Until the carriage was out of sight, Logotheti and Lushington stood
still where Margaret had left them. Then Lushington looked at his
adversary coolly for about four seconds, stuck his hands into his
pockets, turned his back and deliberately walked off without a word.
Logotheti was so little prepared for such an abrupt closure that he
stood looking after the Englishman in surprise till the latter had made
a dozen steps.
'I say!' said the Greek, calling after him then and affecting an
exceedingly English tone. 'I say, you know! This won't do.'
Lushington stopped, turned on his heel and faced him from a distance.
'What won't do?' he asked coolly.
Seeing that he came no nearer, Logotheti went forward a little.
'You admitted just now that you had been playing the spy,' said the
Greek, whose temper was getting beyond his control, now that the women
were gone.
'Yes,' said Lushington, 'I've been watching you.'
'I said spying,' answered Logotheti; 'I used the word "spy." Do you
understand?' 'Perfectly.' 'You don't seem to. I'm insulting you. I mean to insult you.'
'Oh!' A faint smile crossed the Englishman's face. 'You want me to send
you a couple of friends and fight a duel with you? I won't do anything
so silly. As I told you before Miss Donne, we don't owe each other
anything to speak of, so we may as well part without calling each other
bad names.' 'If that is your view of it, you had better keep out of my way in
future.' He laid his hand on the car to get in as he spoke.
Lushington's face hardened.
'I shall not take any pains to do that,' he answered. 'On the contrary,
if you go on doing what you have been doing of late, you'll find me
very much in your way.' Logotheti turned upon him savagely.
'Do you want to marry Miss Donne yourself?' he asked.
Lushington, who was perfectly cool now that no woman was present, was
struck by the words, which contained a fair question, though the tone
was angry and aggressive.
'No,' he answered quietly. 'Do you?' Logotheti stared at him.
'What the devil did you dare to think that I meant?' he asked. 'It
would give me the greatest satisfaction to break your bones for asking
that!' Lushington came a step nearer, his hands in his pockets, though his
eyes were rather bright.
'You may try if you like,' he said. 'But I've something more to say,
and I don't think we need fall to fisticuffs on the highroad like a
couple of bargees. I've misunderstood you. If you are going to marry
Miss Donne, I shall keep out of your way altogether. I made a mistake,
because you haven't the reputation of a saint, and when a man of your
fortune runs after a young singer it's not usually with the idea of
marrying her. I'm glad I was wrong.' Logotheti was too good a judge of men to fancy that Lushington was in
the least afraid of him, or that he spoke from any motive but a fair
and firm conviction; and the Greek himself, with many faults, was too
brave not to be generous. He turned again to get into the car.