'Let us call it a half million dollars, then,' he said, with a smile.
'At four-eighty-four, that is'--again he looked at the ceiling for ten
seconds--'that is one hundred and three thousand three hundred and five
pounds fifteen shillings fivepence halfpenny, nearly. Is that it? Shall
we say that, Mrs. Rushmore.' 'How quickly you do it!' exclaimed the lady in admiration. 'I wish I
could do that! Oh yes, I have no doubt it is quite correct. You
couldn't do it on paper, could you? You see it doesn't matter so much
about the halfpenny, but if there were a little slip in the thousands,
you know--it would make quite a difference----' She paused significantly. Logotheti quietly pulled his cuff over his
hand, produced a pencil instead of his fountain pen, and proceeded to
divide five hundred thousand by four hundred and eighty-four to three
places of decimals.
'Fifteen and fivepence halfpenny,' he said, when he had turned the
fraction into shillings and pence, 'and the pounds are just what I
said.' 'Do you mean to say that you did all that in your head in ten seconds?'
asked Mrs. Rushmore, with renewed admiration.
'Oh no,' he answered. 'We have much shorter ways of reckoning money in
the East, but you could not understand that. You are quite satisfied
that this is right?' 'Oh, certainly!' Mrs. Rushmore could no more have divided five hundred thousand by four
hundred and eighty-four to three places of decimals than she could have
composed Parsifal, but her doubts were satisfied by its having been
done 'on paper.' Logotheti put away his jewelled pencil, took out his jewelled fountain
pen again, spread the cheque on the seat of the bench beside him and
filled it in for the amount, including the halfpenny. He handed it to
her, holding it by the corner.
'It's wet,' he observed. 'It's drawn on the Bank of England. It will be
necessary for you to sign a statement to the effect that you withdraw
the suit and that Miss Donne's claim is fully satisfied. She will have
to sign that too. I'll send you the paper. If you have any doubts,' he
smiled, 'you need not return it until the cheque has been cashed.' That was precisely what Mrs. Rushmore intended to do, but she protested
politely that she had no doubt whatever on the score of the cheque,
looking all the time at the big figures written out in Logotheti's
remarkably clear handwriting. Only the signature was perfectly
illegible. He noticed her curiosity about it.