window again and was +silent. + +Logotheti leaned back in his chair as he put the papers into his +pocket again, and presently, as Mr. Van Torp did not seem inclined to +say anything more, he rose to go. The American did not move, and still +looked out of the window. + +'You originally belonged to the East, Mr. Logotheti, didn't you?' he +asked suddenly. + +'Yes. I'm a Greek and a Turkish subject.' + +'Do you happen to know the Patriarch of Constantinople?' + +Logotheti stared in surprise, taken off his guard for once. + +'Very well indeed,' he answered after an instant. 'He is my uncle.' + +'Why, now, that's quite interesting!' observed Mr. Van Torp, rising +deliberately and thrusting his hands into his pockets. + +Logotheti, who knew nothing about the details of Lady Maud's pending +divorce, could not imagine what the American was driving at, and +waited for more. Mr. Van Torp began to walk up and down, with his +rather clumsy gait, digging his heels into vivid depths of the new +Smyrna carpet at every step. + +'I wasn't going to tell you,' he said at last, 'but I may just as +well. Most of the accusations in that letter are lies. I didn't blow +up the subway. I know it was done on purpose, of course, but I had +nothing to do with it, and any man who says I had, takes me for a +fool, which you'll probably allow I'm not. You're a man of business, +Mr. Logotheti. There had been a fall in Nickel, and for weeks before +the explosion I'd been making a considerable personal sacrifice to +steady things. Now you know as well as I do that all big accidents +are bad for the market when it's shaky. Do you suppose I'd have +deliberately produced one just then? Besides, I'm not a criminal. I +didn't blow up the subway any more than I blew up the Maine to bring +on the Cuban war! The man's a fool.' + +'I quite agree with you,' said the Greek, listening with interest. + +'Then there's another thing. That about poor Mrs. Moon, who's gone +out of her mind. It's nonsense to say I was the reason of Bamberger's +divorcing his wife. In the first place, there are the records of the +divorce, and my name was never mentioned. I was her friend, that's +all, and Bamberger resented it--he's a resentful sort of man anyway. +He thought she'd marry me as soon as he got the divorce. Well, she +didn't. She married old Alvah Moon, who was the only man she ever +cared for. The Lord knows how it was, but that wicked old scarecrow +made all the women love him, to his dying day. I had a high regard for +Mrs. Bamberger, and I suppose she was right to marry him if she liked +him. Well, she married him in too much of a hurry, and the child that +was born abroad was Bamberger's and not his, and when he found it out +he sent the girl East and would never see her again, and didn't leave +her a cent when he died. That's the truth about that, Mr. Logotheti. I +tell you because you've got that letter in your pocket, and I'd rather +have your good word than your bad word in business any day.' + +'Thank you,' answered Logotheti. 'I'm glad to know the facts in the +case, though I never could see what a man's private life can have to +do with his reputation in the money market!' + +'Well, it has, in some countries. Different kinds of cats have +different kinds of ways. There's one thing more, but it's not in the +letter, it's in the article. That's about Countess Leven, and it's the +worst lie of the lot, for there's not a better woman than she is from +here to China. I'm not at liberty to tell you anything of the matter +she's interested in and on which she consults me. But her father is +my next neighbour here, and I seem to be welcome at his house; he's a +pretty sensible man, and that makes for her, it seems to me. As for +that husband of hers, we've a good name in America for men like him. +We'd call him a skunk over there. I suppose the English word is +polecat, but it doesn't say as much. I don't think there's anything +else I want to tell you.' + +'You spoke of my uncle, the Patriarch,' observed Logotheti. + +'Did I? Yes. Well, what sort of a gentleman is he, anyway?' + +The question seemed rather vague to the Greek. + +'How do you mean?' he inquired, buttoning his coat over the wonderful +waistcoat. + +'Is he a friendly kind of a person, I mean? Obliging, if you take him +the right way? That's what I mean. Or does he get on his ear right +away?' + +'I should say,' answered Logotheti, without a smile, 'that he gets on +his ear right away--if that means the opposite of being friendly and +obliging. But I may be prejudiced, for he does not approve of me.' + +'Why not, Mr. Logotheti?' + +'My uncle says I'm a pagan, and worship idols.' + +'Maybe he means the Golden Calf,' suggested Mr. Van Torp gravely. + +Logotheti laughed. + +'The other deity in business is the Brazen Serpent, I believe,' he +retorted. + +'The two would look pretty well out there on my lawn,' answered Mr. +Van Torp, his hard face relaxing a little. + +'To return to the point. Can I be of any use to you with the +Patriarch? We are not on bad terms, though he does think me a heathen. +Is there anything I can do?' + +'Thank you, not at present. Much obliged. I only wanted to know.' + +Logotheti's curiosity was destined to remain unsatisfied. He refused +Mr. Van Torp's not very pressing invitation to stay to luncheon, given +at the very moment when he was getting into his motor, and a few +seconds later he was tearing down the avenue. + +Mr. Van Torp stood on the steps till he was out of sight and then came +down himself and strolled slowly away towards the trees again, his +hands behind him and his eyes constantly bent upon the road, three +paces ahead. + +He was not always quite truthful. Scruples were not continually +uppermost in his mind. For instance, what he had told Lady Maud about +his engagement to poor Miss Bamberger did not quite agree with what he +had said to Margaret on the steamer. + +In certain markets in New York, three kinds of eggs are offered for +sale, namely, Eggs, Fresh Eggs, and Strictly Fresh Eggs. I have seen +the advertisement. Similarly in Mr. Van Torp's opinion there were +three sorts of stories, to wit, Stories, True Stories, and Strictly +True Stories. Clearly, each account of his engagement must have +belonged to one of these classes, as well as the general statement he +had made to Logotheti about the charges brought against him in the +anonymous letter. The reason why he had made that statement was plain +enough; he meant it to be repeated to Margaret because he really +wished her to think well of him. Moreover, he had recognised the +handwriting at once as that of Mr. Feist, Isidore Bamberger's former +secretary, who knew a good many things and might turn out a dangerous +enemy. + +But Logotheti, who knew something of men, and had dealt with some +very accomplished experts in fraud from New York and London to +Constantinople, had his doubts about the truth of what he had heard, +and understood at once why the usually reticent American had talked +so much about himself. Van Torp, he was sure, was in love with the +singer; that was his weak side, and in whatever affected her he might +behave like a brute or a baby, but would certainly act with something +like rudimentary simplicity in either case. In Logotheti's opinion +Northern and English-speaking men might be as profound as Persians in +matters of money, and sometimes were, but where women were concerned +they were generally little better than sentimental children, unless +they were mere animals. Not one in a thousand cared for the society +of women, or even of one particular woman, for its own sake, for the +companionship, and the exchange of ideas about things of which women +know how to think. To the better sort, that is, to the sentimental +ones, a woman always seemed what she was not, a goddess, a saint, or +a sort of glorified sister; to the rest, she was an instrument of +amusement and pleasure, more or less necessary and more or less +purchasable. Perhaps an Englishman or an American, judging Greeks from +what he could learn about them in ordinary intercourse, would get +about as near the truth as Logotheti did. In his main conclusion the +latter was probably right; Mr. Van Torp's affections might be of such +exuberant nature as would admit of being divided between two or three +objects at the same time, or they might not. But when he spoke of +having the 'highest regard' for Madame Cordova, without denying the +facts about the interview in which he had asked her to marry him and +had lost his head because she refused, he was at least admitting that +he was in love with her, or had been at that time. + +Mr. Van Torp also confessed that he had entertained a 'high regard' +for the beautiful Mrs. Bamberger, now unhappily insane. It was +noticeable that he had not used the same expression in speaking of +Lady Maud. Nevertheless, as in the Bamberger affair, he appeared as +the chief cause of trouble between husband and wife. Logotheti was +considered 'dangerous' even in Paris, and his experiences had not +been dull; but, so far, he had found his way through life without +inadvertently stepping upon any of those concealed traps through which +the gay and unwary of both sexes are so often dropped into the divorce +court, to the surprise of everybody. It seemed the more strange to +him that Rufus Van Torp, only a few years his senior, should now find +himself in that position for the second time. Yet Van Torp was not +a ladies' man; he was hard-featured, rough of speech, and clumsy of +figure, and it was impossible to believe that any woman could think +him good-looking or be carried away by his talk. The case of Mrs. +Bamberger could be explained; she might have had beauty, but she +could have had little else that would have appealed to such a man as +Logotheti. But there was Lady Maud, an acknowledged beauty in London, +thoroughbred, aristocratic, not easily shocked perhaps, but easily +disgusted, like most women of her class; and there was no doubt but +that her husband had found her under extremely strange circumstances, +in the act of receiving from Van Torp a large sum of money for which +she altogether declined to account. Van Torp had not denied that story +either, so it was probably true. Yet Logotheti, whom so many women +thought irresistible, had felt instinctively that she was one of those +who would smile serenely upon the most skilful and persistent besieger +from the security of an impregnable fortress of virtue. Logotheti did +not naturally feel unqualified respect for many women, but since he +had known Lady Maud it had never occurred to him that any one could +take the smallest liberty with her. On the other hand, though he was +genuinely in love with Margaret and desired nothing so much as to +marry her, he had never been in the least afraid of her, and he had +deliberately attempted to carry her off against her will; and if she +had looked upon his conduct then as anything more serious than a mad +prank, she had certainly forgiven it very soon. + +The only reason for his flying visit to Derbyshire had been his desire +to keep Margaret's name out of an impending scandal in which he +foresaw that Mr. Van Torp and Lady Maud were to be the central +figures, and he believed that he had done something to bring about +that result, if he had started the millionaire on the right scent. He +judged Van Torp to be a good hater and a man of many resources, who +would not now be satisfied till he had the anonymous writer of the +letter and the article in his power. Logotheti had no means of +guessing who the culprit was, and did not care to know. + +He reached town late in the afternoon, having covered something like +three hundred miles since early morning. About seven o'clock he +stopped at Margaret's door, in the hope of finding her at home and of +being asked to dine alone with her, but as he got out of his hansom +and sent it away he heard the door shut and he found himself face to +face with Paul Griggs. + +'Miss Donne is out,' said the author, as they shook hands. 'She's been +spending the day with the Creedmores, and when I rang she had just +telephoned that she would not be back for dinner!' + +'What a bore!' exclaimed Logotheti. + +The two men walked slowly along the pavement together, and for some +time neither spoke. Logotheti had nothing to do, or believed so +because he was disappointed in not finding Margaret in. The elder man +looked preoccupied, and the Greek was the first to speak. + +'I suppose you've seen that shameful article about Van Torp,' he said. + +'Yes. Somebody sent me a marked copy of the paper. Do you know whether +Miss Donne has seen it?' + +'Yes. She got a marked copy too. So did I. What do you think of it?' + +'Just what you do, I fancy. Have you any idea who wrote it?' + +'Probably some underling in the Nickel Trust whom Van Torp has +offended without knowing it, or who has lost money by him.' + +Griggs glanced at his companion's face, for the hypothesis struck him +as being tenable. + +'Unless it is some enemy of Countess Leven's,' he suggested. 'Her +husband is really going to divorce her, as the article says.' + +'I suppose she will defend herself,' said Logotheti. + +'If she has a chance.' + +'What do you mean?' + +'Do you happen to know what sort of man the present Patriarch of +Constantinople is?' + +Logotheti's jaw dropped, and he slackened his pace. + +'What in the world--' he began, but did not finish the sentence. +'That's the second time to-day I've been asked about him.' + +'That's very natural,' said Griggs calmly. 'You're one of the very few +men in town who are likely to know him.' + +'Of course I know him,' answered Logotheti, still mystified. 'He's my +uncle.' + +'Really? That's very lucky!' + +'Look here, Griggs, is this some silly joke?' + +'A joke? Certainly not. Lady Maud's husband can only get a divorce +through the Patriarch because he married her out of Russia. You know +about that law, don't you?' + +Logotheti understood at last. + +'No,' he said, 'I never heard of it. But if that is the case I may +be able to do something--not that I'm considered orthodox at the +Patriarchate! The old gentleman has been told that I'm trying to +revive the worship of the Greek gods and have built a temple to +Aphrodite Xenia in the Place de la Concorde!' + +'You're quite capable of it,' observed Griggs. + +'Oh, quite! Only, I've not done it yet. I'll see what I can do. Are +you much interested in the matter?' + +'Only on general principles, because I believe Lady Maud is perfectly +straight, and it is a shame that such a creature as Leven should be +allowed to divorce an honest Englishwoman. By the bye--speaking of her +reminds me of that dinner at the Turkish Embassy--do you remember a +disagreeable-looking man who sat next to me, one Feist, a countryman +of mine?' + +'Rather! I wondered how he came there.' + +'He had a letter of introduction from the Turkish Minister in +Washington. He is full of good letters of introduction.' + +'I should think they would need to be good,' observed Logotheti. +'With that face of his he would need an introduction to a Port Said +gambling-hell before they would let him in.' + +'I agree with you. But he is well provided, as I say, and he goes +everywhere. Some one has put him down at the Mutton Chop. You never go +there, do you?' + +'I'm not asked,' laughed Logotheti. 'And as for becoming a member, +they say it's impossible.' + +'It takes ten or fifteen years,' Griggs answered, 'and then you won't +be elected unless every one likes you. But you may be put down as +a visitor there just as at any other club. This fellow Feist, for +instance--we had trouble with him last night--or rather this morning, +for it was two o'clock. He has been dropping in often of late, towards +midnight. At first he was more or less amusing with his stories, for +he has a wonderful memory. You know the sort of funny man who rattles +on as if he were wound up for the evening, and afterwards you cannot +remember a word he has said. It's all very well for a while, but you +soon get sick of it. Besides, this particular specimen drinks like a +whale.' + +'He looks as if he did.' + +'Last night he had been talking a good deal, and most of the men who +had been there had gone off. You know there's only one room at the +Mutton Chop, with a long table, and if a man takes the floor there's +no escape. I had come in about one o'clock to get something to eat, +and Feist poured out a steady stream of stories as usual, though only +one or two listened to him. Suddenly his eyes looked queer, and he +stammered, and rolled off his chair, and lay in a heap, either dead +drunk or in a fit, I don't know which.' + +'And I suppose you carried him downstairs,' said Logotheti, for Griggs +was known to be stronger than other men, though no longer young. + +'I did,' Griggs answered. 'That's usually my share of the proceedings. +The last person I carried--let me see--I think it must have been that +poor girl who died at the Opera in New York. We had found Feist's +address in the visitors' book, and we sent him home in a hansom. I +wonder whether he got there!' + +'I should think the member who put him down would be rather annoyed,' +observed Logotheti. + +'Yes. It's the first time anything of that sort ever happened at the +Mutton Chop, and I fancy it will be the last. I don't think we shall +see Mr. Feist again.' + +'I took a particular dislike to his face,' Logotheti said. 'I remember +thinking of him when I went home that night, and wondering who he was +and what he was about.' + +'At first I took him for a detective,' said Griggs. 'But detectives +don't drink.' + +'What made you think he might be one?' + +'He has a very clever way of leading the conversation to a point and +then asking an unexpected question.' + +'Perhaps he is an amateur,' suggested Logotheti. 'He may be a spy. Is +Feist an American name?' + +'You will find all sorts of names in America. They prove nothing in +the way of nationality, unless they are English, Dutch, or French, and +even then they don't prove much. I'm an American myself, and I feel +sure that Feist either is one or has spent many years in the country, +in which case he is probably naturalised. As for his being a spy, I +don't think I ever came across one in England.' + +'They come here to rest in time of peace, or to escape hanging in +other countries in time of war,' said the Greek. 'His being at the +Turkish Embassy, of all places in the world, is rather in favour of +the idea. Do you happen to remember the name of his hotel?' + +'Are you going to call on him?' Griggs asked with a smile. + +'Perhaps. He begins to interest me. Is it indiscreet to ask what sort +of questions he put to you?' + +'He's stopping at the Carlton--if the cabby took him there! We gave +the man half-a-crown for the job, and took his number, so I suppose +it was all right. As for the questions he asked me, that's another +matter.' + +Logotheti glanced quickly at his companion's rather grim face, and was +silent for a few moments. He judged that Mr. Feist's inquiries must +have concerned a woman, since Griggs was so reticent, and it required +no great ingenuity to connect that probability with one or both of the +ladies who had been at the dinner where Griggs and Feist had first +met. + +'I think I shall go and ask for Mr. Feist,' he said presently. 'I +shall say that I heard he was ill and wanted to know if I could do +anything for him.' + +'I've no doubt he'll be much touched by your kindness!' said Griggs. +'But please don't mention the Mutton Chop Club, if you really see +him.' + +'Oh no! Besides, I shall let him do the talking.' + +'Then take care that you don't let him talk you to death!' + +Logotheti smiled as he hailed a passing hansom; he nodded to his +companion, told the man to go to the Carlton, and drove away, leaving +Griggs to continue his walk alone. + +The elderly man of letters had not talked about Mr. Feist with any +special intention, and was very far from thinking that what he had +said would lead to any important result. He liked the Greek, because +he liked most Orientals, under certain important reservations and at a +certain distance, and he had lived amongst them long enough not to be +surprised at anything they did. Logotheti had been disappointed in not +finding the Primadonna at home, and he was not inclined to put up with +the usual round of an evening in London during the early part of the +season as a substitute for what he had lost. He was the more put out, +because, when he had last seen Margaret, three or four days earlier, +she had told him that if he came on that evening at about seven +o'clock he would probably find her alone. Having nothing that looked +at all amusing to occupy him, he was just in the mood to do anything +unusual that presented itself. + +Griggs guessed at most of these things, and as he walked along he +vaguely pictured to himself the interview that was likely to take +place. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +Opinion was strongly against Mr. Van Torp. A millionaire is almost +as good a mark at which to throw mud as a woman of the world whose +reputation has never before been attacked, and when the two can be +pilloried together it is hardly to be expected that ordinary people +should abstain from pelting them and calling them bad names. + +Lady Maud, indeed, was protected to some extent by her father and +brothers, and by many loyal friends. It is happily still doubtful how +far one may go in printing lies about an honest woman without getting +into trouble with the law, and when the lady's father is not only a +peer, but has previously been a barrister of reputation and a popular +and hard-working member of the House of Commons during a long time, +it is generally safer to use guarded language; the advisability of +moderation also increases directly as the number and size of the +lady's brothers, and inversely as their patience. Therefore, on the +whole, Lady Maud was much better treated by the society columns than +Margaret at first expected. + +On the other hand, they vented their spleen and sharpened their +English on the American financier, who had no relations and scarcely +any friends to stand by him, and was, moreover, in a foreign country, +which always seems to be regarded as an aggravating circumstance when +a man gets into any sort of trouble. Isidore Bamberger and Mr. Feist +had roused and let loose upon him a whole pack of hungry reporters and +paragraph writers on both sides of the Atlantic. + +The papers did not at first print his name except in connection with +the divorce of Lady Maud. But this was a landmark, the smallest +reference to which made all other allusions to him quite clear. It +was easy to speak of Mr. Van Torp as the central figure in a _cause +celebre_: newspapers love the French language the more as they +understand it the less; just as the gentle amateur in literature tries +to hide his cloven hoof under the thin elegance of italics. + +Particular stress was laid upon the millionaire's dreadful hypocrisy. +He taught in the Sunday Schools at Nickelville, the big village which +had sprung up at his will and which was the headquarters of his +sanctimonious wickedness. He was compared to Solomon, not for his +wisdom, but on account of his domestic arrangements. He was indeed a +father to his flock. It was a touching sight to see the little ones +gathered round the knees of this great and good man, and to note +how an unconscious and affectionate imitation reflected his face +in theirs. It was true that there was another side to this truly +patriarchal picture. In a city of the Far West, wrote an eloquent +paragraph writer, a pale face, once divinely beautiful, was often seen +at the barred window of a madhouse, and eyes that had once looked too +tenderly into those of the Nickelville Solomon stared wildly at +the palm-trees in the asylum grounds. This paragraph was rich in +sentiment. + +There were a good many mentions of the explosion in New York, too, and +hints, dark, but uncommonly straight, that the great Sunday School +teacher had been the author and stage-manager of an awful comedy +designed expressly to injure a firm of contractors against whom he had +a standing grudge. In proof of the assertion, the story went on to say +that he had written four hours before the 'accident' happened to give +warning of it to the young lady whom he was about to marry. She was +a neurasthenic young lady, and in spite of the warning she died very +suddenly at the theatre from shock immediately after the explosion, +and his note was found on her dressing-table when she was brought home +dead. Clearly, if the explosion had not been his work, and if he had +been informed of it beforehand, he would have warned the police and +the Department of Public Works at the same time. The young lady's +untimely death had not prevented him from sailing for Europe three or +four days later, and on the trip he had actually occupied alone the +same 'thousand dollar suite' which he had previously engaged for +himself and his bride. From this detail the public might form some +idea of the Nickelville magnate's heartless character. In fact, if +one-half of what was written, telegraphed, and printed about Rufus Van +Torp on both sides of the Atlantic during the next fortnight was to be +believed, he had no character at all. + +To all this he answered nothing, and he did not take the trouble to +allude to the matter in the few letters he wrote to his acquaintances. +Day after day numbers of marked papers were carefully ironed and laid +on the breakfast-table, after having been read and commented on in the +servants' hall. The butler began to look askance at him, Mrs. Dubbs, +the housekeeper, talked gloomily of giving warning, and the footmen +gossiped with the stable hands; but the men all decided that it was +not derogatory to their dignity to remain in the service of a master +who was soon to be exhibited in the divorce court beside such a 'real +lady' as Lord Creedmore's daughter; the housemaids agreed in this +view, and the housekeeper consulted Miss More. For Mrs. Dubbs was an +imposing person, morally and physically, and had a character to lose; +and though the place was a very good one for her old age, because the +master only spent six weeks or two months at Oxley Paddox each year, +and never found fault, yet Mrs. Dubbs was not going to have her name +associated with that of a gentleman who blew up underground works and +took Solomon's view of the domestic affections. She came of very good +people in the north; one of her brothers was a minister, and the other +was an assistant steward on a large Scotch estate. + +Miss More's quiet serenity was not at all disturbed by what was +happening, for it could hardly be supposed that she was ignorant of +the general attack on Mr. Van Torp, though he did not leave the papers +lying about, where little Ida's quick eyes might fall on a marked +passage. The housekeeper waited for an occasion when Mr. Van Torp +had taken the child for a drive, as he often did, and Miss More was +established in her favourite corner of the garden, just out of sight +of the house. Mrs. Dubbs first exposed the situation, then expressed +a strong opinion as to her own respectability, and finally asked Miss +More's advice. + +Miss More listened attentively, and waited till her large and sleek +interlocutor had absolutely nothing more to say. Then she spoke. + +'Mrs. Dubbs,' she said, 'do you consider me a respectable young +woman?' + +'Oh, Miss More!' cried the housekeeper. 'You! Indeed, I'd put my hand +into the fire for you any day!' + +'And I'm an American, and I've known Mr. Van Torp several years, +though this is the first time you have seen me here. Do you think I +would let the child stay an hour under his roof, or stay here myself, +if I believed one word of all those wicked stories the papers are +publishing? Look at me, please. Do you think I would?' + +It was quite impossible to look at Miss More's quiet healthy face and +clear eyes and to believe she would. There are some women of whom +one is sure at a glance that they are perfectly trustworthy in every +imaginable way, and above even the suspicion of countenancing any +wrong. + +'No,' answered Mrs. Dubbs, with honest conviction, 'I don't, indeed.' + +'I think, then,' said Miss More, 'that if I feel I can stay here, you +are safe in staying too. I do not believe any of these slanders, and +I am quite sure that Mr. Van Torp is one of the kindest men in the +world.' + +'I feel as if you must be right, Miss More,' replied the housekeeper. +'But they do say dreadful things about him, indeed, and he doesn't +deny a word of it, as he ought to, in my humble opinion, though it's +not my business to judge, of course, but I'll say this, Miss More, and +that is, that if the butler's character was publicly attacked in the +papers, in the way Mr. Van Torp's is, and if I were Mr. Van Torp, +which of course I'm not, I'd say "Crookes, you may be all right, but +if you're going to be butler here any longer, it's your duty to defend +yourself against these attacks upon you in the papers, Crookes, +because as a Christian man you must not hide your light under a +bushel, Crookes, but let it shine abroad." That's what I'd say, Miss +More, and I should like to know if you don't think I should be right.' + +'If the English and American press united to attack the butler's +character,' answered Miss More without a smile, 'I think you would +be quite right, Mrs. Dubbs. But as regards Mr. Van Torp's present +position, I am sure he is the best judge of what he ought to do.' + +These words of wisdom, and Miss More's truthful eyes, greatly +reassured the housekeeper, who afterwards upbraided the servants for +paying any attention to such wicked falsehoods; and Mr. Crookes, the +butler, wrote to his aged mother, who was anxious about his situation, +to say that Mr. Van Torp must be either a real gentleman or a very +hardened criminal indeed, because it was only forgers and real +gentlemen who could act so precious cool; but that, on the whole, he, +Crookes, and the housekeeper, who was a highly respectable person and +the sister of a minister, as he wished his mother to remember, had +made up their minds that Mr. V.T. was Al, copper-bottomed--Mrs. +Crookes was the widow of a seafaring man, and lived at Liverpool, +and had heard Lloyd's rating quoted all her life--and that they, the +writer and Mrs. Dubbs, meant to see him through his troubles, though +he was a little trying at his meals, for he would have butter on +the table at his dinner, and he wanted two and three courses served +together, and drank milk at his luncheon, like no Christian gentleman +did that Mr. Crookes had ever seen. + +The financier might have been amused if he could have read this +letter, which contained no allusion to the material attractions +of Torp Towers as a situation; for like a good many American +millionaires, Mr. Van Torp had a blind spot on his financial retina. +He could deal daringly and surely with vast sums, or he could screw +twice the normal quantity of work out of an underpaid clerk; but the +household arithmetic that lies between the two was entirely beyond his +comprehension. He 'didn't want to be bothered,' he said; he maintained +that he 'could make more money in ten minutes than he could save in a +year by checking the housekeeper's accounts'; he 'could live on coffee +and pie,' but if he chose to hire the chef of the Cafe Anglais to cook +for him at five thousand dollars a year he 'didn't want to know the +price of a truffled pheasant or a chaudfroid of ortolans.' That was +his way, and it was good enough for him. What was the use of having +made money if you were to be bothered? And besides, he concluded, 'it +was none of anybody's blank blank business what he did.' + +Mr. Van Torp did not hesitate to borrow similes from another world +when his rather limited command of refined language was unequal to the +occasion. + +But at the present juncture, though his face did not change, and +though he slept as soundly and had as good an appetite as usual, no +words with which he was acquainted could express his feelings at all. +He had, indeed, consigned the writer of the first article to perdition +with some satisfaction; but after his interview with Logotheti, +when he had understood that a general attack upon him had begun, he +gathered his strength in silence and studied the position with all the +concentration of earnest thought which his exceptional nature could +command. + +He had recognised Feist's handwriting, and he remembered the man as +his partner's former secretary. Feist might have written the letter +to Logotheti and the first article, but Van Torp did not believe +him capable of raising a general hue and cry on both sides of the +Atlantic. It undoubtedly happened sometimes that when a fire had been +smouldering long unseen a single spark sufficed to start the blaze, +but Mr. Van Torp was too well informed as to public opinion about him +to have been in ignorance of any general feeling against him, if it +had existed; and the present attack was of too personal a nature to +have been devised by financial rivals. Besides, the Nickel Trust had +recently absorbed all its competitors to such an extent that it had no +rivals at all, and the dangers that threatened it lay on the one hand +in the growing strength of the Labour Party in its great movement +against capital, and on the other in its position with regard to +recent American legislation about Trusts. From the beginning Mr. Van +Torp had been certain that the campaign of defamation had not been +begun by the Unions, and by its nature it could have no connection +with the legal aspect of his position. It was therefore clear that +war had been declared upon him by one or more individuals on purely +personal grounds, and that Mr. Feist was but the chief instrument in +the hands of an unknown enemy. + +But at first sight it did not look as if his assailant were Isidore +Bamberger. The violent attack on him might not affect the credit of +the Nickel Trust, but it was certainly not likely to improve it and +Mr. Van Torp believed that if his partner had a grudge against him, +any attempt at revenge would be made in a shape that would not affect +the Trust's finances. Bamberger was a resentful sort of man, but on +the other hand he was a man of business, and his fortune depended on +that of his great partner. + +Mr. Van Torp walked every morning in the park, thinking over these +things, and little Ida tripped along beside him watching the squirrels +and the birds, and not saying much; but now and then, when she felt +the gentle pressure of his hand on hers, which usually meant that he +was going to speak to her, she looked up to watch his lips, and they +did not move; only his eyes met hers, and the faint smile that came +into his face then was not at all like the one which most people saw +there. So she smiled back, happily, and looked at the squirrels again, +sure that a rabbit would soon make a dash over the open and cross the +road, and hoping for the rare delight of seeing a hare. And the tame +red and fallow deer looked at her suspiciously from a distance, as if +she might turn into a motor-car. In those morning walks she did not +again see his lips forming words that frightened her, and she began to +be quite sure that he had stopped swearing to himself because she had +spoken to him so seriously. + +Once he looked at her so long and with so much earnestness that she +asked him what he was thinking of, and he gently pushed back the +broad-brimmed hat she wore, so as to see her forehead and beautiful +golden hair. + +'You are growing very like your mother,' he said, after a little +while. + +They had stopped in the broad drive, and little Ida gazed gravely up +at him for a moment. Then she put up her arms. + +'I think I want to give you a kiss, Mr. Van Torp,' she said with the +utmost gravity. 'You're so good to me.' + +Mr. Van Torp stooped, and she put her arms round his short neck and +kissed the hard, flat cheek once, and he kissed hers rather awkwardly. + +'Thank you, my dear,' he said, in an odd voice, as he straightened +himself. + +He took her hand again to walk on, and the great iron mouth was drawn +a little to one side, and it looked as if the lips might have trembled +if they had not been so tightly shut. Perhaps Mr. Van Torp had never +kissed a child before. + +She was very happy and contented, for she had spent most of her life +in a New England village alone with Miss More, and the great English +country-house was full of wonder and mystery for her, and the park was +certainly the Earthly Paradise. She had hardly ever been with other +children and was rather afraid of them, because they did not always +understand what she said, as most grown people did; so she was not at +all lonely now. On the contrary, she felt that her small existence +was ever so much fuller than before, since she now loved two people +instead of only one, and the two people seemed to agree so well +together. In America she had only seen Mr. Van Torp at intervals, when +he had appeared at the cottage near Boston, the bearer of toys and +chocolates and other good things, and she had not been told till after +she had landed in Liverpool that she was to be taken to stop with him +in the country while he remained in England. Till then he had always +called her 'Miss Ida,' in an absurdly formal way, but ever since she +had arrived at Oxley Paddox he had dropped the 'Miss,' and had never +failed to spend two or three hours alone with her every day. Though +his manner had not changed much, and he treated her with a sort of +queer formality, much as he would have behaved if she had been twenty +years old instead of nine, she had been growing more and more sure +that he loved her and would give her anything in the world she asked +for, though there was really nothing she wanted; and in return she +grew gratefully fond of him by quick degrees, till her affection +expressed itself in her solemn proposal to 'give him a kiss.' + +Not long after that Mr. Van Torp found amongst his letters one from +Lady Maud, of which the envelope was stamped with the address of her +father's country place, 'Craythew.' He read the contents carefully, +and made a note in his pocket-book before tearing the sheet and the +envelope into a number of small bits. + +There was nothing very compromising in the note, but Mr. Van Torp +certainly did not know that his butler regularly offered first and +second prizes in the servants' hall, every Saturday night, for the +'best-put-together letters' of the week--to those of his satellites, +in other words, who had been most successful in piecing together +scraps from the master's wastepaper basket. In houses where the +post-bag has a patent lock, of which the master keeps the key, this +diversion has been found a good substitute for the more thrilling +entertainment of steaming the letters and reading them before taking +them upstairs. If Mrs. Dubbs was aware of Mr. Crookes' weekly +distribution of rewards she took no notice of it; but as she rarely +condescended to visit the lower regions, and only occasionally asked +Mr. Crookes to dine in her own sitting-room, she may be allowed the +benefit of the doubt; and, besides, she was a very superior person. + +On the day after he had received Lady Maud's note, Mr. Van Torp rode +out by himself. No one, judging from his looks, would have taken him +for a good rider. He rode seldom, too, never talked of horses, and was +never seen at a race. When he rode he did not even take the trouble to +put on gaiters, and, after he had bought Oxley Paddox, the first time +that his horse was brought to the door, by a groom who had never seen +him, the latter could have sworn that the millionaire had never been +on a horse before and was foolishly determined to break his neck. On +that occasion Mr. Van Torp came down the steps, with a big cigar in +his mouth, in his ordinary clothes, without so much as a pair of +straps to keep his trousers down, or a bit of a stick in his hand. The +animal was a rather ill-tempered black that had arrived from Yorkshire +two days previously in charge of a boy who gave him a bad character. +As Mr. Van Torp descended the steps with his clumsy gait, the horse +laid his ears well back for a moment and looked as if he meant to +kick anything within reach. Mr. Van Torp looked at him in a dull way, +puffed his cigar, and made one remark in the form of a query. + +'He ain't a lamb, is he?' + +'No, sir,' answered the groom with sympathetic alacrity, 'and if I was +you, sir, I wouldn't--' + +But the groom's good advice was checked by an unexpected phenomenon. +Mr. Van Torp was suddenly up, and the black was plunging wildly as +was only to be expected; what was more extraordinary was that Mr. Van +Torp's expression showed no change whatever, the very big cigar was +stuck in his mouth at precisely the same angle as before, and he +appeared to be glued to the saddle. He sat perfectly erect, with his +legs perpendicularly straight, and his hands low and quiet. + +The next moment the black bolted down the drive, but Mr. Van Torp did +not seem the least disturbed, and the astonished groom, his mouth wide +open and his arms hanging down, saw that the rider gave the beast his +head for a couple of hundred yards, and then actually stopped him +short, bringing him almost to the ground on his haunches. + +'My Gawd, 'e's a cowboy!' exclaimed the groom, who was a Cockney, +and had seen a Wild West show and recognised the real thing. 'And +me thinkin' 'e was goin' to break his precious neck and wastin' my +bloomin' sympathy on 'im!' + +Since that first day Mr. Van Torp had not ridden more than a score of +times in two years. He preferred driving, because it was less trouble, +and partly because he could take little Ida with him. It was therefore +always a noticeable event in the monotonous existence at Torp Towers +when he ordered a horse to be saddled, as he did on the day after he +had got Lady Maud's note from Craythew. + +He rode across the hilly country at a leisurely pace, first by lanes +and afterwards over a broad moor, till he entered a small beech wood +by a bridle-path not wide enough for two to ride together, and lined +with rhododendrons, lilacs, and laburnum. A quarter of a mile from +the entrance a pretty glade widened to an open lawn, in the middle +of which stood a ruin, consisting of the choir and chancel arch of a +chapel. Mr. Van Torp drew rein before it, threw his right leg over the +pommel before him, and remained sitting sideways on the saddle, for +the very good reason that he did not see anything to sit on if he got +down, and that it was of no use to waste energy in standing. His horse +might have resented such behaviour on the part of any one else, but +accepted the western rider's eccentricities quite calmly and proceeded +to crop the damp young grass at his feet. + +Mr. Van Torp had come to meet Lady Maud. The place was lonely and +conveniently situated, being about half-way between Oxley Paddox and +Craythew, on Mr. Van Torp's land, which was so thoroughly protected +against trespassers and reporters by wire fences and special watchmen +that there was little danger of any one getting within the guarded +boundary. On the side towards Craythew there was a gate with a patent +lock, to which Lady Maud had a key. + +Mr. Van Torp was at the meeting-place at least a quarter of an hour +before the appointed time. His horse only moved a short step every now +and then, eating his way slowly across the grass, and his rider sat +sideways, resting his elbows on his knees and staring at nothing +particular, with that perfectly wooden expression of his which +indicated profound thought. + +But his senses were acutely awake, and he caught the distant sound of +hoofs on the soft woodland path just a second before his horse lifted +his head and pricked his ears. Mr. Van Torp did not slip to the +ground, however, and he hardly changed his position. Half a dozen +young pheasants hurled themselves noisily out of the wood on the other +side of the ruin, and scattered again as they saw him, to perch on +the higher boughs of the trees not far off instead of settling on +the sward. A moment later Lady Maud appeared, on a lanky and elderly +thoroughbred that had been her own long before her marriage. Her +old-fashioned habit was evidently of the same period too; it had been +made before the modern age of skirted coats, and fitted her figure in +a way that would have excited open disapproval and secret admiration +in Rotten Row. But she never rode in town, so that it did not matter; +and, besides, Lady Maud did not care. + +Mr. Van Torp raised his hat in a very un-English way, and at the same +time, apparently out of respect for his friend, he went so far as to +change his seat a little by laying his right knee over the pommel and +sticking his left foot into the stirrup, so that he sat like a woman. +Lady Maud drew up on his off side and they shook hands. + +'You look rather comfortable,' she said, and the happy ripple was in +her voice. + +'Why, yes. There's nothing else to sit on, and the grass is wet. Do +you want to get off?' + +'I thought we might make some tea presently,' answered Lady Maud. +'I've brought my basket.' + +'Now I call that quite sweet!' Mr. Van Torp seemed very much pleased, +and he looked down at the shabby little brown basket hanging at her +saddle. + +He slipped to the ground, and she did the same before he could go +round to help her. The old thoroughbred nosed her hand as if expecting +something good, and she produced a lump of sugar from the tea-basket +and gave it to him. + +Mr. Van Torp pulled a big carrot from the pocket of his tweed jacket +and let his horse bite it off by inches. Then he took the basket from +Lady Maud and the two went towards the ruin. + +'We can sit on the Earl,' said Lady Maud, advancing towards a low tomb +on which was sculptured a recumbent figure in armour. 'The horses +won't run away from such nice grass.' + +So the two installed themselves on each side of the stone knight's +armed feet, which helped to support the tea-basket, and Lady Maud took +out her spirit-lamp and a saucepan that just held two cups, and a tin +bottle full of water, and all the other things, arranging them neatly +in order. + +'How practical women are!' exclaimed Mr. Van Torp, looking on. 'Now I +would never have thought of that.' + +But he was really wondering whether she expected him to speak first of +the grave matters that brought them together in that lonely place. + +'I've got some bread and butter,' she said, opening a small +sandwich-box, 'and there is a lemon instead of cream.' + +'Your arrangements beat Hare Court hollow,' observed the millionaire. +'Do you remember the cracked cups and the weevilly biscuits?' + +'Yes, and how sorry you were when you had burnt the little beasts! Now +light the spirit-lamp, please, and then we can talk.' + +Everything being arranged to her satisfaction, Lady Maud looked up at +her companion. + +'Are you going to do anything about it?' she asked. + +'Will it do any good if I do? That's the question.' + +'Good? What is good in that sense?' She looked at him a moment, but +as he did not answer she went on. 'I cannot bear to see you abused in +print like this, day after day, when I know the truth, or most of it.' + +'It doesn't matter about me. I'm used to it. What does your father +say?' + +'He says that when a man is attacked as you are, it's his duty to +defend himself.' + +'Oh, he does, does he?' + +Lady Maud smiled, but shook her head in a reproachful way. + +'You promised me that you would never give me your business answer, +you know!' + +'I'm sorry,' said Mr. Van Torp, in a tone of contrition. 'Well, you +see, I forgot you weren't a man. I won't do it again. So your father +thinks I'd better come out flat-footed with a statement to the press. +Now, I'll tell you. I'd do so, if I didn't feel sure that all this +circus about me isn't the real thing yet. It's been got up with an +object, and until I can make out what's coming I think I'd best keep +still. Whoever's at the root of this is counting on my losing my +temper and hitting out, and saying things, and then the real attack +will come from an unexpected quarter. Do you see that? Under the +circumstances, almost any man in my position would get interviewed and +talk back, wouldn't he?' + +'I fancy so,' answered Lady Maud. + +'Exactly. If I did that, I might be raising against another man's +straight flush, don't you see? A good way in a fight is never to do +what everybody else would do. But I've got a scheme for getting behind +the other man, whoever he is, and I've almost concluded to try it.' + +'Will you tell me what it is?' + +'Don't I always tell you most things?' + +Lady Maud smiled at the reservation implied in 'most.' + +'After all you have done for me, I should have no right to complain if +you never told me anything,' she answered. 'Do as you think best. You +know that I trust you.' + +'That's right, and I appreciate it,' answered the millionaire. 'In +the first place, you're not going to be divorced. I suppose that's +settled.' + +Lady Maud opened her clear eyes in surprise. + +'You didn't know that, did you?' asked Mr. Van Torp, enjoying her +astonishment. + +'Certainly not, and I can hardly believe it,' she answered. + +'Look here, Maud,' said her companion, bending his heavy brows in a +way very unusual with him, 'do you seriously think I'd let you be +divorced on my account? That I'd allow any human being to play tricks +with your good name by coupling it with mine in any sort of way? If +I were the kind of man about whom you had a right to think that, I +wouldn't deserve your friendship.' + +It was not often that Rufus Van Torp allowed his face to show feeling, +but the look she saw in his rough-hewn features for a moment almost +frightened her. There was something Titanic in it. + +'No, Rufus--no!' she cried, earnestly. 'You know how I have believed +in you and trusted you! It's only that I don't see how--' + +'That's a detail,' answered the American. 'The "how" don't matter +when a man's in earnest.' The look was gone again, for her words had +appeased him instantly. 'Well,' he went on, in his ordinary tone, +'you can take it for granted that the divorce will come to nothing. +There'll be a clear statement in all the best papers next week, saying +that your husband's suit for a divorce has been dismissed with costs +because there is not the slightest evidence of any kind against you. +It will be stated that you came to my partner's chambers in Hare Court +on a matter of pure business, to receive certain money, which was due +to you from me in the way of business, for which you gave me the usual +business acknowledgment. So that's that! I had a wire yesterday to say +it's as good as settled. The water's boiling.' + +The steam was lifting the lid of the small saucepan, which stood +securely on the spirit-lamp between the marble knight's greaved shins. +But Lady Maud took no notice of it. + +'It's like you,' said she. 'I cannot find anything else to say!' + +'It doesn't matter about saying anything,' returned Mr. Van Torp. 'The +water's boiling.' + +'Will you blow out the lamp?' As she spoke she dropped a battered +silver tea-ball into the water, and moved it about by its little +chain. + +Mr. Van Torp took off his hat, and bent down sideways till his flat +cheek rested on the knight's stone shin, and he blew out the flame +with one well-aimed puff. Lady Maud did not look at the top of his +head, nor steal a furtive glance at the strong muscles and sinews of +his solid neck. She did nothing of the kind. She bobbed the tea-ball +up and down in the saucepan by its chain, and watched how the hot +water turned brown. + +'But I did not give you a "business acknowledgment," as you call it,' +she said thoughtfully. 'It's not quite truthful to say I did, you +know.' + +'Does that bother you? All right.' + +He produced his well-worn pocket-book, found a scrap of white paper +amongst the contents, and laid it on the leather. Then he took his +pencil and wrote a few words. + +'Received of R. Van Torp L4100 to balance of account.' + +He held out the pencil, and laid the pocket-book on his palm for her +to write. She read the words with out moving. + +'"To balance of account"--what does that mean?' + +'It means that it's a business transaction. At the time you couldn't +make any further claim against me. That's all it means.' + +He put the pencil to the paper again, and wrote the date of the +meeting in Hare Court. + +'There! If you sign your name to that, it just means that you had no +further claim against me on that day. You hadn't, anyway, so you may +just as well sign!' + +He held out the paper, and Lady Maud took it with a smile and wrote +her signature. + +'Thank you,' said Mr. Van Torp. 'Now you're quite comfortable, I +suppose, for you can't deny that you have given me the usual business +acknowledgment. The other part of it is that I don't care to keep that +kind of receipt long, so I just strike a match and burn it.' He did +so, and watched the flimsy scrap turn black on the stone knight's +knee, till the gentle breeze blew the ashes away. 'So there!' he +concluded. 'If you were called upon to swear in evidence that you +signed a proper receipt for the money, you couldn't deny it, could +you? A receipt's good if given at any time after the money has been +paid. What's the matter? Why do you look as if you doubted it? What is +truth, anyhow? It's the agreement of the facts with the statement of +them, isn't it? Well, I don't see but the statement coincides with the +facts all right now.' + +While he had been talking Lady Maud had poured out the tea, and had +cut some thin slices from the lemon, glancing at him incredulously now +and then, but smiling in spite of herself. + +'That's all sophistry,' she said, as she handed him his cup. + +'Thanks,' he answered, taking it from her. 'Look here! Can you deny +that you have given me a formal dated receipt for four thousand one +hundred pounds?' + +'No--' + +'Well, then, what can't be denied is the truth; and if I choose to +publish the truth about you, I don't suppose you can find fault with +it.' + +'No, but--' + +'Excuse me for interrupting, but there is no "but." What's good in law +is good enough for me, and the Attorney-General and all his angels +couldn't get behind that receipt now, if they tried till they were +black in the face.' + +Mr. Van Torp's similes were not always elegant. + +'Tip-top tea,' he remarked, as Lady Maud did not attempt to say +anything more. 'That was a bright idea of yours, bringing the lemon, +too.' + +He took several small sips in quick succession, evidently appreciating +the quality of the tea as a connoisseur. + +'I don't know how you have managed to do it,' said Lady Maud at last. +'As you say, the "how" does not matter very much. Perhaps it's just as +well that I should not know how you got at the Patriarch. I couldn't +be more grateful if I knew the whole story.' + +'There's no particular story about it. When I found he was the man to +be seen, I sent a man to see him. That's all.' + +'It sounds very simple,' said Lady Maud, whose acquaintance with +American slang was limited, even after she had known Mr. Van Torp +intimately for two years. 'You were going to tell me more. You said +you had a plan for catching the real person who is responsible for +this attack on you.' + +'Well, I have a sort of an idea, but I'm not quite sure how the land +lays. By the bye,' he said quickly, correcting himself, 'isn't that +one of the things I say wrong? You told me I ought to say how the land +"lies," didn't you? I always forget.' + +Lady Maud laughed as she looked at him, for she was quite sure that he +had only taken up his own mistake in order to turn the subject from +the plan of which he did not mean to speak. + +'You know that I'm not in the least curious,' she said, 'so don't +waste any cleverness in putting me off! I only wish to know whether I +can help you to carry out your plan. I had an idea too. I thought of +getting my father to have a week-end party at Craythew, to which you +would be asked, by way of showing people that he knows all about our +friendship, and approves of it in spite of what my husband has been +trying to do. Would that suit you? Would it help you or not?' + +'It might come in nicely after the news about the divorce appears,' +answered Mr. Van Torp approvingly. 'It would be just the same if I +went over to dinner every day, and didn't sleep in the house, wouldn't +it?' + +'I'm not sure,' Lady Maud said. 'I don't think it would, quite. It +might seem odd that you should dine with us every day, whereas if you +stop with us people cannot but see that my father wants you.' + +'How about Lady Creedmore?' + +'My mother is on the continent. Why in the world do you not want to +come?' + +'Oh, I don't know,' answered Mr. Van Torp vaguely. 'Just like that, +I suppose. I was thinking. But it'll be all right, and I'll come any +way, and please tell your father that I highly appreciate the kind +invitation. When is it to be?' + +'Come on Thursday next week and stay till Tuesday. Then you will be +there when the first people come and till the last have left. That +will look even better.' + +'Maybe they'll say you take boarders,' observed Mr. Van Torp +facetiously. 'That other piece belongs to you.' + +While talking they had finished their tea, and only one slice of bread +and butter was left in the sandwich-box. + +'No,' answered Lady Maud, 'it's yours. I took the first.' + +'Let's go shares,' suggested the millionaire. + +'There's no knife.' + +'Break it.' + +Lady Maud doubled the slice with conscientious accuracy, gently +pulled the pieces apart at the crease, and held out one half to her +companion. He took it as naturally as if they had been children, and +they ate their respective shares in silence. As a matter of fact Mr. +Van Torp had been unconsciously and instinctively more interested in +the accuracy of the division than in the very beautiful white fingers +that performed it. + +'Who are the other people going to be?' he asked when he had finished +eating, and Lady Maud was beginning to put the tea-things back into +the basket. + +'That depends on whom we can get. Everybody is awfully busy just now, +you know. The usual sort of set, I suppose. You know the kind of +people who come to us--you've met lots of them. I thought of asking +Miss Donne if she is free. You know her, don't you?' + +'Why, yes, I do. You've read those articles about our interview in New +York, I suppose.' + +Lady Maud, who had been extremely occupied with her own affairs of +late, had almost forgotten the story, and was now afraid that she had +made a mistake, but she caught at the most evident means of setting it +right. + +'Yes, of course. All the better, if you are seen stopping in the same +house. People will see that it's all right.' + +'Well, maybe they would. I'd rather, if it'll do her any good. But +perhaps she doesn't want to meet me. She wasn't over-anxious to talk +to me on the steamer, I noticed, and I didn't bother her much. She's a +lovely woman!' + +Lady Maud looked at him, and her beautiful mouth twitched as if she +wanted to laugh. + +'Miss Donne doesn't think you're a "lovely" man at all,' she said. + +'No,' answered Mr. Van Torp, in a tone of child-like and almost +sheepish regret, 'she doesn't, and I suppose she's right. I didn't +know how to take her, or she wouldn't have been so angry.' + +'When? Did you really ask her to marry you?' Lady Maud was smiling +now. + +'Why, yes, I did. Why shouldn't I? I guess it wasn't very well done, +though, and I was a fool to try and take her hand after she'd said +no.' + +'Oh, you tried to take her hand?' + +'Yes, and the next thing I knew she'd rushed out of the room and +bolted the door, as if I was a dangerous lunatic and she'd just found +it out. That's what happened--just that. It wasn't my fault if I was +in earnest, I suppose.' + +'And just after that you were engaged to poor Miss Bamberger,' said +Lady Maud in a tone of reflection. + +'Yes,' answered Mr. Van Torp slowly. 'Nothing mattered much just then, +and the engagement was the business side. I told you about all that in +Hare Court.' + +'You're a singular mixture of several people all in one! I shall never +quite understand you.' + +'Maybe not. But if you don't, nobody else is likely to, and I mean to +be frank to you every time. I suppose you think I'm heartless. +Perhaps I am. I don't know. You have to know about the business side +sometimes; I wish you didn't, for it's not the side of myself I like +best.' + +The aggressive blue eyes softened a little as he spoke, and there was +a touch of deep regret in his harsh voice. + +'No,' answered Lady Maud, 'I don't like it either. But you are not +heartless. Don't say that of yourself, please--please don't! You +cannot fancy how it would hurt me to think that your helping me was +only a rich man's caprice, that because a few thousand pounds are +nothing to you it amused you to throw the money away on me and my +ideas, and that you would just as soon put it on a horse, or play with +it at Monte Carlo!' + +'Well, you needn't worry,' observed Mr. Van Torp, smiling in a +reassuring way. 'I'm not given to throwing away money. In fact, the +other people think I'm too much inclined to take it. And why shouldn't +I? People who don't know how to take care of money shouldn't have it. +They do harm with it. It is right to take it from them since they +can't keep it and haven't the sense to spend it properly. However, +that's the business side of me, and we won't talk about it, unless you +like.' + +'I don't "like"!' Lady Maud smiled too. + +'Precisely. You're not the business side, and you can have anything +you like to ask for. Anything I've got, I mean.' + +The beautiful hands were packing the tea-things. + +'Anything in reason,' suggested Lady Maud, looking into the shabby +basket. + +'I'm not talking about reason,' answered Mr. Van Torp, gouging his +waistcoat pockets with his thick thumbs, and looking at the top of her +old grey felt hat as she bent her head. 'I don't suppose I've done +much good in my life, but maybe you'll do some for me, because you +understand those things and I don't. Anyhow, you mean to, and I want +you to, and that constitutes intention in both parties, which is the +main thing in law. If it happens to give you pleasure, so much the +better. That's why I say you can have anything you like. It's an +unlimited order.' + +'Thank you,' said Lady Maud, still busy with the things. 'I know you +are in earnest, and if I needed more money I would ask for it. But +I want to make sure that it is really the right way--so many people +would not think it was, you know, and only time can prove that I'm +not mistaken. There!' She had finished packing the basket, and she +fastened the lid regretfully. 'I'm afraid we must be going. It was +awfully good of you to come!' + +'Wasn't it? I'll be just as good again the day after to-morrow, if +you'll ask me!' + +'Will you?' rippled the sweet voice pleasantly. 'Then come at the same +time, unless it rains really hard. I'm not afraid of a shower, you +know, and the arch makes a very fair shelter here. I never catch cold, +either.' + +She rose, taking up the basket in one hand and shaking down the folds +of her old habit with the other. + +'All the same, I'd bring a jacket next time if I were you,' said her +companion, exactly as her mother might have made the suggestion, and +scarcely bestowing a glance on her almost too visibly perfect figure. + +The old thoroughbred raised his head as they crossed the sward, and +made two or three steps towards her of his own accord. Her foot rested +a moment on Mr. Van Torp's solid hand, and she was in the saddle. The +black was at first less disposed to be docile, but soon yielded at the +sight of another carrot. Mr. Van Torp did not take the trouble to +put his foot into the stirrup, but vaulted from the ground with no +apparent effort. Lady Maud smiled approvingly, but not as a woman +who loves a man and feels pride in him when he does anything very +difficult. It merely pleased and amused her to see with what ease and +indifference the rather heavily-built American did a thing which many +a good English rider, gentleman or groom, would have found it hard to +do at all. But Mr. Van Torp had ridden and driven cattle in California +for his living before he had been twenty. + +He wheeled and came to her side, and held out his hand. + +'Day after to-morrow, at the same time,' he said as she took it. +'Good-bye!' + +'Good-bye, and don't forget Thursday!' + +They parted and rode away in opposite directions, and neither turned, +even once, to look back at the other. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + + +The _Elisir d'Amore_ was received with enthusiasm, but the tenor +had it all his own way, as Lushington had foretold, and when Pompeo +Stromboli sang 'Una furtiva lacrima' the incomparable Cordova was for +once eclipsed in the eyes of a hitherto faithful public. Covent Garden +surrendered unconditionally. Metaphorically speaking, it rolled over +on its back, with its four paws in the air, like a small dog that has +got the worst of a fight and throws himself on the bigger dog's mercy. + +Margaret was applauded, but as a matter of course. There was no +electric thrill in the clapping of hands; she got the formal applause +which is regularly given to the sovereign, but not the enthusiasm +which is bestowed spontaneously on the conqueror. When she buttered +her face and got the paint off, she was a little pale, and her +eyes were not kind. It was the first time that she had not carried +everything before her since she had begun her astonishing career, and +in her first disappointment she had not philosophy enough to console +herself with the consideration that it would have been infinitely +worse to be thrown into the shade by another lyric soprano, instead +of by the most popular lyric tenor on the stage. She was also +uncomfortably aware that Lushington had predicted what had happened, +and she was informed that he had not even taken the trouble to come +to the first performance of the opera. Logotheti, who knew everything +about his old rival, had told her that Lushington was in Paris that +week, and was going on to see his mother in Provence. + +The Primadonna was put out with herself and with everybody, after the +manner of great artists when a performance has not gone exactly as +they had hoped. The critics said the next morning that the Senorita da +Cordova had been in good voice and had sung with excellent taste and +judgment, but that was all: as if any decent soprano might not do as +well! They wrote as if she might have been expected to show neither +judgment nor taste, and as if she were threatened with a cold. Then +they went on to praise Pompeo Stromboli with the very words they +usually applied to her. His voice was full, rich, tender, vibrating, +flexible, soft, powerful, stirring, natural, cultivated, superb, +phenomenal, and perfectly fresh. The critics had a severe attack of +'adjectivitis.' + +Paul Griggs had first applied the name to that inflammation of +language to which many young writers are subject when cutting their +literary milk-teeth, and from which musical critics are never quite +immune. Margaret could no longer help reading what was written about +her; that was one of the signs of the change that had come over her, +and she disliked it, and sometimes despised herself for it, though +she was quite unable to resist the impulse. The appetite for flattery +which comes of living on it may be innocent, but it is never harmless. +Dante consigned the flatterers to Inferno, and more particularly to a +very nasty place there: it is true that there were no musical critics +in his day; but he does not say much about the flattered, perhaps +because they suffer enough when they find out the truth, or lose the +gift for which they have been over-praised. + +The Primadonna was in a detestably uncomfortable state of mind on the +day after the performance of the revived opera. Her dual nature was +hopelessly mixed; Cordova was in a rage with Stromboli, Schreiermeyer, +Baci-Roventi, and the whole company, not to mention Signor Bambinelli +the conductor, the whole orchestra, and the dead composer of the +_Elisir d'Amore_; but Margaret Donne was ashamed of herself for +caring, and for being spoilt, and for bearing poor Lushington a grudge +because he had foretold a result that was only to be expected with +such a tenor as Stromboli; she despised herself for wickedly wishing +that the latter had cracked on the final high note and had made +himself ridiculous. But he had not cracked at all; in imagination she +could hear the note still, tremendous, round, and persistently drawn +out, as if it came out of a tenor trombone and had all the world's +lungs behind it. + +In her mortification Cordova was ready to give up lyric opera and +study Wagner, in order to annihilate Pompeo Stromboli, who did not +even venture _Lohengrin_. Schreiermeyer had unkindly told him that if +he arrayed his figure in polished armour he would look like a silver +teapot; and Stromboli was very sensitive to ridicule. Even if he had +possessed a dramatic voice, he could never have bounded about the +stage in pink tights and the exiguous skin of an unknown wild animal +as Siegfried, and in the flower scene of _Parsifal_ he would have +looked like Falstaff in _The Merry Wives of Windsor_. But Cordova +could have made herself into a stately Brunhilde, a wild and lovely +Kundry, or a fair and fateful Isolde, with the very least amount of +artificial aid that theatrical illusion admits. + +Margaret Donne, disgusted with Cordova, said that her voice was about +as well adapted for one of those parts as a sick girl's might be for +giving orders at sea in a storm. Cordova could not deny this, and fell +back upon the idea of having an opera written for her, expressly to +show off her voice, with a _crescendo_ trill in every scene and a high +D at the end; and Margaret Donne, who loved music for its own sake, +was more disgusted than ever, and took up a book in order to get rid +of her professional self, and tried so hard to read that she almost +gave herself a headache. + +Pompeo Stromboli was really the most sweet-tempered creature in the +world, and called during the afternoon with the idea of apologising +for having eclipsed her, but was told that she was resting and would +see no one. Fraeulein Ottilie Braun also came, and Margaret would +probably have seen her, but had not given any special orders, so the +kindly little person trotted off, and Margaret knew nothing of her +coming; and the day wore on quickly; and when she wanted to go out, it +at once began to rain furiously; and, at last, in sheer impatience at +everything, she telephoned to Logotheti, asking him to come and dine +alone with her if he felt that he could put up with her temper, which, +she explained, was atrocious. She heard the Greek laugh gaily at the +other end of the wire. + +'Will you come?' she asked, impatient that anybody should be in a good +humour when she was not. + +'I'll come now, if you'll let me,' he answered readily. + +'No. Come to dinner at half-past eight.' She waited a moment and then +went on. 'I've sent down word that I'm not at home for any one, and I +don't like to make you the only exception.' + +'Oh, I see,' answered Logotheti's voice. 'But I've always wanted to be +the only exception. I say, does half-past eight mean a quarter past +nine?' + +'No. It means a quarter past eight, if you like. Good-bye!' + +She cut off the communication abruptly, being a little afraid that if +she let him go on chattering any longer she might yield and allow him +to come at once. In her solitude she was intensely bored by her own +bad temper, and was nearer to making him the 'only exception' than she +had often been of late. She said to herself that he always amused her, +but in her heart she was conscious that he was the only man in the +world who knew how to flatter her back into a good temper, and would +take the trouble to do so. It was better than nothing to look forward +to a pleasant evening, and she went back to her novel and her cup of +tea already half reconciled with life. + +It rained almost without stopping. At times it poured, which really +does not happen often in much-abused London; but even heavy rain +is not so depressing in spring as it is in winter, and when the +Primadonna raised her eyes from her book and looked out of the big +window, she was not thinking of the dreariness outside but of what +she should wear in the evening. To tell the truth, she did not often +trouble herself much about that matter when she was not going to sing, +and all singers and actresses who habitually play 'costume parts' are +conscious of looking upon stage-dressing and ordinary dressing from +totally different points of view. By far the larger number of them +have their stage clothes made by a theatrical tailor, and only an +occasional eccentric celebrity goes to Worth or Doucet to be dressed +for a 'Juliet,' a 'Tosca,' or a 'Dona Sol.' + +Margaret looked at the rain and decided that Logotheti should not find +her in a tea-gown, not because it would look too intimate, but because +tea-gowns suggest weariness, the state of being misunderstood, and a +craving for sympathy. A woman who is going to surrender to fate puts +on a tea-gown, but a well-fitting body indicates strength of character +and virtuous firmness. + +I remember a smart elderly Frenchwoman who always bestowed unusual +care on every detail of her dress, visible and invisible, before going +to church. Her niece was in the room one Sunday while she was dressing +for church, and asked why she took so much trouble. + +'My dear,' was the answer, 'Satan is everywhere, and one can never +know what may happen.' + +Margaret was very fond of warm greys, and fawn tints, and dove colour, +and she had lately got a very pretty dress that was exactly to her +taste, and was made of a newly invented thin material of pure silk, +which had no sheen and cast no reflections of light, and was slightly +elastic, so that it fitted as no ordinary silk or velvet ever could. +Alphonsine called the gown a 'legend,' but a celebrated painter who +had lately seen it said it was an 'Indian twilight,' which might mean +anything, as Paul Griggs explained, because there is no twilight to +speak of in India. The dress-maker who had made it called the colour +'fawn's stomach,' which was less poetical, and the fabric, 'veil of +nun in love,' which showed little respect for monastic institutions. +As for the way in which the dress was made, it is folly to rush into +competition with tailors and dress-makers, who know what they are +talking about, and are able to say things which nobody can understand. + +The plain fact is that the Primadonna began to dress early, out of +sheer boredom, had her thick brown hair done in the most becoming way +in spite of its natural waves, which happened to be unfashionable just +then, and she put on the new gown with all the care and consideration +which so noble a creation deserved. + +'Madame is adorable,' observed Alphonsine. 'Madame is a dream. Madame +has only to lift her little finger, and kings will fall into ecstasy +before her.' + +'That would be very amusing,' said Margaret, looking at herself in the +glass, and less angry with the world than she had been. 'I have never +seen a king in ecstasy.' + +'The fault is Madame's,' returned Alphonsine, possibly with truth. + +When Margaret went into the drawing-room Logotheti was already there, +and she felt a thrill of pleasure when his expression changed at sight +of her. It is not easy to affect the pleased surprise which the sudden +appearance of something beautiful brings into the face of a man who is +not expecting anything unusual. + +'Oh, I say!' exclaimed the Greek. 'Let me look at you!' + +And instead of coming forward to take her hand, he stepped back in +order not to lose anything of the wonderful effect by being too near. +Margaret stood still and smiled in the peculiar way which is a woman's +equivalent for a cat's purring. Then, to Logotheti's still greater +delight, she slowly turned herself round, to be admired, like a statue +on a pivoted pedestal, quite regardless of a secret consciousness that +Margaret Donne would not have done such a thing for him, and probably +not for any other man. + +'You're really too utterly stunning!' he cried. + +In moments of enthusiasm he sometimes out-Englished Englishmen. + +'I'm glad you like it,' Margaret said. 'This is the first time I've +worn it.' + +'If you put it on for me, thank you! If not, thank you for putting it +on! I'm not asking, either. I should think you would wear it if you +were alone for the mere pleasure of feeling like a goddess.' + +'You're very nice!' + +She was satisfied, and for a moment she forgot Pompeo Stromboli, the +_Elisir d'Amore_, the public, and the critics. It was particularly +'nice' of him, too, not to insist upon being told that she had put on +the new creation solely for his benefit. Next to not assuming rashly +that a woman means anything of the sort expressly for him, it is wise +of a man to know when she really does, without being told. At least, +so Margaret thought just then; but it is true that she wanted him to +amuse her and was willing to be pleased. + +She executed the graceful swaying movement which only a well-made +woman can make just before sitting down for the first time in a +perfectly new gown. It is a slightly serpentine motion; and as there +is nothing to show that Eve did not meet the Serpent again after she +had taken to clothes, she may have learnt the trick from him. There is +certainly something diabolical about it when it is well done. + +Logotheti's almond-shaped eyes watched her quietly, and he stood +motionless till she was established on her chair. Then he seated +himself at a little distance. + +'I hope I was not rude,' he said, in artful apology, 'but it's not +often that one's breath is taken away by what one sees. Horrid weather +all day, wasn't it? Have you been out at all?' + +'No. I've been moping. I told you that I was in a bad humour, but I +don't want to talk about it now that I feel better. What have you been +doing? Tell me all sorts of amusing things, where you have been, whom +you have seen, and what people said to you.' + +'That might be rather dull,' observed the Greek. + +'I don't believe it. You are always in the thick of everything that's +happening.' + +'We have agreed to-day to lend Russia some more money. But that +doesn't interest you, does it? There's to be a European conference +about the Malay pirates, but there's nothing very funny in that. It +would be more amusing to hear the pirates' view of Europeans. Let me +see. Some one has discovered a conspiracy in Italy against Austria, +and there is another in Austria against the Italians. They are the +same old plots that were discovered six months ago, but people had +forgotten about them, so they are as good as new. Then there is the +sad case of that Greek.' + +'What Greek? I've not heard about that. What has happened to him?' + +'Oh, nothing much. It's only a love-story--the same old thing.' + +'Tell me.' + +'Not now, for we shall have to go to dinner just when I get to +the most thrilling part of it, I'm sure.' Logotheti laughed. 'And +besides,' he added, 'the man isn't dead yet, though he's not expected +to live. I'll tell you about your friend Mr. Feist instead. He has +been very ill too.' + +'I would much rather know about the Greek love-story,' Margaret +objected. 'I never heard of Mr. Feist.' + +She had quite forgotten the man's existence, but Logotheti recalled +to her memory the circumstances under which they had met, and Feist's +unhealthy face with its absurdly youthful look, and what he had +said about having been at the Opera in New York on the night of the +explosion. + +'Why do you tell me all this?' Margaret asked. 'He was a +disgusting-looking man, and I never wish to see him again. Tell me +about the Greek. When we go to dinner you can finish the story in +French. We spoke French the first time we met, at Madame Bonanni's. Do +you remember?' + +'Yes, of course I do. But I was telling you about Mr. Feist--' + +'Dinner is ready,' Margaret said, rising as the servant opened the +door. + +To her surprise the man came forward. He said that just as he was +going to announce dinner Countess Leven had telephoned that she was +dining out, and would afterwards stop on her way to the play in the +hope of seeing Margaret for a moment. She had seemed to be in a hurry, +and had closed the communication before the butler could answer. And +dinner was served, he added. + +Margaret nodded carelessly, and the two went into the dining-room. +Lady Maud could not possibly come before half-past nine, and there was +plenty of time to decide whether she should be admitted or not. + +'Mr. Feist has been very ill,' Logotheti said as they sat down to +table under the pleasant light, 'and I have been taking care of him, +after a fashion.' + +Margaret raised her eyebrows a little, for she was beginning to be +annoyed at his persistency, and was not much pleased at the prospect +of Lady Maud's visit. + +'How very odd!' she said, rather coldly. 'I cannot imagine anything +more disagreeable.' + +'It has been very unpleasant,' Logotheti answered, 'but he seemed to +have no particular friends here, and he was all alone at an hotel, and +really very ill. So I volunteered.' + +'I've no objection to being moderately sorry for a young man who falls +ill at an hotel and has no friends,' Margaret said, 'but are you going +in for nursing? Is that your latest hobby? It's a long way from art, +and even from finance!' + +'Isn't it?' + +'Yes. I'm beginning to be curious!' + +'I thought you would be before long,' Logotheti answered coolly, but +suddenly speaking French. 'One of the most delightful things in life +is to have one's curiosity roused and then satisfied by very slow +degrees!' + +'Not too slow, please. The interest might not last to the end.' + +'Oh yes, it will, for Mr. Feist plays a part in your life.' + +'About as distant as Voltaire's Chinese Mandarin, I fancy,' Margaret +suggested. + +'Nearer than that, though I did not guess it when I went to see him. +In the first place, it was owing to you that I went to see him the +first time.' + +'Nonsense!' + +'Not at all. Everything that happens to me is connected with you in +some way. I came to see you late in the afternoon, on one of your +off-days not long ago, hoping that you would ask me to dine, but you +were across the river at Lord Creedmore's. I met old Griggs at your +door, and as we walked away he told me that Mr. Feist had fallen down +in a fit at a club, the night before, and had been sent home in a cab +to the Carlton. As I had nothing to do, worth doing, I went to see +him. If you had been at home, I should never have gone. That is what I +mean when I say that you were the cause of my going to see him.' + +'In the same way, if you had been killed by a motor-car as you went +away from my door, I should have been the cause of your death!' + +'You will be in any case,' laughed Logotheti, 'but that's a detail! I +found Mr. Feist in a very bad way.' + +'What was the matter with him?' asked Margaret. + +'He was committing suicide,' answered the Greek with the utmost calm. +'If I were in Constantinople I should tell you that this turbot is +extremely good, but as we are in London I suppose it would be very bad +manners to say so, wouldn't it? So I am thinking it.' + +'Take the fish for granted, and tell me more about Mr. Feist!' + +'I found him standing before the glass with a razor in his hand and +quite near his throat. When he saw me he tried to laugh and said he +was just going to shave; I asked him if he generally shaved without +soap and water, and he burst into tears.' + +'That's rather dreadful,' observed Margaret. 'What did you do?' + +'I saved his life, but I don't think he's very grateful yet. Perhaps +he may be by and by. When he stopped sobbing he tried to kill me for +hindering his destruction, but I had got the razor in my pocket, and +his revolver missed fire. That was lucky, for he managed to stick the +muzzle against my chest and pull the trigger just as I got him down. +I wished I had brought old Griggs with me, for they say he can bend a +good horse-shoe double, even now, and the fellow had the strength of +a lunatic in him. It was rather lively for a few seconds, and then he +broke down again, and was as limp as a rag, and trembled with fright, +as if he saw queer things in the room.' + +'You sent for a doctor then?' + +'My own, and we took care of him together that night. You may laugh at +the idea of my having a doctor, as I never was ill in my life. I have +him to dine with me now and then, because he is such good company, and +is the best judge of a statue or a picture I know. The habit of taking +the human body to pieces teaches you a great deal about the shape of +it, you see. In the morning we moved Mr. Feist from the hotel to a +small private hospital where cases of that sort are treated. Of course +he was perfectly helpless, so we packed his belongings and papers.' + +'It was really very kind of you to act the Good Samaritan to +a stranger,' Margaret said, but her tone showed that she was +disappointed at the tame ending of the story. + +'No,' Logotheti answered. 'I was never consciously kind, as you call +it. It's not a Greek characteristic to love one's neighbour as one's +self. Teutons, Anglo-Saxons, Latins, and, most of all, Asiatics, are +charitable, but the old Greeks were not. I don't believe you'll find +an instance of a charitable act in all Greek history, drama, and +biography! If you did find one I should only say that the exception +proves the rule. Charity was left out of us at the beginning, and we +never could understand it, except as a foreign sentiment imported with +Christianity from Asia. We have had every other virtue, including +hospitality. In the _Iliad_ a man declines to kill his enemy on the +ground that their people had dined together, which is going rather +far, but it is not recorded that any ancient Greek, even Socrates +himself, ever felt pity or did an act of spontaneous kindness! I don't +believe any one has said that, but it's perfectly true.' + +'Then why did you take all that trouble for Mr. Feist?' + +'I don't know. People who always know why they do things are great +bores. It was probably a caprice that took me to see him, and then +it did not occur to me to let him cut his throat, so I took away his +razor; and, finally, I telephoned for my doctor, because my misspent +life has brought me into contact with Western civilisation. But when +we began to pack Mr. Feist's papers I became interested in him.' + +'Do you mean to say that you read his letters?' Margaret inquired. + +'Why not? If I had let him kill himself, somebody would have read +them, as he had not taken the trouble to destroy them!' + +'That's a singular point of view.' + +'So was Mr. Feist's, as it turned out. I found enough to convince me +that he is the writer of all those articles about Van Torp, including +the ones in which you are mentioned. The odd thing about it is that I +found a very friendly invitation from Van Torp himself, begging Mr. +Feist to go down to Derbyshire and stop a week with him.' + +Margaret leaned back in her chair and looked at her guest in quiet +surprise. + +'What does that mean?' she asked. 'Is it possible that Mr. Van Torp +has got up this campaign against himself in order to play some trick +on the Stock Exchange?' + +Logotheti smiled and shook his head. + +'That's not the way such things are usually managed,' he answered. 'A +hundred years ago a publisher paid a critic to attack a book in order +to make it succeed, but in finance abuse doesn't contribute to our +success, which is always a question of credit. All these scurrilous +articles have set the public very much against Van Torp, from Paris +to San Francisco, and this man Feist is responsible for them. He is +either insane, or he has some grudge against Van Torp, or else he has +been somebody's instrument, which looks the most probable.' + +'What did you find amongst his papers?' Margaret asked, quite +forgetting her vicarious scruples about reading a sick man's letters. + +'A complete set of the articles that have appeared, all neatly filed, +and a great many notes for more, besides a lot of stuff written in +cypher. It must be a diary, for the days are written out in full and +give the days of the week.' + +'I wonder whether there was anything about the explosion,' said +Margaret thoughtfully. 'He said he was there, did he not?' + +'Yes. Do you remember the day?' + +'It was a Wednesday, I'm sure, and it was after the middle of March. +My maid can tell us, for she writes down the date and the opera in a +little book each time I sing. It's sometimes very convenient. But it's +too late now, of course, and, besides, you could not have read the +cypher.' + +'That's an easy matter,' Logotheti answered. 'All cyphers can be read +by experts, if there is no hurry, except the mechanical ones that are +written through holes in a square plate which you turn round till the +sheet is full. Hardly any one uses those now, because when the square +is raised the letters don't form words, and the cable companies will +only transmit real words in some known language, or groups of figures. +The diary is written hastily, too, not at all as if it were copied +from the sheet on which the perforated plate would have had to be +used, and besides, the plate itself would be amongst his things, for +he could not read his own notes without it.' + +'All that doesn't help us, as you have not the diary, but I should +really be curious to know what he had to say about the accident, since +some of the articles hint that Mr. Van Torp made it happen.' + +'My doctor and I took the liberty of confiscating the papers, and we +set a very good man to work on the cypher at once. So your curiosity +shall be satisfied. I said it should, didn't I? And you are not so +dreadfully bored after all, are you? Do say that I'm very nice!' + +'I won't!' Margaret answered with a little laugh. 'I'll only admit +that I'm not bored! But wasn't it rather a high-handed proceeding to +carry off Mr. Feist like that, and to seize his papers?' + +'Do you call it high-handed to keep a man from cutting his throat?' + +'But the letters--?' + +'I really don't know. I had not time to ask a lawyer's opinion, and so +I had to be satisfied with my doctor's.' + +'Are you going to tell Mr. Van Torp what you've done?' + +'I don't know. Why should I? You may if you like.' + +Logotheti was eating a very large and excellent truffle, and after +each short sentence he cut off a tiny slice and put it into his +mouth. The Primadonna had already finished hers, and watched him +thoughtfully. + +'I'm not likely to see him,' she said. 'At least, I hope not!' + +'My interest in Mr. Feist,' answered Logotheti, 'begins and ends with +what concerns you. Beyond that I don't care a straw what happens to +Mr. Van Torp, or to any one else. To all intents and purposes I have +got the author of the stories locked up, for a man who has consented +to undergo treatment for dipsomania in a private hospital, by the +advice of his friends and under the care of a doctor with a great +reputation, is as really in prison as if he were in gaol. Legally, he +can get out, but in real fact nobody will lift a hand to release him, +because he is shut up for his own good and for the good of the public, +just as much as if he were a criminal. Feist may have friends or +relations in America, and they may come and claim him; but as there +seems to be nobody in London who cares what becomes of him, it pleases +me to keep him in confinement, because I mean to prevent any further +mention of your name in connection with the Van Torp scandals.' + +His eyes rested on Margaret as he spoke, and lingered afterwards, with +a look that did not escape her. She had seen him swayed by passion, +more than once, and almost mad for her, and she had been frightened +though she had dominated him. What she saw in his face now was not +that; it was more like affection, faithful and lasting, and it touched +her English nature much more than any show of passion could. + +'Thank you,' she said quietly. + +They did not talk much more while they finished the short dinner, but +when they were going back to the drawing-room Margaret took his arm, +in foreign fashion, which she had never done before when they were +alone. Then he stood before the mantelpiece and watched her in silence +as she moved about the room; for she was one of those women who always +find half a dozen little things to do as soon as they get back from +dinner, and go from place to place, moving a reading lamp half an inch +farther from the edge of a table, shutting a book that has been left +open on another, tearing up a letter that lies on the writing-desk, +and slightly changing the angle at which a chair stands. It is an odd +little mania, and the more people there are in the room the less the +mistress of the house yields to it, and the more uncomfortable she +feels at being hindered from 'tidying up the room,' as she probably +calls it. + +Logotheti watched Margaret with keen pleasure, as every step and +little movement showed her figure in a slightly different attitude and +light, indiscreetly moulded in the perfection of her matchless gown. +In less than two minutes she had finished her trip round the room and +was standing beside him, her elbows resting on the mantelpiece, while +she moved a beautiful Tanagra a little to one side and then to the +other, trying for the twentieth time how it looked the best. + +'There is no denying it,' Logotheti said at last, with profound +conviction. 'I do not care a straw what becomes of any living creature +but you.' + +She did not turn her head, and her fingers still touched the Tanagra, +but he saw the rare blush spread up the cheek that was turned to him; +and because she stopped moving the statuette about, and looked at it +intently, he guessed that she was not colouring from annoyance at what +he had said. She blushed so very seldom now, that it might mean much +more than in the old days at Versailles. + +'I did not think it would last so long,' she said gently, after a +little while. + +'What faith can one expect of a Greek!' + +He laughed, too wise in woman's ways to be serious too long just then. +But she shook her head and turned to him with the smile he loved. + +'I thought it was something different,' she said. 'I was mistaken. I +believed you had only lost your head for a while, and would soon run +after some one else. That's all.' + +'And the loss is permanent. That's all!' He laughed again as he +repeated her words. 'You thought it was "something different"--do you +know that you are two people in one?' + +She looked a little surprised. + +'Indeed I do!' she answered rather sadly. 'Have you found it out?' + +'Yes. You are Margaret Donne and you are Cordova. I admire Cordova +immensely, I am extremely fond of Margaret, and I'm in love with both. +Oh yes! I'm quite frank about it, and it's very unlucky, for whichever +one of your two selves I meet I'm just as much in love as ever! +Absurd, isn't it?' + +'It's flattering, at all events.' + +'If you ever took it into your handsome head to marry me--please, I'm +only saying "if"--the absurdity would be rather reassuring, wouldn't +it? When a man is in love with two women at the same time, it really +is a little unlikely that he should fall in love with a third!' + +'Mr. Griggs says that marriage is a drama which only succeeds if +people preserve the unities!' + +'Griggs is always trying to coax the Djin back into the bottle, like +the fisherman in the _Arabian Nights_,' answered Logotheti. 'He has +read Kant till he believes that the greatest things in the world can +be squeezed into a formula of ten words, or nailed up amongst the +Categories like a dead owl over a stable door. My intelligence, such +as it is, abhors definitions!' + +'So do I. I never understand them.' + +'Besides, you can only define what you know from past experience +and can reflect upon coolly, and that is not my position, nor yours +either.' + +Margaret nodded, but said nothing and sat down. + +'Do you want to smoke?' she asked. 'You may, if you like. I don't mind +a cigarette.' + +'No, thank you.' + +'But I assure you I don't mind it in the least. It never hurts my +throat.' + +'Thanks, but I really don't want to.' + +'I'm sure you do. Please--' + +'Why do you insist? You know I never smoke when you are in the room.' + +'I don't like to be the object of little sacrifices that make people +uncomfortable.' + +'I'm not uncomfortable, but if you have any big sacrifice to suggest, +I promise to offer it at once.' + +'Unconditionally?' Margaret smiled. 'Anything I ask?' + +'Yes. Do you want my statue?' + +'The Aphrodite? Would you give her to me?' + +'Yes. May I telegraph to have her packed and brought here from Paris?' + +He was already at the writing-table looking for a telegraph form. +Margaret watched his face, for she knew that he valued the wonderful +statue far beyond all his treasures, both for its own sake and because +he had nearly lost his life in carrying it off from Samos, as has been +told elsewhere. + +As Margaret said nothing, he began to write the message. She really +had not had any idea of testing his willingness to part with the thing +he valued most, at her slightest word, and was taken by surprise; +but it was impossible not to be pleased when she saw that he was in +earnest. In her present mood, too, it restored her sense of power, +which had been rudely shaken by the attitude of the public on the +previous evening. + +It took some minutes to compose the message. + +'It's only to save time by having the box ready,' he said, as he rose +with the bit of paper in his hand. 'Of course I shall see the statue +packed myself and come over with it.' + +She saw his face clearly in the light as he came towards her, and +there was no mistaking the unaffected satisfaction it expressed. He +held out the telegram for her to read, but she would not take it, and +she looked up quietly and earnestly as he stood beside her. + +'Do you remember Delorges?' she asked. 'How the lady tossed her glove +amongst the lions and bade him fetch it, if he loved her, and how he +went in and got it--and then threw it in her face? I feel like her.' + +Logotheti looked at her blankly. + +'Do you mean to say you won't take the statue?' he asked in a +disappointed tone. + +'No, indeed! I was taken by surprise when you went to the +writing-table.' + +'You did not believe I was in earnest? Don't you see that I'm +disappointed now?' His voice changed a little. 'Don't you understand +that if the world were mine I should want to give it all to you?' + +'And don't you understand that the wish may be quite as much to me as +the deed? That sounds commonplace, I know. I would say it better if I +could.' + +She folded her hands on her knee, and looked at them thoughtfully +while he sat down beside her. + +'You say it well enough,' he answered after a little pause. 'The +trouble lies there. The wish is all you will ever take. I have +submitted to that; but if you ever change your mind, please remember +that I have not changed mine. For two years I've done everything I can +to make you marry me whether you would or not, and you've forgiven me +for trying to carry you off against your will, and for several other +things, but you are no nearer to caring for me ever so little than you +were the first day we met. You "like" me! That's the worst of it!' + +'I'm not so sure of that,' Margaret answered, raising her eyes for a +moment and then looking at her hands again. + +He turned his head slowly, but there was a startled look in his eyes. + +'Do you feel as if you could hate me a little, for a change?' he +asked. + +'No.' + +'There's only one other thing,' he said in a low voice. + +'Perhaps,' Margaret answered, in an even lower tone than his. 'I'm not +quite sure to-day.' + +Logotheti had known her long, and he now resisted the strong impulse +to reach out and take the hand she would surely have let him hold in +his for a moment. She was not disappointed because he neither +spoke nor moved, nor took any sudden advantage of her rather timid +admission, for his silence made her trust him more than any passionate +speech or impulsive action could have done. + +'I daresay I am wrong to tell you even that much,' she went on +presently, 'but I do so want to play fair. I've always despised women +who cannot make up their minds whether they care for a man or not. But +you have found out my secret; I am two people in one, and there +are days when each makes the other dreadfully uncomfortable! You +understand.' + +'And it's the Cordova that neither likes me nor hates me just at this +moment,' suggested Logotheti. 'Margaret Donne sometimes hates me and +sometimes likes me, and on some days she can be quite indifferent too! +Is that it?' + +'Yes. That's it.' + +'The only question is, which of you is to be mistress of the house,' +said Logotheti, smiling, 'and whether it is to be always the same one, +or if there is to be a perpetual hide-and-seek between them!' + +'Box and Cox,' suggested Margaret, glad of the chance to say something +frivolous just then. + +'I should say Hera and Aphrodite,' answered the Greek, 'if it did not +look like comparing myself to Adonis!' + +'It sounds better than Box and Cox, but I have forgotten my +mythology.' + +'Hera and Aphrodite agreed that each should keep Adonis one-third of +the year, and that he should have the odd four months to himself. Now +that you are the Cordova, if you could come to some such understanding +about me with Miss Donne, it would be very satisfactory. But I am +afraid Margaret does not want even a third of me!' + +Logotheti felt that it was rather ponderous fun, but he was in such an +anxious state that his usually ready wit did not serve him very well. +For the first time since he had known her, Margaret had confessed that +she might possibly fall in love with him; and after what had passed +between them in former days, he knew that the smallest mistake on his +part would now be fatal to the realisation of such a possibility. He +was not afraid of being dull, or of boring her, but he was afraid of +wakening against him the wary watchfulness of that side of her nature +which he called Margaret Donne, as distinguished from Cordova, of the +'English-girl' side, of the potential old maid that is dormant in +every young northern woman until the day she marries, and wakes to +torment her like a biblical devil if she does not. There is no miser +like a reformed spendthrift, and no ascetic will go to such extremes +of self-mortification as a converted libertine; in the same way, there +are no such portentously virginal old maids as those who might have +been the most womanly wives; the opposite is certainly true also, for +the variety 'Hemiparthenos,' studied after nature by Marcel Prevost, +generally makes an utter failure of matrimony, and becomes, in fact, +little better than a half-wife. + +Logotheti took it as a good sign that Margaret laughed at what he +said. He was in the rather absurd position of wishing to leave her +while she was in her present humour, lest anything should disturb it +and destroy his advantage; yet, after what had just passed, it +was next to impossible not to talk of her, or of himself. He had +exceptionally good nerves, he was generally cool to a fault, and he +had the daring that makes great financiers. But what looked like the +most important crisis of his life had presented itself unexpectedly +within a few minutes; a success which he reckoned far beyond all +other successes was almost within his grasp, and he felt that he was +unprepared. For the first time he did not know what to say to a woman. + +Happily for him, Margaret helped him unexpectedly. + +'I shall have to see Lady Maud,' she said, 'and you must either go +when she comes or leave with her. I'm sorry, but you understand, don't +you?' + +'Of course. I'll go a moment after she comes. When am I to see you +again? To-morrow? You are not to sing again this week, are you?' + +'No,' the Primadonna answered vaguely, 'I believe not.' + +She was thinking of something else. She was wondering whether +Logotheti would wish her to give up the stage, if by any possibility +she ever married him, and her thoughts led her on quickly to the +consideration of what that would mean, and to asking herself what sort +of sacrifice it would really mean to her. For the recollection of the +_Elisir d'Amore_ awoke and began to rankle again just then. + +Logotheti did not press her for an answer, but watched her cautiously +while her eyes were turned away from him. At that moment he felt like +a tamer who had just succeeded in making a tiger give its paw for the +first time, and has not the smallest idea whether the creature will do +it again or bite off his head. + +She, on her side, being at the moment altogether the artist, was +thinking that it would be pleasant to enjoy a few more triumphs, to +make the tour of Europe with a company of her own--which is always the +primadonna's dream as it is the actress's--and to leave the stage +at twenty-five in a blaze of glory, rather than to risk one more +performance of the opera she now hated. She knew quite well that +it was not at all an impossibility. To please her, and with the +expectation of marrying her in six months, Logotheti would cheerfully +pay the large forfeit that would be due to Schreiermeyer if she broke +her London engagement at the height of the season, and the Greek +financier would produce all the ready money necessary for getting +together an opera company. The rest would be child's play, she was +sure, and she would make a triumphant progress through the capitals of +Europe which should be remembered for half a century. After that, said +the Primadonna to herself, she would repay her friend all the money he +had lent her, and would then decide at her leisure whether she would +marry him or not. For one moment her cynicism would have surprised +even Schreiermeyer; the next, the Primadonna herself was ashamed of +it, quite independently of what her better self might have thought. + +Besides, it was certainly not for his money that her old inclination +for Logotheti had begun to grow again. She could say so, truly enough, +and when she felt sure of it she turned her eyes to see his face. + +She did not admire him for his looks, either. So far as appearance was +concerned, she preferred Lushington, with his smooth hair and fair +complexion. Logotheti was a handsome and showy Oriental, that was all, +and she knew instinctively that the type must be common in the East. +What attracted her was probably his daring masculineness, which +contrasted so strongly with Lushington's quiet and rather bashful +manliness. The Englishman would die for a cause and make no noise +about it, which would be heroic; but the Greek would run away with a +woman he loved, at the risk of breaking his neck, which was romantic +in the extreme. It is not easy to be a romantic character in the eyes +of a lady who lives on the stage, and by it, and constantly gives +utterance to the most dramatic sentiments at a pitch an octave higher +than any one else; but Logotheti had succeeded. There never was a +woman yet to whom that sort of thing has not appealed once; for one +moment she has felt everything whirling with her as if the centre of +gravity had gone mad, and the Ten Commandments might drop out of the +solid family Bible and get lost. That recollection is probably the +only secret of a virtuously colourless existence, but she hides it, +like a treasure or a crime, until she is an old and widowed woman; +and one day, at last, she tells her grown-up granddaughter, with a +far-away smile, that there was once a man whose eyes and voice stirred +her strongly, and for whom she might have quite lost her head. But she +never saw him again, and that is the end of the little story; and the +tall girl in her first season thinks it rather dull. + +But it was not likely that the chronicle of Cordova's youth should +come to such an abrupt conclusion. The man who moved her now had been +near her too often, the sound of his voice was too easily recalled, +and, since his rival's defection, he was too necessary to her; and, +besides, he was as obstinate as Christopher Columbus. + +'Let me see,' she said thoughtfully. 'There's a rehearsal to-morrow +morning. That means a late luncheon. Come at two o'clock, and if it's +fine we can go for a little walk. Will you?' + +'Of course. Thank you.' + +He had hardly spoken the words when a servant opened the door and Lady +Maud came in. She had not dropped the opera cloak she wore over her +black velvet gown; she was rather pale, and the look in her eyes told +that something was wrong, but her serenity did not seem otherwise +affected. She kissed Margaret and gave her hand to Logotheti. + +'We dined early to go to the play,' she said, 'and as there's a +curtain-raiser, I thought I might as well take a hansom and join them +later.' + +She seated herself beside Margaret on one of those little sofas that +are measured to hold two women when the fashions are moderate, and are +wide enough for a woman and one man, whatever happens. Indeed they +must be, since otherwise no one would tolerate them in a drawing-room. +When two women instal themselves in one, and a man is present, it +means that he is to go away, because they are either going to make +confidences or are going to fight. + +Logotheti thought it would be simpler and more tactful to go at once, +since Lady Maud was in a hurry, having stopped on her way to the play, +presumably in the hope of seeing Margaret alone. To his surprise she +asked him to stay; but as he thought she might be doing this out of +mere civility he said he had an engagement. + +'Will it keep for ten minutes?' asked Lady Maud gravely. + +'Engagements of that sort are very convenient. They will keep any +length of time.' + +Logotheti sat down again, smiling, but he wondered what Lady Maud was +going to say, and why she wished him to remain. + +'It will save a note,' she said, by way of explanation. 'My father +and I want you to come to Craythew for the week-end after this,' she +continued, turning to Margaret. 'We are asking several people, so it +won't be too awfully dull, I hope. Will you come?' + +'With pleasure,' answered the singer. + +'And you too?' Lady Maud looked at Logotheti. + +'Delighted--most kind of you,' he replied, somewhat surprised by the +invitation, for he had never met Lord and Lady Creedmore. 'May I take +you down in my motor?' he spoke to Margaret. 'I think I can do it +under four hours. I'm my own chauffeur, you know.' + +'Yes, I know,' Margaret answered with a rather malicious smile. 'No, +thank you!' + +'Does he often kill?' inquired Lady Maud coolly. + +'I should be more afraid of a runaway,' Margaret said. + +'Get that new German brake,' suggested Lady Maud, not understanding at +all. 'It's quite the best I've seen. Come on Friday, if you can. You +don't mind meeting Mr. Van Torp, do you? He is our neighbour, you +remember.' + +The question was addressed to Margaret, who made a slight movement and +unconsciously glanced at Logotheti before she answered. + +'Not at all,' she said. + +'There's a reason for asking him when there are other people. I'm +not divorced after all--you had not heard? It will be in the _Times_ +to-morrow morning. The Patriarch of Constantinople turns out to be a +very sensible sort of person.' + +'He's my uncle,' observed Logotheti. + +'Is he? But that wouldn't account for it, would it? He refused to +believe what my husband called the evidence, and dismissed the suit. +As the trouble was all about Mr. Van Torp my father wants people to +see him at Craythew. That's the story in a nutshell, and if any of you +like me you'll be nice to him.' + +She leaned back in her corner of the little sofa and looked first at +one and then at the other in an inquiring way, but as if she were +fairly sure of the answer. + +'Every one likes you,' said Logotheti quietly, 'and every one will be +nice to him.' + +'Of course,' chimed in Margaret. + +She could say nothing else, though her intense dislike of the American +millionaire almost destroyed the anticipated pleasure of her visit to +Derbyshire. + +'I thought it just as well to explain,' said Lady Maud. + +She was still pale, and in spite of her perfect outward coolness and +self-reliance her eyes would have betrayed her anxiety if she had not +managed them with the unconscious skill of a woman of the world who +has something very important to hide. Logotheti broke the short +silence that followed her last speech. + +'I think you ought to know something I have been telling Miss Donne,' +he said simply. 'I've found the man who wrote all those articles, and +I've locked him up.' + +Lady Maud leaned forward so suddenly that her loosened opera-cloak +slipped down behind her, leaving her neck and shoulders bare. Her eyes +were wide open in her surprise, the pupils very dark. + +'Where?' she asked breathlessly. 'Where is he? In prison?' + +'In a more convenient and accessible place,' answered the Greek. + +He had known Lady Maud some time, but he had never seen her in the +least disturbed, or surprised, or otherwise moved by anything. It was +true that he had only met her in society. + +He told the story of Mr. Feist, as Margaret had heard it during +dinner, and Lady Maud did not move, even to lean back in her seat +again, till he had finished. She scarcely seemed to breathe, and +Logotheti felt her steady gaze on him, and would have sworn that +through all those minutes she did not even wink. When he ceased +speaking she drew a long breath and sank back to her former attitude; +but he saw that her white neck heaved suddenly again and again, and +her delicate nostrils quivered once or twice. For a little while there +was silence in the room. Then Lady Maud rose to go. + +'I must be going too,' said Logotheti. + +Margaret was a little sorry that she had given him such precise +instructions, but did not contradict herself by asking him to stay +longer. She promised Lady Maud again to be at Craythew on Friday of +the next week if possible, and certainly on Saturday, and Lady Maud +and Logotheti went out together. + +'Get in with me,' she said quietly, as he helped her into her hansom. + +He obeyed, and as he sat down she told the cabman to take her to the +Haymarket Theatre. Logotheti expected her to speak, for he was quite +sure that she had not taken him with her without a purpose; the more +so, as she had not even asked him where he was going. + +Three or four minutes passed before he heard her voice asking him a +question, very low, as if she feared to be overheard. + +'Is there any way of making that man tell the truth against his will? +You have lived in the East, and you must know about such things.' + +Logotheti turned his almond-shaped eyes slowly towards her, but he +could not see her face well, for it was not very light in the broad +West End street. She was white; that was all he could make out. But he +understood what she meant. + +'There is a way,' he answered slowly and almost sternly. 'Why do you +ask?' + +'Mr. Van Torp is going to be accused of murder. That man knows who did +it. Will you help me?' + +It seemed an age before the answer to her whispered question came. + +'Yes.' + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + + +When Logotheti and his doctor had taken Mr. Feist away from the hotel, +to the no small satisfaction of the management, they had left precise +instructions for forwarding the young man's letters and for informing +his friends, if any appeared, as to his whereabouts. But Logotheti had +not given his own name. + +Sir Jasper Threlfall had chosen for their patient a private +establishment in Ealing, owned and managed by a friend of his, a place +for the treatment of morphia mania, opium-eating, and alcoholism. + +To all intents and purposes, as Logotheti had told Margaret, +Charles Feist might as well have been in gaol. Every one knows how +indispensable it is that persons who consent to be cured of drinking +or taking opium, or whom it is attempted to cure, should be absolutely +isolated, if only to prevent weak and pitying friends from yielding +to their heart-rending entreaties for the favourite drug and bringing +them 'just a little'; for their eloquence is often extraordinary, and +their ingenuity in obtaining what they want is amazing. + +So Mr. Feist was shut up in a pleasant room provided with double doors +and two strongly barred windows that overlooked a pretty garden, +beyond which there was a high brick wall half covered by a bright +creeper, then just beginning to flower. The walls, the doors, the +ceiling, and the floor were sound-proof, and the garden could not in +any way be reached without passing through the house. + +As only male patients were received, the nurses and attendants were +all men; for the treatment needed more firmness and sometimes strength +than gentleness. It was uncompromising, as English methods often are. +Except where life was actually in danger, there was no drink and no +opium for anybody; when absolutely necessary the resident doctor +gave the patient hypodermics or something which he called by an +unpronounceable name, lest the sufferer should afterwards try to buy +it; he smilingly described it as a new vegetable poison, and in fact +it was nothing but dionine, a preparation of opium that differs but +little from ordinary morphia. + +Now Sir Jasper Threlfall was a very great doctor indeed, and his +name commanded respect in London at large and inspired awe in the +hospitals. Even the profession admitted reluctantly that he did +not kill more patients than he cured, which is something for one +fashionable doctor to say of another; for the regular answer to any +inquiry about a rival practitioner is a smile--'a smile more dreadful +than his own dreadful frown'--an indescribable smile, a meaning smile, +a smile that is a libel in itself. + +It had been an act of humanity to take the young man into medical +custody, as it were, and it had been more or less necessary for the +safety of the public, for Logotheti and the doctor had found him in a +really dangerous state, as was amply proved by his attempting to cut +his own throat and then to shoot Logotheti himself. Sir Jasper said he +had nothing especial the matter with him except drink, that when +his nerves had recovered their normal tone his real character would +appear, so that it would then be possible to judge more or less +whether he had will enough to control himself in future. Logotheti +agreed, but it occurred to him that one need not be knighted, and +write a dozen or more mysterious capital letters after one's name, and +live in Harley Street, in order to reach such a simple conclusion; and +as Logotheti was a millionaire, and liked his doctor for his own sake +rather than for his skill, he told him this, and they both laughed +heartily. Almost all doctors, except those in French plays, have some +sense of humour. + +On the third day Isidore Bamberger came to the door of the private +hospital and asked to see Mr. Feist. Not having heard from him, he had +been to the hotel and had there obtained the address. The doorkeeper +was a quiet man who had lost a leg in South Africa, after having been +otherwise severely wounded five times in previous engagements. Mr. +Bamberger, he said, could not see his friend yet. A part of the cure +consisted in complete isolation from friends during the first stages +of the treatment. Sir Jasper Threlfall had been to see Mr. Feist that +morning. He had been twice already. Dr. Bream, the resident physician, +gave the doorkeeper a bulletin every morning at ten for the benefit of +each patient's friend; the notes were written on a card which the man +held in his hand. + +At the great man's name, Mr. Bamberger became thoughtful. A smart +brougham drove up just then and a tall woman, who wore a thick veil, +got out and entered the vestibule where Bamberger was standing by the +open door. The doorkeeper evidently knew her, for he glanced at his +notes and spoke without being questioned. + +'The young gentleman is doing well this week, my lady,' he said. +'Sleeps from three to four hours at a time. Is less excited. Appetite +improving.' + +'Can I see him?' asked a sad and gentle voice through the veil. + +'Not yet, my lady.' + +She sighed as she turned to go out, and Mr. Bamberger thought it +was one of the saddest sighs he had ever heard. He was rather a +soft-hearted man. + +'Is it her son?' he asked, in a respectful sort of way. + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Drink?' inquired Mr. Bamberger in the same tone. + +'Not allowed to give any information except to family or friends, +sir,' answered the man. 'Rule of the house, sir. Very strict.' + +'Quite right, of course. Excuse me for asking. But I must see Mr. +Feist, unless he's out of his mind. It's very important.' + +'Dr. Bream sees visitors himself from ten to twelve, sir, after he's +been his rounds to the patients' rooms. You'll have to get permission +from him.' + +'But it's like a prison!' exclaimed Mr. Bamberger. + +'Yes, sir,' answered the old soldier imperturbably. 'It's just like a +prison. It's meant to be.' + +It was evidently impossible to get anything more out of the man, who +did not pay the slightest attention to the cheerful little noise Mr. +Bamberger made by jingling sovereigns in his waistcoat pocket; there +was nothing to do but to go away, and Mr. Bamberger went out very much +annoyed and perplexed. + +He knew Van Torp well, or believed that he did, and it was like +the man whose genius had created the Nickel Trust to have boldly +sequestrated his enemy's chief instrument, and in such a clever way +as to make it probable that Mr. Feist might be kept in confinement +as long as his captor chose. Doubtless such a high-handed act would +ultimately go against the latter when on his trial, but in the +meantime the chief witness was locked up and could not get out. Sir +Jasper Threlfall would state that his patient was in such a state of +health, owing to the abuse of alcohol, that it was not safe to set +him at liberty, and that in his present condition his mind was so +unsettled by drink that he could not be regarded as a sane witness; +and if Sir Jasper Threlfall said that, it would not be easy to get +Charles Feist out of Dr. Bream's establishment in less than three +months. + +Mr. Bamberger was obliged to admit that his partner, chief, and enemy +had stolen a clever march on him. Being of a practical turn of mind, +however, and not hampered by much faith in mankind, even in the most +eminent, who write the mysterious capital letters after their names, +he wondered to what extent Van Torp owned Sir Jasper, and he went to +see him on pretence of asking advice about his liver. + +The great man gave him two guineas' worth of thumping, auscultating, +and poking in the ribs, and told him rather disagreeably that he +was as healthy as a young crocodile, and had a somewhat similar +constitution. A partner of Mr. Van Torp, the American financier? +Indeed! Sir Jasper had heard the name but had never seen the +millionaire, and asked politely whether he sometimes came to England. +It is not untruthful to ask a question to which one knows the answer. +Mr. Bamberger himself, for instance, who knew that he was perfectly +well, was just going to put down two guineas for having been told so, +in answer to a question. + +'I believe you are treating Mr. Feist,' he said, going more directly +to the point. + +'Mr. Feist?' repeated the great authority vaguely. + +'Yes. Mr. Charles Feist. He's at Dr. Bream's private hospital in West +Kensington.' + +'Ah, yes,' said Sir Jasper. 'Dr. Bream is treating him. He's not a +patient of mine.' + +'I thought I'd ask you what his chances are,' observed Isidore +Bamberger, fixing his sharp eyes on the famous doctor's face. 'He used +to be my private secretary.' + +He might just as well have examined the back of the doctor's head. + +'He's not a patient of mine,' Sir Jasper said. 'I'm only one of the +visiting doctors at Dr. Bream's establishment. I don't go there unless +he sends for me, and I keep no notes of his cases. You will have to +ask him. If I am not mistaken his hours are from ten to twelve. +And now'--Sir Jasper rose--'as I can only congratulate you on your +splendid health--no, I really cannot prescribe anything--literally +nothing--' + +Isidore Bamberger had left three patients in the waiting-room and was +obliged to go away, as his 'splendid health' did not afford him the +slightest pretext for asking more questions. He deposited his two +guineas on the mantelpiece neatly wrapped in a bit of note-paper, +while Sir Jasper examined the handle of the door with a stony gaze, +and he said 'good morning' as he went out. + +'Good morning,' answered Sir Jasper, and as Mr. Bamberger crossed the +threshold the single clanging stroke of the doctor's bell was heard, +summoning the next patient. + +The American man of business was puzzled, for he was a good judge of +humanity, and was sure that when the Englishman said that he had never +seen Van Torp he was telling the literal truth. Mr. Bamberger was +convinced that there had been some agreement between them to make it +impossible for any one to see Feist. He knew the latter well, however, +and had great confidence in his remarkable power of holding his +tongue, even when under the influence of drink. + +When Tiberius had to choose between two men equally well fitted for a +post of importance, he had them both to supper, and chose the one who +was least affected by wine, not at all for the sake of seeing the +match, but on the excellent principle that in an age when heavy +drinking was the rule the man who could swallow the largest quantity +without becoming talkative was the one to be best trusted with a +secret; and the fact that Tiberius himself had the strongest head in +the Empire made him a good judge. + +Bamberger, on the same principle, believed that Charles Feist would +hold his tongue, and he also felt tolerably sure that the former +secretary had no compromising papers in his possession, for his memory +had always been extraordinary. Feist had formerly been able to carry +in his mind a number of letters which Bamberger 'talked off' to him +consecutively without even using shorthand, and could type them +afterwards with unfailing accuracy. It was therefore scarcely likely +that he kept notes of the articles he wrote about Van Torp. + +But his employer did not know that Feist's memory was failing from +drink, and that he no longer trusted his marvellous faculty. Van Torp +had sequestrated him and shut him up, Bamberger believed; but neither +Van Torp nor any one else would get anything out of him. + +And if any one made him talk, what great harm would be done, after +all? It was not to be supposed that such a man as Isidore Bamberger +had trusted only to his own keenness in collecting evidence, or to a +few pencilled notes as a substitute for the principal witness himself, +when an accident might happen at any moment to a man who led such a +life. The case for the prosecution had been quietly prepared during +several months past, and the evidence that was to send Rufus Van Torp +to execution, or to an asylum for the Criminal Insane for life, was in +the safe of Isidore Bamberger's lawyer in New York, unless, at that +very moment, it was already in the hands of the Public Prosecutor. A +couple of cables would do the rest at any time, and in a few hours. +In murder cases, the extradition treaty works as smoothly as the +telegraph itself. The American authorities would apply to the English +Home Secretary, the order would go to Scotland Yard, and Van Torp +would be arrested immediately and taken home by the first steamer, to +be tried in New York. + +Six months earlier he might have pleaded insanity with a possible +chance, but in the present state of feeling the plea would hardly be +admitted. A man who has been held up to public execration in the press +for weeks, and whom no one attempts to defend, is in a bad case if a +well-grounded accusation of murder is brought against him at such a +moment; and Isidore Bamberger firmly believed in the truth of the +charge and in the validity of the evidence. + +He consoled himself with these considerations, and with the reflection +that Feist was actually safer where he was, and less liable to +accident than if he were at large. Mr. Bamberger walked slowly down +Harley Street to Cavendish Square, with his head low between his +shoulders, his hat far back on his head, his eyes on the pavement, and +the shiny toes of his patent leather boots turned well out. His bowed +legs were encased in loose black trousers, and had as many angles as +the forepaws of a Dachshund or a Dandie Dinmont. The peculiarities of +his ungainly gait and figure were even more apparent than usual, and +as he walked he swung his long arms, that ended in large black gloves +which looked as if they were stuffed with sawdust. + +Yet there was something in his face that set him far beyond and above +ridicule, and the passers-by saw it and wondered gravely who and +what this man in black might be, and what great misfortune and still +greater passion had moulded the tragic mark upon his features; and +none of those who looked at him glanced at his heavy, ill-made figure, +or noticed his clumsy walk, or realised that he was most evidently +a typical German Jew, who perhaps kept an antiquity shop in Wardour +Street, and had put on his best coat to call on a rich collector in +the West End. + +Those who saw him only saw his face and went on, feeling that they had +passed near something greater and sadder and stronger than anything in +their own lives could ever be. + +But he went on his way, unconscious of the men and women he met, and +not thinking where he went, crossing Oxford Street and then turning +down Regent Street and following it to Piccadilly and the Haymarket. +Just before he reached the theatre, he slackened his pace and looked +about him, as if he were waking up; and there, in the cross street, +just behind the theatre, he saw a telegraph office. + +He entered, pushed his hat still a little farther back, and wrote a +cable message. It was as short as it could be, for it consisted of one +word only besides the address, and that one word had only two letters: + +'Go.' + +That was all, and there was nothing mysterious about the syllable, +for almost any one would understand that it was used as in starting +a footrace, and meant, 'Begin operations at once!' It was the word +agreed upon between Isidore Bamberger and his lawyer. The latter had +been allowed all the latitude required in such a case, for he had +instructions to lay the evidence before the District Attorney-General +without delay, if anything happened to make immediate action seem +advisable. In any event, he was to do so on receiving the message +which had now been sent. + +The evidence consisted, in the first place, of certain irrefutable +proofs that Miss Bamberger had not died from shock, but had been +killed by a thin and extremely sharp instrument with which she had +been stabbed in the back. Isidore Bamberger's own doctor had satisfied +himself of this, and had signed his statement under oath, and +Bamberger had instantly thought of a certain thin steel letter-opener +which Van Torp always had in his pocket. + +Next came the affidavit of Paul Griggs. The witness knew the Opera +House well. Had been in the stalls on the night in question. Had not +moved from his seat till the performance was over, and had been one of +the last to get out into the corridor. There was a small door in the +corridor on the south side which was generally shut. It opened upon a +passage communicating with the part of the building that is let for +business offices. Witness's attention had been attracted by part of +a red silk dress which lay on the floor outside the door, the latter +being ajar. Suspecting an accident, witness opened door, found Miss +Bamberger, and carried her to manager's room not far off. On reaching +home had found stains of blood on his hands. Had said nothing of this, +because he had seen notice of the lady's death from shock in next +morning's paper. Was nevertheless convinced that blood must have been +on her dress. + +The murder was therefore proved. But the victim had not been robbed +of her jewellery, which demonstrated that, if the crime had not been +committed by a lunatic, the motive for it must have been personal. + +With regard to identity of the murderer, Charles Feist deposed that on +the night in question he had entered the Opera late, having only an +admission to the standing room, that he was close to one of the doors +when the explosion took place and had been one of the first to leave +the house. The emergency lights in the corridors were on a separate +circuit, but had been also momentarily extinguished. They were up +again before those in the house. The crowd had at once become jammed +in the doorways, so that people got out much more slowly than might +have been expected. Many actually fell in the exits and were trampled +on. Then Madame Cordova had begun to sing in the dark, and the panic +had ceased in a few seconds. The witness did not think that more than +three hundred people altogether had got out through the several doors. +He himself had at once made for the main entrance. A few persons +rushed past him in the dark, descending the stairs from the boxes. One +or two fell on the steps. Just as the emergency lights went up again, +witness saw a young lady in a red silk dress fall, but did not see her +face distinctly; he was certain that she had a short string of pearls +round her throat. They gleamed in the light as she fell. She was +instantly lifted to her feet by Mr. Rufus Van Torp, who must have been +following her closely. She seemed to have hurt herself a little, +and he almost carried her down the corridor in the direction of +the carriage lobby on the Thirty-Eighth Street side. The two then +disappeared through a door. The witness would swear to the door, and +he described its position accurately. It seemed to have been left +ajar, but there was no light on the other side of it. The witness did +not know where the door led to. He had often wondered. It was not +for the use of the public. He frequently went to the Opera and was +perfectly familiar with the corridors. It was behind this door that +Paul Griggs had found Miss Bamberger. Questioned as to a possible +motive for the murder, the witness stated that Rufus Van Torp was +known to have shown homicidal tendencies, though otherwise perfectly +sane. In his early youth he had lived four years on a cattle-ranch as +a cow-puncher, and had undoubtedly killed two men during that time. +Witness had been private secretary to his partner, Mr. Isidore +Bamberger, and while so employed Mr. Van Torp had fired a revolver at +him in his private office in a fit of passion about a message witness +was sent to deliver. Two clerks in a neighbouring room had heard the +shot. Believing Mr. Van Torp to be mad, witness had said nothing at +the time, but had left Mr. Bamberger soon afterwards. It was always +said that, several years ago, on board of his steam yacht, Mr. Van +Torp had once violently pulled a friend who was on board out of his +berth at two in the morning, and had dragged him on deck, saying that +he must throw him overboard and drown him, as the only way of saving +his soul. The watch on deck had had great difficulty in overpowering +Mr. Van Torp, who was very strong. With regard to the late Miss +Bamberger the witness thought that Mr. Van Torp had killed her to get +rid of her, because she was in possession of facts that would ruin him +if they were known and because she had threatened to reveal them to +her father. If she had done so, Van Torp would have been completely in +his partner's power. Mr. Bamberger could have made a beggar of him as +the only alternative to penal servitude. Questioned as to the nature +of this information, witness said that it concerned the explosion, +which had been planned by Van Torp for his own purposes. Either in a +moment of expansion, under the influence of the drug he was in the +habit of taking, or else in real anxiety for her safety, he had told +Miss Bamberger that the explosion would take place, warning her to +remain in her home, which was situated on the Riverside Drive, very +far from the scene of the disaster. She had undoubtedly been so +horrified that she had thereupon insisted upon dissolving her +engagement to marry him, and had threatened to inform her father of +the horrible plot. She had never really wished to marry Van Torp, but +had accepted him in deference to her father's wishes. He was known +to be devoting himself at that very time to a well-known primadonna +engaged at the Metropolitan Opera, and Miss Bamberger probably had +some suspicion of this. Witness said the motive seemed sufficient, +considering that the accused had already twice taken human life. His +choice lay between killing her and falling into the power of his +partner. He had injured Mr. Bamberger, as was well known, and Mr. +Bamberger was a resentful man. + +The latter part of Charles Feist's deposition was certainly more in +the nature of an argument than of evidence pure and simple, and it +might not be admitted in court; but Isidore Bamberger had instructed +his lawyer, and the Public Prosecutor would say it all, and more also, +and much better; and public opinion was roused all over the United +States against the Nickel Tyrant, as Van Torp was now called. + +In support of the main point there was a short note to Miss Bamberger +in Van Torp's handwriting, which had afterwards been found on her +dressing-table. It must have arrived before she had gone out to +dinner. It contained a final and urgent entreaty that she would not go +to the Opera, nor leave the house that evening, and was signed with +Van Torp's initials only, but no one who knew his handwriting would be +likely to doubt that the note was genuine. + +There were some other scattered pieces of evidence which fitted the +rest very well. Mr. Van Torp had not been seen at his own house, +nor in any club, nor down town, after he had gone out on Wednesday +afternoon, until the following Friday, when he had returned to make +his final arrangements for sailing the next morning. Bamberger had +employed a first-rate detective, but only one, to find out all that +could be discovered about Van Torp's movements. The millionaire had +been at the house on Riverside Drive early in the afternoon to see +Miss Bamberger, as he had told Margaret on board the steamer, but +Bamberger had not seen his daughter after that till she was brought +home dead, for he had been detained by an important meeting at which +he presided, and knowing that she was dining out to go to the theatre +he had telephoned that he would dine at his club. He himself had tried +to telephone to Van Torp later in the evening but had not been able to +find him, and had not seen him till Friday. + +This was the substance of the evidence which Bamberger's lawyer and +the detective would lay before the District Attorney-General on +receiving the cable. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + + +When Lady Maud stopped at Margaret's house on her way to the theatre +she had been dining at Princes' with a small party of people, amongst +whom Paul Griggs had found himself, and as there was no formality to +hinder her from choosing her own place she had sat down next to him. +The table was large and round, the sixty or seventy other diners in +the room made a certain amount of noise, so that it was easy to talk +in undertones while the conversation of the others was general. + +The veteran man of letters was an old acquaintance of Lady Maud's; and +as she made no secret of her friendship with Rufus Van Torp, it was +not surprising that Griggs should warn her of the latter's danger. As +he had expected when he left New York, he had received a visit from a +'high-class' detective, who came to find out what he knew about Miss +Bamberger's death. This is a bad world, as we all know, and it is made +so by a good many varieties of bad people. As Mr. Van Torp had said to +Logotheti, 'different kinds of cats have different kinds of ways,' and +the various classes of criminals are pursued by various classes of +detectives. Many are ex-policemen, and make up the pack that hunts +the well-dressed lady shop-lifter, the gentle pickpocket, the agile +burglar, the Paris Apache, and the common murderer of the Bill Sykes +type; they are good dogs in their way, if you do not press them, +though they are rather apt to give tongue. But when they are not +ex-policemen, they are always ex-something else, since there is no +college for detectives, and it is not probable that any young man ever +deliberately began life with the intention of becoming one. Edgar Poe +invented the amateur detective, and modern writers have developed him +till he is a familiar and always striking figure in fiction and on the +stage. Whether he really exists or not does not matter. I have heard a +great living painter ask the question: What has art to do with truth? +But as a matter of fact Paul Griggs, who had seen a vast deal, had +never met an amateur detective; and my own impression is that if one +existed he would instantly turn himself into a professional because it +would be so very profitable. + +The one who called on Griggs in his lodgings wrote 'barrister-at-law' +after his name, and had the right to do so. He had languished in +chambers, briefless and half starving, either because he had no talent +for the bar, or because he had failed to marry a solicitor's daughter. +He himself was inclined to attribute his want of success to the +latter cause. But he had not wasted his time, though he was more than +metaphorically threadbare, and his waist would have made a sensation +at a staymaker's. He had watched and pondered on many curious cases +for years; and one day, when a 'high-class' criminal had baffled the +police and had well-nigh confounded the Attorney-General and proved +himself a saint, the starving barrister had gone quietly to work in +his own way, had discovered the truth, had taken his information to +the prosecution, had been the means of sending the high-class one to +penal servitude, and had covered himself with glory; since when he had +grown sleek and well-liking, if not rich, as a professional detective. + +Griggs had been perfectly frank, and had told without hesitation all +he could remember of the circumstances. In answer to further questions +he said he knew Mr. Van Torp tolerably well, and had not seen him in +the Opera House on the evening of the murder. He did not know whether +the financier's character was violent. If it was, he had never seen +any notable manifestation of temper. Did he know that Mr. Van Torp had +once lived on a ranch, and had killed two men in a shooting +affray? Yes, he had heard so, but the shooting might have been in +self-defence. Did he know anything about the blowing up of the works +of which Van Torp had been accused in the papers? Nothing more than +the public knew. Or anything about the circumstances of Van Torp's +engagement to Miss Bamberger? Nothing whatever. Would he read the +statement and sign his name to it? He would, and he did. + +Griggs thought the young man acted more like an ordinary lawyer than a +detective, and said so with a smile. + +'Oh no,' was the quiet answer. 'In my business it's quite as important +to recognise honesty as it is to detect fraud. That's all.' + +For his own part the man of letters did not care a straw whether Van +Torp had committed the murder or not, but he thought it very unlikely. +On general principles, he thought the law usually found out the truth +in the end, and he was ready to do what he could to help it. He held +his tongue, and told no one about the detective's visit, because he +had no intimate friend in England; partly, too, because he wished to +keep his name out of what was now called 'the Van Torp scandal.' + +He would never have alluded to the matter if he had not accidentally +found himself next to Lady Maud at dinner. She had always liked him +and trusted him, and he liked her and her father. On that evening she +spoke of Van Torp within the first ten minutes, and expressed her +honest indignation at the general attack made on 'the kindest man that +ever lived.' Then Griggs felt that she had a sort of right to know +what was being done to bring against her friend an accusation of +murder, for he believed Van Torp innocent, and was sure that Lady +Maud would warn him; but it was for her sake only that Griggs spoke, +because he pitied her. + +She took it more calmly than he had expected, but she grew a little +paler, and that look came into her eyes which Margaret and Logotheti +saw there an hour afterwards; and presently she asked Griggs if he too +would join the week-end party at Craythew, telling him that Van Torp +would be there. Griggs accepted, after a moment's hesitation. + +She was not quite sure why she had so frankly appealed to Logotheti +for help when they left Margaret's house together, but she was not +disappointed in his answer. He was 'exotic,' as she had said of him; +he was hopelessly in love with Cordova, who disliked Van Torp, and he +could not be expected to take much trouble for any other woman; she +had not the very slightest claim on him. Yet she had asked him to help +her in a way which might be anything but lawful, even supposing that +it did not involve positive cruelty. + +For she had not been married to Leven four years without learning +something of Asiatic practices, and she knew that there were more +means of making a man tell a secret than by persuasion or wily +cross-examination. It was all very well to keep within the bounds of +the law and civilisation, but where the whole existence of her best +friend was at stake, Lady Maud was much too simple, primitive, and +feminine to be hampered by any such artificial considerations, and +she turned naturally to a man who did not seem to be a slave to them +either. She had not quite dared to hope that he would help her, and +his readiness to do so was something of a surprise; but she would have +been astonished if he had been in the least shocked at the implied +suggestion of deliberately torturing Charles Feist till he revealed +the truth about the murder. She only felt a little uncomfortable when +she reflected that Feist might not know it after all, whereas she had +boldly told Logotheti that he did. + +If the Greek had hesitated for a few seconds before giving his answer, +it was not that he was doubtful of his own willingness to do what she +wished, but because he questioned his power to do it. The request +itself appealed to the Oriental's love of excitement and to his taste +for the uncommon in life. If he had not sometimes found occasions for +satisfying both, he could not have lived in Paris and London at all, +but would have gone back to Constantinople, which is the last refuge +of romance in Europe, the last hiding-place of mediaeval adventure, +the last city of which a new Decameron of tales could still be told, +and might still be true. + +Lady Maud had good nerves, and she watched the play with her friends +and talked between the acts, very much as if nothing had happened, +except that she was pale and there was that look in her eyes; but only +Paul Griggs noticed it, because he had a way of watching the small +changes of expression that may mean tragedy, but more often signify +indigestion, or too much strong tea, or a dun's letter, or a tight +shoe, or a bad hand at bridge, or the presence of a bore in the room, +or the flat failure of expected pleasure, or sauce spilt on a new gown +by a rival's butler, or being left out of something small and smart, +or any of those minor aches that are the inheritance of the social +flesh, and drive women perfectly mad while they last. + +But Griggs knew that none of these troubles afflicted Lady Maud, and +when he spoke to her now and then, between the acts, she felt his +sympathy for her in every word and inflection. + +She was glad when the evening was over and she was at home in her +dressing-room, and there was no more effort to be made till the next +day. But even alone, she did not behave or look very differently; she +twisted up her thick brown hair herself, as methodically as ever, and +laid out the black velvet gown on the lounge after shaking it out, +so that it should be creased as little as possible; but when she was +ready to go to bed she put on a dressing-gown and sat down at her +table to write to Rufus Van Torp. + +The letter was begun and she had written half a dozen lines when she +laid down the pen, to unlock a small drawer from which she took an old +blue envelope that had never been sealed, though it was a good deal +the worse for wear. There was a photograph in it, which she laid +before her on the letter; and she looked down at it steadily, resting +her elbows on the table and her forehead and temples in her hands. + +It was a snapshot photograph of a young officer in khaki and puttees, +not very well taken, and badly mounted on a bit of white pasteboard +that might have been cut from a bandbox with a penknife; but it was +all she had, and there could never be another. + +She looked at it a long time. + +'You understand, dear,' she said at last, very low; 'you understand.' + +She put it away again and locked the drawer before she went on with +her letter to Van Torp. It was easy enough to tell him what she had +learned about Feist from Logotheti; it was even possible that he had +found it out for himself, and had not taken the trouble to inform her +of the fact. Apart from the approval that friendship inspires, she had +always admired the cool discernment of events which he showed when +great things were at stake. But it was one thing, she now told him, to +be indifferent to the stupid attacks of the press, it would be quite +another to allow himself to be accused of murder; the time had come +when he must act, and without delay; there was a limit beyond which +indifference became culpable apathy; it was clear enough now, she +said, that all these attacks on him had been made to ruin him in the +estimation of the public on both sides of the Atlantic before striking +the first blow, as he himself had guessed; Griggs was surely not an +alarmist, and Griggs said confidently that Van Torp's enemies meant +business; without doubt, a mass of evidence had been carefully got +together during the past three months, and it was pretty sure that an +attempt would be made before long to arrest him; would he do nothing +to make such an outrage impossible? She had not forgotten, she could +never forget, what she owed him, but on his side he owed something to +her, and to the great friendship that bound them to each other. Who +was this man Feist, and who was behind him? She did not know why she +was so sure that he knew the truth, supposing that there had really +been a murder, but her instinct told her so. + +Lady Maud was not gifted with much power of writing, for she was not +clever at books, or with pen and ink, but she wrote her letter +with deep conviction and striking clearness. The only point of any +importance which she did not mention was that Logotheti had promised +to help her, and she did not write of that because she was not really +sure that he could do anything, though she was convinced that he would +try. She was very anxious. She was horrified when she thought of what +might happen if nothing were done. She entreated Van Torp to answer +that he would take steps to defend himself; and that, if possible, he +would come to town so that they might consult together. + +She finished her letter and went to bed; but her good nerves failed +her for once, and it was a long time before she could get to sleep. +It was absurd, of course, but she remembered every case she had ever +heard of in which innocent men had been convicted of crimes they had +not committed and had suffered for them; and in a hideous instant, +between waking and dozing, she saw Rufus Van Torp hanged before her +eyes. + +The impression was so awful that she started from her pillow with a +cry and turned up the electric lamp. It was not till the light flooded +the room that the image quite faded away and she could let her +head rest on the pillow again, and even then her heart was beating +violently, as it had only beaten once in her life before that night. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI + + +Sir Jasper Threlfall did not know how long it would be before Mr. +Feist could safely be discharged from the establishment in which +Logotheti had so kindly placed him. Dr. Bream said 'it was as bad a +case of chronic alcoholism as he often saw.' What has grammar to do +with the treatment of the nerves? Mr. Feist said he did not want to be +cured of chronic alcoholism, and demanded that he should be let out +at once. Dr. Bream answered that it was against his principles to +discharge a patient half cured. Mr. Feist retorted that it was a +violation of personal liberty to cure a man against his will. The +physician smiled kindly at a view he heard expressed every day, and +which the law shared, though it might not be very ready to support it. +Physically, Mr. Feist was afraid of Dr. Bream, who had played football +for Guy's Hospital and had the complexion of a healthy baby and a +quiet eye. So the patient changed his tone, and whined for something +to calm his agitated nerves. One teaspoonful of whisky was all he +begged for, and he promised not to ask for it to-morrow if he might +have it to-day. The doctor was obdurate about spirits, but felt his +pulse, examined the pupils of his eyes, and promised him a calming +hypodermic in an hour. It was too soon after breakfast, he said. Mr. +Feist only once attempted to use violence, and then two large men came +into the room, as quiet and healthy as the doctor himself, and gently +but firmly put him to bed, tucking him up in such an extraordinary way +that he found it quite impossible to move or to get his hands out; and +Dr. Bream, smiling with exasperating calm, stuck a needle into his +shoulder, after which he presently fell asleep. + +He had been drinking hard for years, so that it was a very bad case; +and besides, he seemed to have something on his mind, which made it +worse. + +Logotheti came to see him now, and took a vast deal of trouble to be +agreeable. At his first visit Feist flew into a rage and accused the +Greek of having kidnapped him and shut him up in a prison, where +he was treated like a lunatic; but to this Logotheti was quite +indifferent; he only shook his head rather sadly, and offered Feist a +very excellent cigarette, such as it was quite impossible to buy, even +in London. After a little hesitation the patient took it, and the +effect was very soothing to his temper. Indeed it was wonderful, for +in less than two minutes his features relaxed, his eyes became quiet, +and he actually apologised for having spoken so rudely. Logotheti had +been kindness itself, he said, had saved his life at the very moment +when he was going to cut his throat, and had been in all respects the +good Samaritan. The cigarette was perfectly delicious. It was about +the best smoke he had enjoyed since he had left the States, he said. +He wished Logotheti to please to understand that he wanted to settle +up for all expenses as soon as possible, and to pay his weekly bills +at Dr. Bream's. There had been twenty or thirty pounds in notes in his +pocket-book, and a letter of credit, but all his things had been taken +away from him. He concluded it was all right, but it seemed rather +strenuous to take his papers too. Perhaps Mr. Logotheti, who was so +kind, would make sure that they were in a safe place, and tell the +doctor to let him see any other friends who called. Then he asked +for another of those wonderful cigarettes, but Logotheti was awfully +sorry--there had only been two, and he had just smoked the other +himself. He showed his empty case. + +'By the way,' he said, 'if the doctor should happen to come in and +notice the smell of the smoke, don't tell him that you had one of +mine. My tobacco is rather strong, and he might think it would do you +harm, you know. I see that you have some light ones there, on the +table. Just let him think that you smoked one of them. I promise to +bring some more to-morrow, and we'll have a couple together.' + +That was what Logotheti said, and it comforted Mr. Feist, who +recognised the opium at once; all that afternoon and through all the +next morning he told himself that he was to have another of those +cigarettes, and perhaps two, at three o'clock in the afternoon, when +Logotheti had said that he would come again. + +Before leaving his own rooms on the following day, the Greek put four +cigarettes into his case, for he had not forgotten his promise; he +took two from a box that lay on the table, and placed them so that +they would be nearest to his own hand when he offered his case, but he +took the other two from a drawer which was always locked, and of which +the key was at one end of his superornate watch-chain, and he placed +them on the other side of the case, conveniently for a friend to take. +All four cigarettes looked exactly alike. + +If any one had pointed out to him that an Englishman would not think +it fair play to drug a man deliberately, Logotheti would have smiled +and would have replied by asking whether it was fair play to accuse an +innocent man of murder, a retort which would only become unanswerable +if it could be proved that Van Torp was suspected unjustly. But to +this objection, again, the Greek would have replied that he had been +brought up in Constantinople, where they did things in that way; +and that, except for the trifling obstacle of the law, there was +no particular reason for not strangling Mr. Feist with the English +equivalent for a bowstring, since he had printed a disagreeable story +about Miss Donne, and was, besides, a very offensive sort of person +in appearance and manner. There had always been a certain directness +about Logotheti's view of man's rights. + +He went to see Mr. Feist every day at three o'clock, in the most kind +way possible, made himself as agreeable as he could, and gave him +cigarettes with a good deal of opium in them. He also presented Feist +with a pretty little asbestos lamp which was constructed to purify +the air, and had a really wonderful capacity for absorbing the rather +peculiar odour of the cigarettes. Dr. Bream always made his round +in the morning, and the men nurses he employed to take care of his +patients either did not notice anything unusual, or supposed that +Logotheti smoked some 'outlandish Turkish stuff,' and, because he was +a privileged person, they said nothing about it. As he had brought +the patient to the establishment to be cured, it was really not to be +supposed that he would supply him with forbidden narcotics. + +Now, to a man who is poisoned with drink and is suddenly deprived of +it, opium is from the beginning as delightful as it is nauseous to +most healthy people when they first taste it; and during the next four +or five days, while Feist appeared to be improving faster than might +have been expected, he was in reality acquiring such a craving for +his daily dose of smoke that it would soon be acute suffering to be +deprived of it; and this was what Logotheti wished. He would have +supplied him with brandy if he had not been sure that the contraband +would be discovered and stopped by the doctor; but opium, in the +hands of one who knows exactly how it is used, is very much harder +to detect, unless the doctor sees the smoker when he is under the +influence of the drug, while the pupils of the eye are unnaturally +contracted and the face is relaxed in that expression of beatitude +which only the great narcotics can produce--the state which Baudelaire +called the Artificial Paradise. + +During these daily visits Logotheti became very confidential; that is +to say, he exercised all his ingenuity in the attempt to make Feist +talk about himself. But he was not very successful. Broken as the man +was, his characteristic reticence was scarcely at all relaxed, and it +was quite impossible to get beyond the barrier. One day Logotheti gave +him a cigarette more than usual, as an experiment, but he went to +sleep almost immediately, sitting up in his chair. The opium, as a +moderate substitute for liquor, temporarily restored the habitual tone +of his system and revived his natural self-control, and Logotheti soon +gave up the idea of extracting any secret from him in a moment of +garrulous expansion. + +There was the other way, which was now prepared, and the Greek had +learned enough about his victim to justify him in using it. The cypher +expert, who had been at work on Feist's diary, had now completed his +key and brought Logotheti the translation. He was a rather shabby +little man, a penman employed to do occasional odd jobs about the +Foreign Office, such as engrossing documents and the like, by which he +earned from eighteenpence to half-a-crown an hour, according to the +style of penmanship required, and he was well known in the criminal +courts as an expert on handwriting in forgery cases. + +He brought his work to Logotheti, who at once asked for the long entry +concerning the night of the explosion. The expert turned to it and +read it aloud. It was a statement of the circumstances to which Feist +was prepared to swear, and which have been summed up in a previous +chapter. Van Torp was not mentioned by name in the diary, but was +referred to as 'he'; the other entries in the journal, however, fully +proved that Van Torp was meant, even if Logotheti had felt any doubt +of it. + +The expert informed him, however, that the entry was not the original +one, which had apparently been much shorter, and had been obliterated +in the ordinary way with a solution of chloride of lime. Here and +there very pale traces of the previous writing were faintly visible, +but there was not enough to give the sense of what was gone. This +proved that the ink had not been long dry when it had been removed, +as the expert explained. It was very hard to destroy old writing so +completely that neither heat nor chemicals would bring it out again. +Therefore Feist must have decided to change the entry soon after he +had made it, and probably on the next day. The expert had not found +any other page which had been similarly treated. The shabby little man +looked at Logotheti, and Logotheti looked at him, and both nodded; and +the Greek paid him generously for his work. + +It was clear that Feist had meant to aid his own memory, and had +rather clumsily tampered with his diary in order to make it agree with +the evidence he intended to give, rather than meaning to produce the +notes in court. What Logotheti meant to find out was what the man +himself really knew and what he had first written down; that, and some +other things. In conversation, Logotheti had asked him to describe the +panic at the theatre, and Cordova's singing in the dark, but Feist's +answers had been anything but interesting. + +'You can't remember much about that kind of thing,' he had said in his +drawling way, 'because there isn't much to remember. There was a crash +and the lights went out, and people fought their way to the doors in +the dark till there was a general squash; then Madame Cordova began +to sing, and that kind of calmed things down till the lights went up +again. That's about all I remember.' + +His recollections did not at all agree with what he had entered in his +diary; but though Logotheti tried a second time two days later, Feist +repeated the same story with absolute verbal accuracy. The Greek asked +him if he had known 'that poor Miss Bamberger who died of shock.' +Feist blew out a cloud of drugged tobacco smoke before he answered, +with one of his disagreeable smiles, that he had known her pretty +well, for he had been her father's private secretary. He explained +that he had given up the place because he had come into some money. +Mr. Bamberger was 'a very pleasant gentleman,' Feist declared, and +poor Miss Bamberger had been a 'superb dresser and a first-class +conversationalist, and was a severe loss to her friends and admirers.' +Though Logotheti, who was only a Greek, did not understand every word +of this panegyric, he perceived that it was intended for the highest +praise. He said he should like to know Mr. Bamberger, and was sorry +that he had not known Miss Bamberger, who had been engaged to marry +Mr. Van Torp, as every one had heard. + +He thought he saw a difference in Feist's expression, but was not sure +of it. The pale, unhealthy, and yet absurdly youthful face was not +naturally mobile, and the almost colourless eyes always had rather a +fixed and staring look. Logotheti was aware of a new meaning in them +rather than of a distinct change. He accordingly went on to say that +he had heard poor Miss Bamberger spoken of as heartless, and he +brought out the word so unexpectedly that Feist looked sharply at him. + +'Well,' he said, 'some people certainly thought so. I daresay she was. +It don't matter much, now she's dead, anyway.' + +'She paid for it, poor girl,' answered Logotheti very deliberately. +'They say she was murdered.' + +The change in Feist's face was now unmistakable. There was a drawing +down of the corners of the mouth, and a lowering of the lids that +meant something, and the unhealthy complexion took a greyish shade. +Logotheti was too wise to watch his intended victim, and leaned back +in a careless attitude, gazing out of the window at the bright creeper +on the opposite wall. + +'I've heard it suggested,' said Mr. Feist rather thickly, out of a +perfect storm of drugged smoke. + +It came out of his ugly nostrils, it blew out of his mouth, it seemed +to issue even from his ears and eyes. + +'I suppose we shall never know the truth,' said Logotheti in an idle +tone, and not seeming to look at his companion. 'Mr. Griggs--do you +remember Mr. Griggs, the author, at the Turkish Embassy, where we +first met? Tall old fellow, sad-looking, bony, hard; you remember him, +don't you?' + +'Why, yes,' drawled Feist, emitting more smoke, 'I know him quite +well.' + +'He found blood on his hands after he had carried her. Had you not +heard that? I wondered whether you saw her that evening. Did you?' + +'I saw her from a distance in the box with her friends,' answered +Feist steadily. + +'Did you see her afterwards?' + +The direct question came suddenly, and the strained look in Feist's +face became more intense. Logotheti fancied he understood very well +what was passing in the young man's mind; he intended to swear in +court that he had seen Van Torp drag the girl to the place where her +body was afterwards found, and if he now denied this, the Greek, who +was probably Van Torp's friend, might appear as a witness and narrate +the present conversation; and though this would not necessarily +invalidate the evidence, it might weaken it in the opinion of the +jury. Feist had of course suspected that Logotheti had some object in +forcing him to undergo a cure, and this suspicion had been confirmed +by the opium cigarettes, which he would have refused after the first +time if he had possessed the strength of mind to do so. + +While Logotheti watched him, three small drops of perspiration +appeared high up on his forehead, just where the parting of his thin +light hair began; for he felt that he must make up his mind what to +say, and several seconds had already elapsed since the question. + +'As a matter of fact,' he said at last, with an evident effort, 'I did +catch sight of Miss Bamberger later.' + +He had been aware of the moisture on his forehead, and had hoped that +Logotheti would not notice it, but the drops now gathered and rolled +down, so that he was obliged to take out his handkerchief. + +'It's getting quite hot,' he said, by way of explanation. + +'Yes,' answered Logotheti, humouring him, 'the room is warm. You must +have been one of the last people who saw Miss Bamberger alive,' he +added. 'Was she trying to get out?' + +'I suppose so.' + +Logotheti pretended to laugh a little. + +'You must have been quite sure when you saw her,' he said. + +Feist was in a very overwrought condition by this time, and Logotheti +reflected that if his nerve did not improve he would make a bad +impression on a jury. + +'Now I'll tell you the truth,' he said rather desperately. + +'By all means!' And Logotheti prepared to hear and remember accurately +the falsehood which would probably follow immediately on such a +statement. + +But he was disappointed. + +'The truth is,' said Feist, 'I don't care much to talk about this +affair at present. I can't explain now, but you'll understand one of +these days, and you'll say I was right.' + +'Oh, I see!' + +Logotheti smiled and held out his case, for Feist had finished the +first cigarette. He refused another, however, to the other's surprise. + +'Thanks,' he said, 'but I guess I won't smoke any more of those. I +believe they get on to my nerves.' + +'Do you really not wish me to bring you any more of them?' asked +Logotheti, affecting a sort of surprised concern. 'Do you think they +hurt you?' + +'I do. That's exactly what I mean. I'm much obliged, all the same, but +I'm going to give them up, just like that.' + +'Very well,' Logotheti answered. 'I promise not to bring any more. I +think you are very wise to make the resolution, if you really think +they hurt you--though I don't see why they should.' + +Like most weak people who make good resolutions, Mr. Feist did not +realise what he was doing. He understood horribly well, forty-eight +hours later, when he was dragging himself at his tormentor's feet, +entreating the charity of half a cigarette, of one teaspoonful of +liquor, of anything, though it were deadly poison, that could rest his +agonised nerves for a single hour, for ten minutes, for an instant, +offering his life and soul for it, parching for it, burning, sweating, +trembling, vibrating with horror, and sick with fear for the want of +it. + +For Logotheti was an Oriental and had lived in Constantinople; and +he knew what opium does, and what a man will do to get it, and that +neither passion of love, nor bond of affection, nor fear of man or +God, nor of death and damnation, will stand against that awful craving +when the poison is within reach. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII + + +The society papers printed a paragraph which said that Lord Creedmore +and Countess Leven were going to have a week-end party at Craythew, +and the list of guests included the names of Mr. Van Torp and Senorita +da Cordova, 'Monsieur Konstantinos Logotheti' and Mr. Paul Griggs, +after those of a number of overpoweringly smart people. + +Lady Maud's brothers saw the paragraph, and the one who was in the +Grenadier Guards asked the one who was in the Blues if 'the Governor +was going in for zoology or lion-taming in his old age'; but the +brother in the Blues said it was 'Maud who liked freaks of nature, and +Greeks, and things, because they were so amusing to photograph.' + +At all events, Lady Maud had studiously left out her brothers and +sisters in making up the Craythew party, a larger one than had been +assembled there for many years; it was so large indeed that the +'freaks' would not have been prominent figures at all, even if they +had been such unusual persons as the young man in the Blues imagined +them. + +For though Lord Creedmore was not a rich peer, Craythew was a fine old +place, and could put up at least thirty guests without crowding them +and without causing that most uncomfortable condition of things in +which people run over each other from morning to night during week-end +parties in the season, when there is no hunting or shooting to keep +the men out all day. The house itself was two or three times as big as +Mr. Van Torp's at Oxley Paddox. It had its hall, its long drawing-room +for dancing, its library, its breakfast-room and its morning-room, its +billiard-room, sitting-room, and smoking-room, like many another big +English country house; but it had also a picture gallery, the library +was an historical collection that filled three good-sized rooms, and +it was completed by one which had always been called the study, beyond +which there were two little dwelling-rooms, at the end of the wing, +where the librarian had lived when there had been one. For the old +lord had been a bachelor and a book lover, but the present master of +the house, who was tremendously energetic and practical, took care of +the books himself. Now and then, when the house was almost full, a +guest was lodged in the former librarian's small apartment, and on the +present occasion Paul Griggs was to be put there, on the ground that +he was a man of letters and must be glad to be near books, and +also because he could not be supposed to be afraid of Lady Letitia +Foxwell's ghost, which was believed to have spent the nights in the +library for the last hundred and fifty years, more or less, ever since +the unhappy young girl had hanged herself there in the time of George +the Second, on the eve of her wedding day. + +The ancient house stood more than a mile from the high road, near the +further end of such a park as is rarely to be seen, even in beautiful +Derbyshire, for the Foxwells had always loved their trees, as good +Englishmen should, and had taken care of them. There were ancient oaks +there, descended by less than four tree-generations from Druid times; +all down the long drive the great elms threw their boughs skywards; +there the solemn beeches grew, the gentler ash, and the lime; there +the yews spread out their branches, and here and there the cedar of +Lebanon, patriarch of all trees that bear cones, reared his royal +crown above the rest; in and out, too, amongst the great boulders that +strewed the park, the sharp-leaved holly stood out boldly, and the +exquisite white thorn, all in flower, shot up to three and four times +a man's height; below, the heather grew close and green to blossom in +the summer-time; and in the deeper, lonelier places the blackthorn and +hoe ran wild, and the dog-rose in wild confusion; the alder and the +gorse too, the honeysuckle and ivy, climbed up over rocks and stems; +you might see a laurel now and then, and bilberry bushes by thousands, +and bracken everywhere in an endless profusion of rich, dark-green +lace. + +Squirrels there were, dashing across the open glades and running up +the smooth beeches and chestnut trees, as quick as light, and rabbits, +dodging in and out amongst the ferns, and just showing the snow-white +patch under their little tails as they disappeared, and now and again +the lordly deer stepping daintily and leisurely through the deep fern; +all these lived in the wonderful depths of Craythew Park, and of birds +there was no end. There were game birds and song birds, from the +handsome pheasants to the modest little partridges, the royalists and +the puritans of the woods, from the love-lorn wood-pigeon, cooing in +the tall firs, to the thrush and the blackbird, making long hops as +they quartered the ground for grubs; and the robin, the linnet, and +little Jenny Wren all lived there in riotous plenty of worms and +snails; and nearer to the great house the starlings and jackdaws shot +down in a great hurry from the holes in old trees where they had their +nests, and many of them came rushing from their headquarters in the +ruined tower by the stream to waddle about the open lawns in their +ungainly fashion, vain because they were not like swallows, but could +really walk when they chose, though they did it rather badly. And +where the woods ended they were lined with rhododendrons, and lilacs, +and laburnum. There are even bigger parks in England than Craythew, +but there is none more beautiful, none richer in all sweet and good +things that live, none more musical with song of birds, not one that +more deeply breathes the world's oldest poetry. + +Lady Maud went out on foot that afternoon and met Van Torp in the +drive, half a mile from the house. He came in his motor car with Miss +More and Ida, who was to go back after tea. It was by no means the +first time that they had been at Craythew; the little girl loved +nature, and understood by intuition much that would have escaped a +normal child. It was her greatest delight to come over in the motor +and spend two or three hours in the park, and when none of the family +were in the country she was always free to come and go, with Miss +More, as she pleased. + +Lady Maud kissed her kindly and shook hands with her teacher before +the car went on to leave Mr. Van Torp's things at the house. Then the +two walked slowly along the road, and neither spoke for some time, nor +looked at the other, but both kept their eyes on the ground before +them, as if expecting something. + +Mr. Van Torp's hands were in his pockets, his soft straw hat was +pushed rather far back on his sandy head, and as he walked he breathed +an American tune between his teeth, raising one side of his upper lip +to let the faint sound pass freely without turning itself into a real +whistle. It is rather a Yankee trick, and is particularly offensive to +some people, but Lady Maud did not mind it at all, though she heard it +distinctly. It always meant that Mr. Van Torp was in deep thought, and +she guessed that, just then, he was thinking more about her than of +himself. In his pocket he held in his right hand a small envelope +which he meant to bring out presently and give to her, where nobody +would be likely to see them. + +Presently, when the motor had turned to the left, far up the long +drive, he raised his eyes and looked about him. He had the sight of a +man who has lived in the wilderness, and not only sees, but knows how +to see, which is a very different thing. Having satisfied himself, he +withdrew the envelope and held it out to his companion. + +'I thought you might just as well have some more money,' he said, 'so +I brought you some. I may want to sail any minute. I don't know. Yes, +you'd better take it.' + +Lady Maud had looked up quickly and had hesitated to receive the +envelope, but when he finished speaking she took it quickly and +slipped it into the opening of her long glove, pushing it down till +it lay in the palm of her hand. She fastened the buttons before she +spoke. + +'How thoughtful you always are for me!' + +She unconsciously used the very words with which she had thanked him +in Hare Court the last time he had given her money. The tone told him +how deeply grateful she was. + +'Well,' he said in answer, 'as far as that goes, it's for you +yourself, as much as if I didn't know where it went; and if I'm +obliged to sail suddenly I don't want you to be out of your +reckoning.' + +'You're much too good, Rufus. Do you really mean that you may have to +go back at once, to defend yourself?' + +'No, not exactly that. But business is business, and somebody +responsible has got to be there, since poor old Bamberger has gone +crazy and come abroad to stay--apparently.' + +'Crazy?' + +'Well, he behaves like it, anyway. I'm beginning to be sorry for that +man. I'm in earnest. You mayn't believe it, but I really am. Kind of +unnatural, isn't it, for me to be sorry for people?' + +He looked steadily at Lady Maud for a moment, then smiled faintly, +looked away, and began to blow his little tune through his teeth +again. + +'You were sorry for little Ida,' suggested Lady Maud. + +'That's different. I--I liked her mother a good deal, and when the +child was turned adrift I sort of looked after her. Anybody'd do that, +I expect.' + +'And you're sorry for me, in a way,' said Lady Maud. + +'You're different, too. You're my friend. I suppose you're about the +only one I've got, too. We can't complain of being crowded out of +doors by our friends, either of us, can we? Besides, I shouldn't put +it in that way, or call it being sorry, exactly. It's another kind of +feeling I have. I'd like to undo your life and make it over again for +you, the right way, so that you'd be happy. I can do a great deal, but +all the cursed nickel in the world won't bring back the--' he checked +himself suddenly, shutting his hard lips with an audible clack, and +looking down. 'I beg your pardon, my dear,' he said in a low voice, a +moment later. + +For he had been very near to speaking of the dead, and he felt +instinctively that the rough speech, however kindly meant, would have +pained her, and perhaps had already hurt her a little. But as she +looked down, too, her hand gently touched the sleeve of his coat to +tell him that there was nothing to forgive. + +'He knows,' she said, more softly than sadly. 'Where he is, they know +about us--when we try to do right.' + +'And you haven't only tried,' Van Torp answered quietly, 'you've done +it.' + +'Have I?' It sounded as if she asked the question of herself, or of +some one to whom she appealed in her heart. 'I often wonder,' she +added thoughtfully. + +'You needn't worry,' said her companion, more cheerily than he had yet +spoken. 'Do you want to know why I think you needn't fuss about your +conscience and your soul, and things?' + +He smiled now, and so did she, but more at the words he used than at +the question itself. + +'Yes,' she said. 'I should like to know why.' + +'It's a pretty good sign for a lady's soul when a lot of poor +creatures bless her every minute of their lives for fishing them out +of the mud and landing them in a decent life. Come, isn't it now? You +know it is. That's all. No further argument's necessary. The jury is +satisfied and the verdict is that you needn't fuss. So that's that, +and let's talk about something else.' + +'I'm not so sure,' Lady Maud answered. 'Is it right to bribe people to +do right? Sometimes it has seemed very like that!' + +'I don't set up to be an expert in morality,' retorted Van Torp, 'but +if money, properly used, can prevent murder, I guess that's better +than letting the murder be committed. You must allow that. The +same way with other crimes, isn't it? And so on, down to mere +misdemeanours, till you come to ordinary morality. Now what have you +got to say? If it isn't much better for the people themselves to lead +decent lives just for money's sake, it's certainly much better +for everybody else that they should. That appears to me to be +unanswerable. You didn't start in with the idea of making those poor +things just like you, I suppose. You can't train a cart-horse to win +the Derby. Yet all their nonsense about equality rests on the theory +that you can. You can't make a good judge out of a criminal, no +matter how the criminal repents of his crimes. He's not been born the +intellectual equal of the man who's born to judge him. His mind is +biassed. Perhaps he's a degenerate--everything one isn't oneself is +called degenerate nowadays. It helps things, I suppose. And you can't +expect to collect a lot of poor wretches together and manufacture +first-class Magdalens out of ninety-nine per cent of them, because +you're the one that needs no repentance, can you? I forget whether the +Bible says it was ninety-nine who did or ninety-nine who didn't, +but you'll understand my drift, I daresay. It's logic, if it isn't +Scripture. All right. As long as you can stop the evil, without doing +wrong yourself, you're bringing about a good result. So don't fuss. +See?' + +'Yes, I see!' Lady Maud smiled. 'But it's your money that does it!' + +'That's nothing,' Van Torp said, as if he disliked the subject. + +He changed it effectually by speaking of his own present intentions +and explaining to his friend what he meant to do. + +His point of view seemed to be that Bamberger was quite mad since his +daughter's death, and had built up a sensational but clumsy case, with +the help of the man Feist, whose evidence, as a confirmed dipsomaniac, +would be all but worthless. It was possible, Van Torp said, that Miss +Bamberger had been killed; in fact, Griggs' evidence alone would +almost prove it. But the chances were a thousand to one that she had +been killed by a maniac. Such murders were not so uncommon as Lady +Maud might think. The police in all countries know how many cases +occur which can be explained only on that theory, and how diabolically +ingenious madmen are in covering their tracks. + +Lady Maud believed all he told her, and had perfect faith in his +innocence, but she knew instinctively that he was not telling her all; +and the certainty that he was keeping back something made her nervous. + +In due time the other guests came; each in turn met Mr. Van Torp soon +after arriving, if not at the moment when they entered the house; and +they shook hands with him, and almost all knew why he was there, but +those who did not were soon told by the others. + +The fact of having been asked to a country house for the express +purpose of being shown by ocular demonstration that something is 'all +right' which has been very generally said or thought to be all wrong, +does not generally contribute to the light-heartedness of such +parties. Moreover, the very young element was hardly represented, and +there was a dearth of those sprightly boys and girls who think it the +acme of delicate wit to shut up an aunt in the ice-box and throw the +billiard-table out of the window. Neither Lady Maud nor her father +liked what Mr. Van Torp called a 'circus'; and besides, the modern +youths and maids who delight in practical jokes were not the people +whose good opinion about the millionaire it was desired to obtain, or +to strengthen, as the case might be. The guests, far from being what +Lady Maud's brothers called a menagerie, were for the most part of the +graver sort whose approval weighs in proportion as they are themselves +social heavyweights. There was the Leader of the House, there were +a couple of members of the Cabinet, there was the Master of the +Foxhounds, there was the bishop of the diocese, and there was one of +the big Derbyshire landowners; there was an ex-governor-general +of something, an ex-ambassador to the United States, and a famous +general; there was a Hebrew financier of London, and Logotheti, the +Greek financier from Paris, who were regarded as colleagues of Van +Torp, the American financier; there was the scientific peer who had +dined at the Turkish Embassy with Lady Maud, there was the peer whose +horse had just won the Derby, and there was the peer who knew German +and was looked upon as the coming man in the Upper House. Many had +their wives with them, and some had lost their wives or could not +bring them; but very few were looking for a wife, and there were no +young women looking for husbands, since the Senorita da Cordova was +apparently not to be reckoned with those. + +Now at this stage of my story it would be unpardonable to keep my +readers in suspense, if I may suppose that any of them have a little +curiosity left. Therefore I shall not narrate in detail what happened +on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, seeing that it was just what might +have been expected to happen at a week-end party during the season +when there is nothing in the world to do but to play golf, tennis, or +croquet, or to ride or drive all day, and to work hard at bridge all +the evening; for that is what it has come to. + +Everything went very well till Sunday night, and most of the people +formed a much better opinion of Mr. Van Torp than those who had lately +read about him in the newspapers might have thought possible. The +Cabinet Ministers talked politics with him and found him sound--for +an American; the M.F.H. saw him ride, and felt for him exactly the +sympathy which a Don Cossack, a cowboy, and a Bedouin might feel for +each other if they met on horseback, and which needs no expression in +words; and the three distinguished peers liked him at once, because he +was not at all impressed by their social greatness, but was very +much interested in what they had to say respectively about science, +horse-breeding, and Herr Bebel. The great London financier, and he, +and Monsieur Logotheti exchanged casual remarks which all the men who +were interested in politics referred to mysterious loans that must +affect the armaments of the combined powers and the peace of Europe. + +Mr. Van Torp kept away from the Primadonna, and she watched him +curiously, a good deal surprised to see that most of the others +liked him better than she had expected. She was rather agreeably +disappointed, too, at the reception she herself met with Lord +Creedmore spoke of her only as 'Miss Donne, the daughter of his oldest +friend,' and every one treated her accordingly. No one even mentioned +her profession, and possibly some of the guests did not quite realise +that she was the famous Cordova. Lady Maud never suggested that she +should sing, and Lord Creedmore detested music. The old piano in the +long drawing-room was hardly ever opened. It had been placed there in +Victorian days when 'a little music' was the rule, and since the happy +abolition of that form of terror it had been left where it stood, and +was tuned once a year, in case anybody should want a dance when there +were young people in the house. + +A girl might as well master the Assyrian language in order to compose +hymns to Tiglath-Pileser as learn to play the piano nowadays, but +bridge is played at children's parties; let us not speak ill of the +Bridge that has carried us over. + +Margaret was not out of her element; on the contrary, she at first +had the sensation of finding herself amongst rather grave and not +uncongenial English people, not so very different from those with whom +she had spent her early girlhood at Oxford. It was not strange to her, +but it was no longer familiar, and she missed the surroundings to +which she had grown accustomed. Hitherto, when she had been asked to +join such parties, there had been at least a few of those persons +who are supposed to delight especially in the society of sopranos, +actresses, and lionesses generally; but none of them were at Craythew. +She was suddenly transported back into regions where nobody seemed to +care a straw whether she could sing or not, where nobody flattered +her, and no one suggested that it would be amusing and instructive +to make a trip to Spain together, or that a charming little kiosk +at Therapia was at her disposal whenever she chose to visit the +Bosphorus. + +There was only Logotheti to remind her of her everyday life, +for Griggs did not do so at all; he belonged much more to the +'atmosphere,' and though she knew that he had loved in his youth a +woman who had a beautiful voice, he understood nothing of music and +never talked about it. As for Lady Maud, Margaret saw much less of her +than she had expected; the hostess was manifestly preoccupied, and +was, moreover, obliged to give more of her time to her guests than +would have been necessary if they had been of the younger generation +or if the season had been winter. + +Margaret noticed in herself a new phase of change with regard to +Logotheti, and she did not like it at all: he had become necessary to +her, and yet she was secretly a little ashamed of him. In that temple +of respectability where she found herself, in such 'a cloister of +social pillars' as Logotheti called the party, he was a discordant +figure. She was haunted by a painful doubt that if he had not been a +very important financier some of those quiet middle-aged Englishmen +might have thought him a 'bounder,' because of his ruby pin, his +summer-lightning waistcoats, and his almond-shaped eyes. It was very +unpleasant to be so strongly drawn to a man whom such people probably +thought a trifle 'off.' + +It irritated her to be obliged to admit that the London financier, who +was a professed and professing Hebrew, was in appearance an English +gentleman, whereas Konstantinos Logotheti, with a pedigree of +Christian and not unpersecuted Fanariote ancestors, that went back to +Byzantine times without the least suspicion of any Semitic marriage, +might have been taken for a Jew in Lombard Street, and certainly would +have been thought one in Berlin. A man whose eyes suggested dark +almonds need not cover himself with jewellery and adorn himself +in naming colours, Margaret thought; and she resented his way of +dressing, much more than ever before. Lady Maud had called him exotic, +and Margaret could not forget that. By 'exotic' she was sure that her +friend meant something like vulgar, though Lady Maud said she liked +him. + +But the events that happened at Craythew on Sunday evening threw such +insignificant details as these into the shade, and brought out the +true character of the chief actors, amongst whom Margaret very +unexpectedly found herself. + +It was late in the afternoon after a really cloudless June day, and +she had been for a long ramble in the park with Lord Creedmore, who +had talked to her about her father and the old Oxford days, till all +her present life seemed to be a mere dream; and she could not realise, +as she went up to her room, that she was to go back to London on +the morrow, to the theatre, to rehearsals, to Pompeo Stromboli, +Schreiermeyer, and the public. + +She met Logotheti in the gallery that ran round two sides of the hall, +and they both stopped and leaned over the balustrade to talk a little. + +'It has been very pleasant,' she said thoughtfully. 'I'm sorry it's +over so soon.' + +'Whenever you are inclined to lead this sort of life,' Logotheti +answered with a laugh, 'you need only drop me a line. You shall have +a beautiful old house and a big park and a perfect colonnade of +respectabilities--and I'll promise not to be a bore.' + +Margaret looked at him earnestly for some seconds, and then asked a +very unexpected and frivolous question, because she simply could not +help it. + +'Where did you get that tie?' + +The question was strongly emphasised, for it meant much more to her +just then than he could possibly have guessed; perhaps it meant +something which was affecting her whole life. He laughed carelessly. + +'It's better to dress like Solomon in all his glory than to be taken +for a Levantine gambler,' he answered. 'In the days when I was +simple-minded, a foreigner in a fur coat and an eyeglass once stopped +me in the Boulevard des Italiens and asked if I could give him the +address of any house where a roulette-table was kept! After that I +took to jewels and dress!' + +Margaret wondered why she could not help liking him; and by sheer +force of habit she thought that he would make a very good-looking +stage Romeo. + +While she was thinking of that and smiling in spite of his tie, the +old clock in the hall below chimed the hour, and it was a quarter to +seven; and at the same moment three men were getting out of a train +that had stopped at the Craythew station, three miles from Lord +Creedmore's gate. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII + + +The daylight dinner was over, and the large party was more or less +scattered about the drawing-room and the adjoining picture-gallery +in groups of three and four, mostly standing while they drank their +coffee, and continued or finished the talk begun at table. + +By force of habit Margaret had stopped beside the closed piano, and +had seated herself on the old-fashioned stool to have her coffee. Lady +Maud stood beside her, leaning against the corner of the instrument, +her cup in her hand, and the two young women exchanged rather idle +observations about the lovely day that was over, and the perfect +weather. Both were preoccupied and they did not look at each other; +Margaret's eyes watched Logotheti, who was half-way down the long +room, before a portrait by Sir Peter Lely, of which he was apparently +pointing out the beauties to the elderly wife of the scientific peer. +Lady Maud was looking out at the light in the sunset sky above the +trees beyond the flower-beds and the great lawn, for the piano stood +near an open window. From time to time she turned her head quickly +and glanced towards Van Torp, who was talking with her father at some +distance; then she looked out of the window again. + +It was a warm evening; in the dusk of the big rooms the hum of voices +was low and pleasant, broken only now and then by Van Torp's more +strident tone. Outside it was still light, and the starlings and +blackbirds and thrushes were finishing their supper, picking up the +unwary worms and the tardy little snails, and making a good deal of +sweet noise about it. + +Margaret set down her cup on the lid of the piano, and at the slight +sound Lady Maud turned towards her, so that their eyes met. Each +noticed the other's expression. + +'What is it?' asked Lady Maud, with a little smile of friendly +concern. 'Is anything wrong?' + +'No--that is--' Margaret smiled too, as she hesitated--'I was going to +ask you the same question,' she added quickly. + +'It's nothing more than usual,' returned her friend. 'I think it +has gone very well, don't you, these three days? He has made a good +impression on everybody--don't you think so?' + +'Oh yes!' Margaret answered readily. 'Excellent! Could not be better! +I confess to being surprised, just a little--I mean,' she corrected +herself hastily, 'after all the talk there has been, it might not have +turned out so easy.' + +'Don't you feel a little less prejudiced against him yourself?' asked +Lady Maud. + +'Prejudiced!' Margaret repeated the word thoughtfully. 'Yes, I suppose +I'm prejudiced against him. That's the only word. Perhaps it's hateful +of me, but I cannot help it--and I wish you wouldn't make me own it to +you, for it's humiliating! I'd like him, if I could, for your sake. +But you must take the wish for the deed.' + +'That's better than nothing!' Lady Maud seemed to be trying to laugh +a little, but it was with an effort and there was no ripple in her +voice. 'You have something on your mind, too,' she went on, to change +the subject. 'Is anything troubling you?' + +'Only the same old question. It's not worth mentioning!' + +'To marry, or not to marry?' + +'Yes. I suppose I shall take the leap some day, and probably in the +dark, and then I shall be sorry for it. Most of you have!' + +She looked up at Lady Maud with a rather uncertain, flickering smile, +as if she wished her mind to be made up for her, and her hands lay +weakly in her lap, the palms almost upwards. + +'Oh, don't ask me!' cried her friend, answering the look rather than +the words, and speaking with something approaching to vehemence. + +'Do you wish you had waited for the other one till now?' asked +Margaret softly, but she did not know that he had been killed in South +Africa; she had never seen the shabby little photograph. + +'Yes--for ever!' + +That was all Lady Maud said, and the two words were not uttered +dramatically either, though gravely and without the least doubt. + +The butler and two men appeared, to collect the coffee cups; the +former had a small salver in his hand and came directly to Lady Maud. +He brought a telegram for her. + +'You don't mind, do you?' she asked Margaret mechanically, as she +opened it. + +'Of course,' answered the other in the same tone, and she looked +through the open window while her friend read the message. + +It was from the Embassy in London, and it informed her in the briefest +terms that Count Leven had been killed in St. Petersburg on the +previous day, in the street, by a bomb intended for a high official. +Lady Maud made no sound, but folded the telegram into a small square +and turned her back to the room for a moment in order to slip it +unnoticed into the body of her black velvet gown. As she recovered her +former attitude she was surprised to see that the butler was still +standing two steps from her where he had stopped after he had taken +the cups from the piano and set them on the small salver on which he +had brought the message. He evidently wanted to say something to her +alone. + +Lady Maud moved away from the piano, and he followed her a little +beyond the window, till she stopped and turned to hear what he had to +say. + +'There are three persons asking for Mr. Van Torp, my lady,' he said +in a very low tone, and she noticed the disturbed look in his face. +'They've got a motor-car waiting in the avenue.' + +'What sort of people are they?' she asked quietly; but she felt that +she was pale. + +'To tell the truth, my lady,' the butler spoke in a whisper, bending +his head, 'I think they are from Scotland Yard.' + +Lady Maud knew it already; she had almost guessed it when she had +glanced at his face before he spoke at all. + +'Show them into the old study,' she said, 'and ask them to wait a +moment.' + +The butler went away with his two coffee cups, and scarcely any one +had noticed that Lady Maud had exchanged a few words with him by the +window. She turned back to the piano, where Margaret was still sitting +on the stool with her hands in her lap, looking at Logotheti in the +distance and wondering whether she meant to marry him or not. + +'No bad news, I hope?' asked the singer, looking up as her friend came +to her side. + +'Not very good,' Lady Maud answered, leaning her elbow on the piano. +'Should you mind singing something to keep the party together while +I talk to some tiresome men who are in the old study? On these June +evenings people have a way of wandering out into the garden after +dinner. I should like to keep every one in the house for a quarter +of an hour, and if you will only sing for them they won't stir. Will +you?' + +Margaret looked at her curiously. + +'I think I understand,' Margaret said. 'The people in the study are +asking for Mr. Van Torp.' + +Lady Maud nodded, not surprised that Logotheti should have told the +Primadonna something about what he had been doing. + +'Then you believe he is innocent,' she said confidently. 'Even though +you don't like him, you'll help me, won't you?' + +'I'll do anything you ask me. But I should think--' + +'No,' Lady Maud interrupted. 'He must not be arrested at all. I know +that he would rather face the detectives than run away, even for a +few hours, till the truth is known. But I won't let him. It would +be published all over the world to-morrow morning that he had been +arrested for murder in my father's house, and it would never be +forgotten against him, though he might be proved innocent ten times +over. That's what I want to prevent. Will you help me?' + +As she spoke the last words she raised the front lid of the piano, +and Margaret turned on her seat towards the instrument to open the +keyboard, nodding her assent. + +'Just play a little, till I am out of the room, and then sing,' said +Lady Maud. + +The great artist's fingers felt the keys as her friend turned away. +Anything theatrical was natural to her now, and she began to play very +softly, watching the moving figure in black velvet as she would have +watched a fellow singer on the stage while waiting to go on. + +Lady Maud did not speak to Van Torp first, but to Griggs, and then to +Logotheti, and the two men slipped away together and disappeared. Then +she came back to Van Torp, smiling pleasantly. He was still talking +with Lord Creedmore, but the latter, at a word from his daughter, went +off to the elderly peeress whom Logotheti had abruptly left alone +before the portrait. + +Margaret did not hear what Lady Maud said to the American, but it was +evidently not yet a warning, for her smile did not falter, and he +looked pleased as he came back with her, and they passed near the +piano to go out through the open window upon the broad flagged terrace +that separated the house from the flower-beds. + +The Primadonna played a little louder now, so that every one heard the +chords, even in the picture-gallery, and a good many men were rather +bored at the prospect of music. + +Then the Senorita da Cordova raised her head and looked over the grand +piano, and her lips parted, and boredom vanished very suddenly; for +even those who did not take much pleasure in the music were amazed by +the mere sound of her voice and by its incredible flexibility. + +She meant to astonish her hearers and keep them quiet, and she knew +what to sing to gain her end, and how to sing it. Those who have not +forgotten the story of her beginnings will remember that she was a +thorough musician as well as a great singer, and was one of those +very few primadonnas who are able to accompany themselves from memory +without a false note through any great piece they know, from _Lucia_ +to _Parsifal_. + +She began with the waltz song in the first act of _Romeo and Juliet_. +It was the piece that had revealed her talent to Madame Bonanni, who +had accidentally overheard her singing to herself, and it suited her +purpose admirably. Such fireworks could not fail to astound, even if +they did not please, and half the full volume of her voice was more +than enough for the long drawing-room, into which the whole party +gathered almost as soon as she began to sing. Such trifles as having +just dined, or having just waked up in the morning, have little +influence on the few great natural voices of the world, which begin +with twice the power and beauty that the 'built-up' ones acquire in +years of study. Ordinary people go to a concert, to the opera, to a +circus, to university sports, and hear and see things that interest or +charm, or sometimes surprise them; but they are very much amazed if +they ever happen to find out in private life what a really great +professional of any sort can do at a pinch, if put to it by any strong +motive. If it had been necessary, Margaret could have sung to the +party in the drawing-room at Craythew for an hour at a stretch with no +more rest than her accompaniments afforded. + +Her hearers were the more delighted because it was so spontaneous, and +there was not the least affectation about it. During these days no one +had even suggested that she should make music, or be anything except +the 'daughter of Lord Creedmore's old friend.' But now, apparently, +she had sat down to the piano to give them all a concert, for the +sheer pleasure of singing, and they were not only pleased with her, +but with themselves; for the public, and especially audiences, are +more easily flattered by a great artist who chooses to treat his +hearers as worthy of his best, than the artist himself is by the +applause he hears for the thousandth time. + +So the Senorita da Cordova held the party at Craythew spellbound while +other things were happening very near them which would have interested +them much more than her trills, and her 'mordentini,' and her soaring +runs, and the high staccato notes that rang down from the ceiling as +if some astounding and invisible instrument were up there, supported +by an unseen force. + +Meanwhile Paul Griggs and Logotheti had stopped a moment in the first +of the rooms that contained the library, on their way to the old study +beyond. + +It was almost dark amongst the huge oak bookcases, and both men +stopped at the same moment by a common instinct, to agree quickly upon +some plan of action. They had led adventurous lives, and were not +likely to stick at trifles, if they believed themselves to be in +the right; but if they had left the drawing-room with the distinct +expectation of anything like a fight, they would certainly not have +stopped to waste their time in talking. + +The Greek spoke first. + +'Perhaps you had better let me do the talking,' he said. + +'By all means,' answered Griggs. 'I am not good at that. I'll keep +quiet, unless we have to handle them.' + +'All right, and if you have any trouble I'll join in and help you. +Just set your back against the door if they try to get out while I am +speaking.' + +'Yes.' + +That was all, and they went on in the gathering gloom, through the +three rooms of the library, to the door of the old study, from which a +short winding staircase led up to the two small rooms which Griggs was +occupying. + +Three quiet men in dark clothes were standing together in the +twilight, in the bay window at the other side of the room, and they +moved and turned their heads quickly as the door opened. Logotheti +went up to them, while Griggs remained near the door, looking on. + +'What can I do for you?' inquired the Greek, with much urbanity. + +'We wished to speak with Mr. Van Torp, who is stopping here,' answered +the one of the three men who stood farthest forward. + +'Oh yes, yes!' said Logotheti at once, as if assenting. 'Certainly! +Lady Maud Leven, Lord Creedmore's daughter--Lady Creedmore is away, +you know--has asked us to inquire just what you want of Mr. Van Torp.' + +'It's a personal matter,' replied the spokesman. 'I will explain it to +him, if you will kindly ask him to come here a moment.' + +Logotheti smiled pleasantly. + +'Quite so,' he said. 'You are, no doubt, reporters, and wish to +interview him. As a personal friend of his, and between you and me, +I don't think he'll see you. You had better write and ask for an +appointment. Don't you think so, Griggs?' + +The author's large, grave features relaxed in a smile of amusement as +he nodded his approval of the plan. + +'We do not represent the press,' answered the man. + +'Ah! Indeed? How very odd! But of course--' Logotheti pretended to +understand suddenly--'how stupid of me! No doubt you are from the +bank. Am I not right?' + +'No. You are mistaken. We are not from Threadneedle Street.' + +'Well, then, unless you will enlighten me, I really cannot imagine who +you are or where you come from!' + +'We wish to speak in private with Mr. Van Torp.' + +'In private, too?' Logotheti shook his head, and turned to Griggs. +'Really, this looks rather suspicious; don't you think so?' + +Griggs said nothing, but the smile became a broad grin. + +The spokesman, on his side, turned to his two companions and +whispered, evidently consulting them as to the course he should +pursue. + +'Especially after the warning Lord Creedmore has received,' said +Logotheti to Griggs in a very audible tone, as if explaining his last +speech. + +The man turned to him again and spoke in a gravely determined tone-- + +'I must really insist upon seeing Mr. Van Torp immediately,' he said. + +'Yes, yes, I quite understand you,' answered Logotheti, looking at him +with a rather pitying smile, and then turning to Griggs again, as if +for advice. + +The elder man was much amused by the ease with which the Greek had so +far put off the unwelcome visitors and gained time; but he saw that +the scene must soon come to a crisis, and prepared for action, keeping +his eye on the three, in case they should make a dash at the door that +communicated with the rest of the house. + +During the two or three seconds that followed, Logotheti reviewed the +situation. It would be an easy matter to trick the three men into the +short winding staircase that led up to the rooms Griggs occupied, and +if the upper and lower doors were locked and barricaded, the prisoners +could not forcibly get out. But it was certain that the leader of the +party had a warrant about him, and this must be taken from him before +locking him up, and without any acknowledgment of its validity; for +even the lawless Greek was aware that it was not good to interfere +with officers of the law in the execution of their duty. If there had +been more time he might have devised some better means of attaining +his end than occurred to him just then. + +'They must be the lunatics,' he said to Griggs, with the utmost calm. + +The spokesman started and stared, and his jaw dropped. For a moment he +could not speak. + +'You know Lord Creedmore was warned this morning that a number had +escaped from the county asylum,' continued Logotheti, still speaking +to Griggs, and pretending to lower his voice. + +'Lunatics?' roared the man when he got his breath, exasperated out of +his civil manner. 'Lunatics, sir? We are from Scotland Yard, sir, I'd +have you know!' + +'Yes, yes,' answered the Greek, 'we quite understand. Humour them, +my dear chap,' he added in an undertone that was meant to be heard. +'Yes,' he continued in a cajoling tone, 'I guessed at once that +you were from police headquarters. If you'll kindly show me your +warrant--' + +He stopped politely, and nudged Griggs with his elbow, so that the +detectives should be sure to see the movement. The chief saw the +awkwardness of his own position, measured the bony veteran and the +athletic foreigner with his eye, and judged that if the two were +convinced that they were dealing with madmen they would make a pretty +good fight. + +'Excuse me,' the officer said, speaking calmly, 'but you are under a +gross misapprehension about us. This paper will remove it at once, I +trust, and you will not hinder us in the performance of an unpleasant +duty.' + +He produced an official envelope, handed it to Logotheti, and waited +for the result. + +It was unexpected when it came. Logotheti took the paper, and as it +was now almost dark he looked about for the key of the electric +light. Griggs was now close to him by the door through which they had +entered, and behind which the knob was placed. + +'If I can get them upstairs, lock and barricade the lower door,' +whispered the Greek as he turned up the light. + +He took the paper under a bracket light on the other side of the room, +beside the door of the winding stair, and began to read. + +His face was a study, and Griggs watched it, wondering what was +coming. As Logotheti read and reread the few short sentences, he was +apparently seized by a fit of mirth which he struggled in vain to +repress, and which soon broke out into uncontrollable laughter. + +'The cleverest trick you ever saw!' he managed to get out between his +paroxysms. + +It was so well done that the detective was seriously embarrassed; but +after a moment's hesitation he judged that he ought to get his warrant +back at all hazards, and he moved towards Logotheti with a menacing +expression. + +But the Greek, pretending to be afraid that the supposed lunatic was +going to attack him, uttered an admirable yell of fear, opened the +door close at his hand, rushed through, slammed it behind him, and +fled up the dark stairs. + +The detective lost no time, and followed in hot pursuit, his two +companions tearing up after him into the darkness. Then Griggs quietly +turned the key in the lock, for he was sure that Logotheti had +reached the top in time to fasten the upper door, and must be +already barricading it. Griggs proceeded to do the same, quietly and +systematically, and the great strength he had not yet lost served him +well, for the furniture in the room was heavy. In a couple of minutes +it would have needed sledge-hammers and crowbars to break out by the +lower entrance, even if the lock had not been a solid one. + +Griggs then turned out the lights, and went quietly back through the +library to the other part of the house to find Lady Maud. + +Logotheti, having meanwhile made the upper door perfectly secure, +descended by the open staircase to the hall, and sent the first +footman he met to call the butler, with whom he said he wished to +speak. The butler came at once. + +'Lady Maud asked me to see those three men,' said Logotheti in a low +tone. 'Mr. Griggs and I are convinced that they are lunatics escaped +from the asylum, and we have locked them up securely in the staircase +beyond the study.' + +'Yes, sir,' said the butler, as if Logotheti had been explaining how +he wished his shoe-leather to be treated. + +'I think you had better telephone for the doctor, and explain +everything to him over the wire without speaking to Lord Creedmore +just yet.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'How long will it take the doctor to get here?' + +'Perhaps an hour, sir, if he's at home. Couldn't say precisely, sir.' + +'Very good. There is no hurry; and of course her ladyship will be +particularly anxious that none of her friends should guess what has +happened; you see there would be a general panic if it were known that +there are escaped lunatics in the house.' + +'Yes, sir.' + +'Perhaps you had better take a couple of men you can trust, and pile +up some more furniture against the doors, above and below. One cannot +be too much on the safe side in such cases.' + +'Yes, sir. I'll do it at once, sir.' + +Logotheti strolled back towards the gallery in a very unconcerned way. +As for the warrant, he had burnt it in the empty fireplace in Griggs' +room after making all secure, and had dusted down the black ashes so +carefully that they had quite disappeared under the grate. After all, +as the doctor would arrive in the firm expectation of finding three +escaped madmen under lock and key, the Scotland Yard men might +have some difficulty in proving themselves sane until they could +communicate with their headquarters, and by that time Mr. Van Torp +could be far on his way if he chose. + +When Logotheti reached the door of the drawing-room, Margaret was +finishing Rosina's Cavatina from the _Barbiere di Siviglia_ in a +perfect storm of fireworks, having transposed the whole piece two +notes higher to suit her own voice, for it was originally written for +a mezzo-soprano. + +Lady Maud and Van Torp had gone out upon the terrace unnoticed a +moment before Margaret had begun to sing. The evening was still and +cloudless, and presently the purple twilight would pale under the +summer moon, and the garden and the lawns would be once more as bright +as day. The friends walked quickly, for Lady Maud set the pace and led +Van Torp toward the trees, where the stables stood, quite hidden from +the house. As soon as she reached the shade she stood still and spoke +in a low voice. + +'You have waited too long,' she said. 'Three men have come to arrest +you, and their motor is over there in the avenue.' + +'Where are they?' inquired the American, evidently not at all +disturbed. 'I'll see them at once, please.' + +'And give yourself up?' + +'I don't care.' + +'Here?' + +'Why not? Do you suppose I am going to run away? A man who gets out in +a hurry doesn't usually look innocent, does he?' + +Lady Maud asserted herself. + +'You must think of me and of my father,' she said in a tone of +authority Van Torp had never heard from her. 'I know you're as +innocent as I am, but after all that has been said and written about +you, and about you and me together, it's quite impossible that you +should let yourself be arrested in our house, in the midst of a party +that has been asked here expressly to be convinced that my father +approves of you. Do you see that?' + +'Well--' Mr. Van Torp hesitated, with his thumbs in his waistcoat +pockets. + +Across the lawn, from the open window, Margaret's voice rang out like +a score of nightingales in unison. + +'There's no time to discuss it,' Lady Maud said. 'I asked her to sing, +so as to keep the people together. Before she has finished, you must +be out of reach.' + +Mr. Van Torp smiled. 'You're remarkably positive about it,' he said. + +'You must get to town before the Scotland Yard people, and I don't +know how much start they will give you. It depends on how long Mr. +Griggs and Logotheti can keep them in the old study. It will be neck +and neck, I fancy. I'll go with you to the stables. You must ride to +your own place as hard as you can, and go up to London in your +car to-night. The roads are pretty clear on Sundays, and there's +moonlight, so you will have no trouble. It will be easy to say here +that you have been called away suddenly. Come, you must go!' + +Lady Maud moved towards the stables, and Van Torp was obliged to +follow her. Far away Margaret was singing the last bars of the waltz +song. + +'I must say,' observed Mr. Van Torp thoughtfully, as they walked on, +'for a lady who's generally what I call quite feminine, you make a man +sit up pretty quick.' + +'It's not exactly the time to choose for loafing,' answered Lady Maud. +'By the bye,' she added, 'you may as well know. Poor Leven is dead. I +had a telegram a few minutes ago. He was killed yesterday by a bomb +meant for somebody else.' + +Van Torp stood still, and Lady Maud stopped with evident reluctance. + +'And there are people who don't believe in Providence,' he said +slowly. 'Well, I congratulate you anyway.' + +'Hush, the poor man is dead. We needn't talk about him. Come, there's +no time to lose!' She moved impatiently. + +'So you're a widow!' Van Torp seemed to be making the remark to +himself without expecting any answer, but it at once suggested a +question. 'And now what do you propose to do?' he inquired. 'But I +expect you'll be a nun, or something. I'd like you to arrange so that +I can see you sometimes, will you?' + +'I'm not going to disappear yet,' Lady Maud answered gravely. + +They reached the stables, which occupied three sides of a square yard. +At that hour the two grooms and the stable-boy were at their supper, +and the coachman had gone home to his cottage. A big brown retriever +on a chain was sitting bolt upright beside his kennel, and began to +thump the flagstones with his tail as soon as he recognised Lady Maud. +From within a fox-terrier barked two or three times. Lady Maud opened +a door, and he sprang out at her yapping, but was quiet as soon as he +knew her. + +'You'd better take the Lancashire Lass,' she said to Van Torp. 'You're +heavier than my father, but it's not far to ride, and she's a clever +creature.' + +She had turned up the electric light while speaking, for it was dark +inside the stable; she got a bridle, went into the box herself, and +slipped it over the mare's pretty head. Van Torp saw that it was +useless to offer help. + +'Don't bother about a saddle,' he said; 'it's a waste of time.' + +He touched the mare's face and lips with his hand, and she understood +him, and let him lead her out. He vaulted upon her back, and Lady Maud +walked beside him till they were outside the yard. + +'If you had a high hat it would look like the circus,' she said, +glancing at his evening dress. 'Now get away! I'll be in town on +Tuesday; let me know what happens. Good-bye! Be sure to let me know.' + +'Yes. Don't worry. I'm only going because you insist, anyhow. +Good-bye. God bless you!' + +He waved his hand, the mare sprang forward, and in a few seconds he +was out of sight amongst the trees. Lady Maud listened to the regular +sound of the galloping hoofs on the turf, and at the same time from +very far off she heard Margaret's high trills and quick staccato +notes. At that moment the moon was rising through the late twilight, +and a nightingale high overhead, no doubt judging her little self to +be quite as great a musician as the famous Cordova, suddenly began +a very wonderful piece of her own, just half a tone higher than +Margaret's, which might have distressed a sensitive musician, but did +not jar in the least on Lady Maud's ear. + +Now that she had sent Van Torp on his way, she would gladly have +walked alone in the park for half an hour to collect her thoughts; but +people who live in the world are rarely allowed any pleasant leisure +when they need it, and many of the most dramatic things in real life +happen when we are in such a hurry that we do not half understand +them. So the moment that should have been the happiest of all goes +dashing by when we are hastening to catch a train; so the instant of +triumph after years of labour or weeks of struggling is upon us when +we are perhaps positively obliged to write three important notes +in twenty minutes; and sometimes, too, and mercifully, the pain of +parting is numbed just as the knife strikes the nerve, by the howling +confusion of a railway station that forces us to take care of +ourselves and our belongings; and when the first instant of joy, or +victory, or acute suffering is gone in a flash, memory never quite +brings back all the happiness nor all the pain. + +Lady Maud could not have stayed away many minutes longer. She went +back at once, entered by the garden window just as Margaret was +finishing Rosina's song, and remained standing behind her till she +had sung the last note. English people rarely applaud conventional +drawing-room music, but this had been something more, and the Craythew +guests clapped their hands loudly, and even the elderly wife of the +scientific peer emitted distinctly audible sounds of satisfaction. +Lady Maud bent her handsome head and kissed the singer affectionately, +whispering words of heartfelt thanks. + + + + +CHAPTER XIX + + +Through the mistaken efforts of Isidore Bamberger, justice had got +herself into difficulties, and it was as well for her reputation, +which is not good nowadays, that the public never heard what happened +on that night at Craythew, how the three best men who had been +available at headquarters were discomfited in their well-meant attempt +to arrest an innocent man, and how they spent two miserable hours +together locked up in a dark winding staircase. For it chanced, as +it will chance to the end of time, that the doctor was out when the +butler telephoned to him; it happened, too, that he was far from home, +engaged in ushering a young gentleman of prosperous parentage into +this world, an action of which the kindness might be questioned, +considering that the poor little soul presumably came straight from +paradise, with an indifferent chance of ever getting there again. So +the doctor could not come. + +The three men were let out in due time, however, and as no trace of a +warrant could be discovered at that hour, Logotheti and Griggs being +already sound asleep, and as Lord Creedmore, in his dressing-gown and +slippers, gave them a written statement to the effect that Mr. Van +Torp was no longer at Craythew, they had no choice but to return to +town, rather the worse for wear. What they said to each other by the +way may safely be left to the inexhaustible imagination of a gentle +and sympathising reader. + +Their suppressed rage, their deep mortification, and their profound +disgust were swept away in their overwhelming amazement, however, +when they found that Mr. Rufus Van Torp, whom they had sought in +Derbyshire, was in Scotland Yard before them, closeted with their +Chief and explaining what an odd mistake the justice of two nations +had committed in suspecting him to have been at the Metropolitan +Opera-House in New York at the time of the explosion, since he had +spent that very evening in Washington, in the private study of the +Secretary of the Treasury, who wanted his confidential opinion on a +question connected with Trusts before he went abroad. Mr. Van Torp +stuck his thumbs into his waistcoat pockets and blandly insisted that +the cables should be kept red-hot--at international expense--till the +member of the Cabinet in Washington should answer corroborating the +statement. Four o'clock in the morning in London was only eleven +o'clock of the previous evening, Mr. Van Torp explained, and it was +extremely unlikely that the Secretary of the Treasury should be in +bed so early. If he was, he was certainly not asleep; and with the +facilities at the disposal of governments there was no reason why the +answer should not come back in forty minutes. + +It was impossible to resist such simple logic. The lines were cleared +for urgent official business between London and Washington, and in +less than an hour the answer came back, to the effect that Mr. Rufus +Van Torp's statement was correct in every detail; and without any +interval another official message arrived, revoking the request +for his extradition, which 'had been made under a most unfortunate +misapprehension, due to the fact that Mr. Van Torp's visit to the +Secretary of the Treasury had been regarded as confidential by the +latter.' + +Scotland Yard expressed its regret, and Mr. Van Torp smiled and begged +to be allowed, before leaving, to 'shake hands' with the three men who +had been put to so much inconvenience on his account. This democratic +proposal was promptly authorised, to the no small satisfaction and +profit of the three haggard officials. So Mr. Van Torp went away, +and in a few minutes he was sound asleep in the corner of his big +motor-car on his way back to Derbyshire. + +Lady Maud found Margaret and Logotheti walking slowly together under +the trees about eleven o'clock on the following morning. Some of the +people were already gone, and most of the others were to leave in the +course of the day. Lady Maud had just said good-bye to a party of ten +who were going off together, and she had not had a chance to speak to +Margaret, who had come down late, after her manner. Most great singers +are portentous sleepers. As for Logotheti, he always had coffee in his +room wherever he was, he never appeared at breakfast, and he got rid +of his important correspondence for the day before coming down. + +'I've had a letter from Threlfall,' he said as Lady Maud came up. 'I +was just telling Miss Donne about it. Feist died in Dr. Bream's Home +yesterday afternoon.' + +'Rather unfortunate at this juncture, isn't it?' observed Margaret. + +But Lady Maud looked shocked and glanced at Logotheti as if asking a +question. + +'No,' said the Greek, answering her thought. 'I did not kill him, poor +devil! He did it himself, out of fright, I think. So that side of the +affair ends. He had some sealed glass capsules of hydrocyanide of +potassium in little brass tubes, sewn up in the lining of a waistcoat, +and he took one, and must have died instantly. I believe the stuff +turns into prussic acid, or something of that sort, when you swallow +it--Griggs will know.' + +'How dreadful!' exclaimed Lady Maud. 'I'm sure you drove him to it!' + +'I'll bear the responsibility of having rid the world of him, if I +did. But my share consisted in having given him opium and then stopped +it suddenly, till he surrendered and told the truth--or a large part +of it--what I have told you already. He would not own that he killed +Miss Bamberger himself with the rusty little knife that had a few red +silk threads sticking to the handle. He must have put it back into his +case of instruments as it was, and he never had the courage to look +at it again. He had studied medicine, I believe. But he confessed +everything else, how he had been madly in love with the poor girl when +he was her father's secretary, and how she treated him like a servant +and made her father turn him out, and how he hated Van Torp furiously +for being engaged to marry her. He hated the Nickel Trust, too, +because he had thought the shares were going down and had risked +the little he had as margin on a drop, and had lost it all by the +unexpected rise. He drank harder after that, till he was getting silly +from it, when the girl's death gave him his chance against Van Torp, +and he manufactured the evidence in the diary he kept, and went to +Bamberger with it and made the poor man believe whatever he invented. +He told me all that, with a lot of details, but I could not make him +admit that he had killed the girl himself, so I gave him his opium and +he went to sleep. That's my story. Or rather, it's his, as I got it +from him last Thursday. I supposed there was plenty of time, but Mr. +Bamberger seems to have been in a hurry after we had got Feist into +the Home.' + +'Had you told Mr. Van Torp all this?' asked Lady Maud anxiously. + +'No,' Logotheti answered. 'I was keeping the information ready in case +it should be needed.' + +A familiar voice spoke behind them. + +'Well, it's all right as it is. Much obliged, all the same.' + +All three turned suddenly and saw that Mr. Van Torp had crept up while +they were talking, and the expression of his tremendous mouth showed +that he had meant to surprise them, and was pleased with his success +in doing so. + +'Really!' exclaimed Lady Maud. + +'Goodness gracious!' cried the Primadonna. + +'By the Dog of Egypt!' laughed Logotheti. + +'Don't know the breed,' answered Van Torp, not understanding, but +cheerfully playful. 'Was it a trick dog?' + +'I thought you were in London,' Margaret said. + +'I was. Between one and four this morning, I should say. It's all +right.' He nodded to Lady Maud as he spoke the last words, but he did +not seem inclined to say more. + +'Is it a secret?' she asked. + +'I never have secrets,' answered the millionaire. 'Secrets are +everything that must be found out and put in the paper right away, +ain't they? But I had no trouble at all, only the bother of waiting +till the office got an answer from the other side. I happened to +remember where I'd spent the evening of the explosion, that's all, and +they cabled sharp and found my statement correct.' + +'Why did you never tell me?' asked Lady Maud reproachfully. 'You knew +how anxious I was!' + +'Well,' replied Mr. Van Torp, dwelling long on the syllable, 'I did +tell you it was all right anyhow, whatever they did, and I thought +maybe you'd accept the statement. The man I spent that evening with is +a public man, and he mightn't exactly think our interview was anybody +else's business, might he?' + +'And you say you never keep a secret!' + +The delicious ripple was in Lady Maud's sweet voice as she spoke. +Perhaps it came a little in spite of herself, and she would certainly +have controlled her tone if she had thought of Leven just then. But +she was a very natural creature, after all, and she could not and +would not pretend to be sorry that he was dead, though the manner of +his end had seemed horrible to her when she had been able to think +over the news, after Van Torp had got safely away. So far there had +only been three big things in her life: her love for a man who was +dead, her tremendous determination to do some real good for his +memory's sake, and her deep gratitude to Van Torp, who had made that +good possible, and who, strangely enough, seemed to her the only +living person who really understood her and liked her for her own +sake, without the least idea of making love. And she saw in him what +few suspected, except little Ida and Miss More--the real humanity and +faithful kindness that dwelt in the terribly hard and coarse-grained +fighting financier. Lady Maud had her faults, no doubt, but she was +too big, morally, to be disturbed by what seemed to Margaret Donne an +intolerable vulgarity of manner and speech. + +As for Margaret, she now felt that painful little remorse that hurts +us when we realise that we have suspected an innocent person of +something dreadful, even though we may have contributed to the +ultimate triumph of the truth. Van Torp unconsciously deposited a coal +of fire on her head. + +'I'd just like to say how much I appreciate your kindness in singing +last night, Madame da Cordova,' he said. 'From what you knew and +told me on the steamer, you might have had a reasonable doubt, and I +couldn't very well explain it away before. I wish you'd some day tell +me what I can do for you. I'm grateful, honestly.' + +Margaret saw that he was much in earnest, and as she felt that she had +done him great injustice, she held out her hand with a frank smile. + +'I'm glad I was able to be of use,' she said. 'Come and see me in +town.' + +'Really? You won't throw me out if I do?' + +Margaret laughed. + +'No, I won't throw you out!' + +'Then I'll come some day. Thank you.' + +Van Torp had long given up all hope that she would ever marry him, but +it was something to be on good terms with her again, and for the sake +of that alone he would have risked a good deal. + +The four paired off, and Lady Maud walked in front with Van Torp, +while Margaret and Logotheti followed more slowly; so the couples did +not long keep near one another, and in less than five minutes they +lost each other altogether among the trees. + +Margaret had noticed something very unusual in the Greek's appearance +when they had met half an hour earlier, and she had been amazed when +she realised that he wore no jewellery, no ruby, no emeralds, no +diamonds, no elaborate chain, and that his tie was neither green, +yellow, sky-blue, nor scarlet, but of a soft dove grey which she liked +very much. The change was so surprising that she had been on the point +of asking him whether anything dreadful had happened; but just then +Lady Maud had come up with them. + +They walked a little way now, and when the others were out of sight +Margaret sat down on one of the many boulders that strewed the park. +Her companion stood before her, and while he lit a cigarette she +surveyed him deliberately from head to foot. Her fresh lips twitched +as they did when she was near laughing, and she looked up and met his +eyes. + +'What in the world has happened to you since yesterday?' she asked in +a tone of lazy amusement. 'You look almost like a human being!' + +'Do I?' he asked, between two small puffs of smoke, and he laughed a +little. + +'Yes. Are you in mourning for your lost illusions?' + +'No. I'm trying "to create and foster agreeable illusions" in you. +That's the object of all art, you know.' + +'Oh! It's for me, then? Really?' + +'Yes. Everything is. I thought I had explained that the other night!' +His tone was perfectly unconcerned, and he smiled carelessly as he +spoke. + +'I wonder what would happen if I took you at your word,' said +Margaret, more thoughtfully than she had spoken yet. + +'I don't know. You might not regret it. You might even be happy!' + +There was a little silence, and Margaret looked down. + +'I'm not exactly miserable as it is,' she said at last. 'Are you?' + +'Oh no!' answered Logotheti. 'I should bore you if I were!' + +'Awfully!' She laughed rather abruptly. 'Should you want me to leave +the stage?' she asked after a moment. + +'You forget that I like the Cordova just as much as I like Margaret +Donne.' + +'Are you quite sure?' + +'Absolutely!' + +'Let's try it!' + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PRIMADONNA*** + + +******* This file should be named 10521.txt or 10521.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/5/2/10521 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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