She had thought of Lushington often that day, and now she wished with
all her heart that he were beside her, standing between her and
something she could not define but which she dreaded just because she
could not imagine what it was, though it was certainly connected with
Logotheti and with what he had said. She changed her mind about the
Greek half-a-dozen times in an hour, but after each change the
conviction grew on her that he had meant not only what he had said, but
much more. His eyes were not like other men's eyes at all, when they
looked at her, though they were so very quiet and steady; they were the
eyes of another race which she did not know, and they saw the world as
her own people did not see it, nor as Frenchmen, nor as Italians, nor
Germans, nor as any people she had met. They had seen sights she could
never see, in countries where the law, if there was any, took it for
granted that men would risk their lives for what they wanted. She, who
was not easily frightened, suddenly felt the fear of the unknown, and
the unknown was somehow embodied in Logotheti.
She did not show what she felt when he strolled up to her to say
good-bye, but through her glove she felt that his hand was stone cold,
and as he said the half-dozen conventional words that were necessary
she was sure that he smiled strangely, even mysteriously, as if such
phrases as 'I hope to see you again before long,' and 'such a heavenly
afternoon,' would cloak the deadly purposes of a diabolical design.
Margaret was alone with Mrs. Rushmore for a few minutes before dinner.
'Well?' Mrs. Rushmore uttered the single word in an ejaculatory and
interrogative tone, as only a certain number of old-fashioned Americans
can. Spoken in that peculiar way it can mean a good deal, for it can
convey suspicion, or approval or disapproval and any degree of
acquaintance with the circumstances concerned, from almost total
ignorance to the knowledge of everything except the result of the
latest development.
On the present occasion Mrs. Rushmore meant that she had watched
Margaret and Logotheti and had guessed approximately what had
passed--that she thought the matter decidedly interesting, and wished
to know all about it.
But Margaret was not anxious to understand, if indeed her English ear
detected all the hidden meaning of the monosyllable.
'There were a good many people, weren't there?' she observed with a
sort of query, meant to lead the conversation in that direction.