Again, as she sat on the arm of the big chair, she tapped the dark blue
tiles with the toe of her shoe. The slight movement transmitted itself
through her whole figure, and for an instant each beautiful line and
curve quivered and was very slightly modified. Logotheti saw and drew
his breath sharply between his teeth.
'Yes,' Margaret was saying impatiently. 'When Mrs. Rushmore had told me
the truth, I walked to the station and took the first train. I only
stopped to get Madame De Rosa.' 'She is not a very powerful ally,' observed Logotheti. 'She is probably
asleep in her arm-chair in the drawing-room by this time. Are you still
angry with me? Yes, I believe you are. Please forgive me. I had not the
least idea of offending you, because I trusted that old---- I mean,
because I was so sure that Mrs. Rushmore would never tell.' 'Never mind Mrs. Rushmore,' Margaret said. 'What I will not forgive you
is that you made me take your money without my knowing it. I've been
flirting with you--yes, I confess it! I'm not perfection, and you're
rather amusing sometimes----' 'You are adorable!' Logotheti put in, as a sort of murmuring
parenthesis.
'Don't talk nonsense,' Margaret answered. 'I mean that whatever I may
have said to you I've never given you the right to make me a present of
a hundred thousand pounds. It's the most unparalleled piece of
impertinence I ever heard of.' 'But I've not made you a present of anything. I bought what was yours
without letting you know, that's all.' 'Then give me back what is mine and take your money again.' 'Hm!' Logotheti smiled. 'That would be very like going into a business
partnership with me. Do you wish to do that?' 'What do you mean?' 'You see, I'm the whole company at present. But if you come in with a
third of the stock to your credit, we shall be partners, to all intents
and purposes. We shall have meetings of the board of directors, just
you and I, and we shall decide what to do. It will be rather a queer
sort of board, for of course I shall always do exactly what you wish,
but it's not impossible that we may make money together. Well--on the
whole I have no particular objection to selling you exactly the amount
of stock I bought from you the other day. That's the shape the
transaction takes. I'll do any thing to please you, but I'm quite
willing you should know that I am doing you a favour, as business men
would look at it.' 'A favour!' Margaret slipped from the arm of the chair as she spoke and
stood upright and made a step towards him. 'Do you think I'm a child to
believe such nonsense?' 'In matters of business all women are children. With the possible
exception of Mrs. Rushmore,' he added in a tone of reflection.
'Besides, this is not nonsense.' 'It is!' cried Margaret. 'It is absurd to try and make me believe that
a mere claim set up on the chance of getting something should have
turned out to be worth so much. It has cost Mrs. Rushmore I don't know
how much in lawsuits, and no one ever really believed in it. She fought
for it out of pure kindness of heart, and even the lawyers said she was
very foolish to go on----' 'Will you listen to me?' asked Logotheti, interrupting her. 'I've not
much to say, but it's rather convincing. You probably admit that the
invention is valuable, and that Alvah Moon has made money by it.' 'I should think he had, the old thief!' 'Very well. I happened to want that invention. I've bought several at
different times and have founded companies and sold them. That's a part
of finance, which is a form of game. You deal yourself a hand and then
play it. I made up my mind to play with this particular invention. I
know much more about it than you do; in fact, I understand it
thoroughly. I cabled to my agent in America to buy it, if he could, and
he succeeded. Now please tell me whether you think Mrs. Rushmore,
acting for you, would have withdrawn the suit after the property had
changed hands, merely because I've dined in her house.' 'No,' Margaret was forced to admit. 'No, she would have gone on.' 'Precisely. Now I don't want property of that kind, about which there
is constant litigation. The credit of such property is injured by the
talk there always is about lawsuits. So I went to Mrs. Rushmore and
asked her what she thought your claim was worth, and she told me, and I
gave her a cheque for the money, and she has given me a full release,
as your attorney. If it had been her claim, or Madame De Rosa's or any
one else's, I should have done exactly the same thing. Will you tell me
how I could have acted otherwise in order to get the property into my
hands free of all chance of dispute? Was there any other way?' Margaret was silent, for she could find no answer.