'I always sign my cheques in Greek,' he observed 'It is not so easy to
imitate.' He rose and held out his hand.
'I suppose I ought to thank you on Margaret's behalf,' said Mrs.
Rushmore, as she took it. 'She will be so sorry not to have seen you.' 'It was much easier to do business without her. And as for that, there
is no reason for telling her anything about the transaction. You need
only say that a syndicate has bought out Alvah Moon and has compromised
the old suit by a cash payment. I am not at all anxious to have her
know that I have had a hand in the matter--in fact, I had rather that
she shouldn't, if you don't object.' Mrs. Rushmore looked hard at him. She had not even thought of refusing
his offer, which would save Margaret a considerable fortune by a stroke
of a pen; but she had taken it for granted that what might easily be
made to pass for an act of magnificent liberality was intended to
produce a profound impression on Margaret's feelings. The elder woman
was shrewd enough to guess that the Greek would not lose money in the
end, but she went much too far in suspecting him of anything so vulgar
as playing on the girl's gratitude. She looked at him keenly.
'Do you mean that?' she asked, almost incredulously.
His quiet almond eyes gazed into hers with the trustful simplicity of a
child's.
'Yes,' he answered. 'This is purely a matter of business, in which I am
consulting nothing but my own interests. I should have acted precisely
in the same way if I had never had the pleasure of knowing either of
you. If it chances that I have been of service to Miss Donne, so much
the better, but there is no reason why she should ever know it, so far
as I am concerned. I would rather she should not. She might fancy that
I had acted from other motives.' 'Very well,' Mrs. Rushmore answered; 'then I shall not tell her.' Nevertheless, when the motor car had tooted and puffed itself away to
Paris and Mrs. Rushmore still sat in her straight-backed garden chair
holding the cheque in her hand, she thought it all very strange and
unaccountable; and the only explanation that occurred to her was that
the invention must be worth far more than she had supposed. This was
not altogether a pleasant reflection either, as it made her inclined to
reproach herself for not having driven a hard bargain with Logotheti.