He also had the advantage of speaking French like a native, though
possibly with a very slight southern accent caught from his mother, who
originally came from Provence. As for his name, it was useless to
assume another, for Paris is full of Parisians of foreign descent,
whose names are English, German, Polish and Italian; and in a really
great city no one takes the least notice of a man unless he does
something to attract attention. Besides, Lushington had no idea of
disappearing from his own world, or of cutting himself off from his
regular correspondents.
He had not any fixed plan, for he was not sure what he wanted; he only
knew that he hated and distrusted Logotheti, and that while he could
not forgive Margaret for liking the Greek's society, he meant, in an
undetermined way, to save her from destruction. Probably, if he had
attempted to put his thoughts into words, he could have got no further
than Mrs. Rushmore, who suspected Logotheti of designs, and at the root
of his growing suspicion he would have found the fine old Anglo-Saxon
prejudice that a woman might as well trust herself to Don Juan, an
Italian Count, or Beelzebub, as to the offspring of Cadmus or Danaus.
Englishmen have indolent minds and active bodies, as a rule, but on the
other hand, when they are really roused, no people in the world are
capable of greater mental concentration and energy. They are therefore
not good detectives as a rule, but there are few better when they are
deeply and selfishly interested in the result.
Incidentally, Lushington meant to do his utmost to prevent Margaret
from going on the stage, and he would have been much surprised to learn
that in this respect he was Logotheti's ally, instead of his enemy,
against Margaret's fixed determination. If there was to be a struggle,
therefore, it was to be a three-cornered one, in which the two men
would be pitted against each other, and both together against the
resolution of the woman they both loved. Unfortunately for Lushington,
he had begun by withdrawing from Margaret's surroundings and had made
way for his adversary.
Meanwhile Logotheti made the running. He had offered Margaret his motor
car for coming in to her rehearsals, and a chauffeur appeared with it
in good time, masked, coated and gloved in the approved fashion.
Margaret supposed that Logotheti meant to ask her to luncheon again
with Madame De Rosa, and she made up her mind to refuse, for no
particular reason except that she did not wish to seem too willing to
do whatever he proposed. Mrs. Rushmore thought it bad enough that she
should accept the offer of the motor car, but was beginning to
understand that the machine had quite irresistible temptations for all
persons under fifty. She was even a little shocked that Margaret should
go alone to Paris under the sole protection of the chauffeur, though
she would have thought it infinitely worse if Logotheti himself had
appeared.