‘Just what you do, I fancy.  Have you any idea who wrote it?’

’Probably some underling in the Nickel Trust whom Van Torp has offended without knowing it, or who has lost money by him.’

Griggs glanced at his companion’s face, for the hypothesis struck him as being tenable.

‘Unless it is some enemy of Countess Leven’s,’ he suggested.  ’Her husband is really going to divorce her, as the article says.’

‘I suppose she will defend herself,’ said Logotheti.

‘If she has a chance.’

‘What do you mean?’

’Do you happen to know what sort of man the present Patriarch of Constantinople is?’

Logotheti’s jaw dropped, and he slackened his pace.

‘What in the world—­’ he began, but did not finish the sentence.  ‘That’s the second time to-day I’ve been asked about him.’

‘That’s very natural,’ said Griggs calmly.  ’You’re one of the very few men in town who are likely to know him.’

‘Of course I know him,’ answered Logotheti, still mystified.  ’He’s my uncle.’

‘Really?  That’s very lucky!’

‘Look here, Griggs, is this some silly joke?’

’A joke?  Certainly not.  Lady Maud’s husband can only get a divorce through the Patriarch because he married her out of Russia.  You know about that law, don’t you?’

Logotheti understood at last.

‘No,’ he said, ’I never heard of it.  But if that is the case I may be able to do something—­not that I’m considered orthodox at the Patriarchate!  The old gentleman has been told that I’m trying to revive the worship of the Greek gods and have built a temple to Aphrodite Xenia in the Place de la Concorde!’

‘You’re quite capable of it,’ observed Griggs.

’Oh, quite!  Only, I’ve not done it yet.  I’ll see what I can do.  Are you much interested in the matter?’

’Only on general principles, because I believe Lady Maud is perfectly straight, and it is a shame that such a creature as Leven should be allowed to divorce an honest Englishwoman.  By the bye—­speaking of her reminds me of that dinner at the Turkish Embassy—­do you remember a disagreeable-looking man who sat next to me, one Feist, a countryman of mine?’

‘Rather!  I wondered how he came there.’

’He had a letter of introduction from the Turkish Minister in Washington.  He is full of good letters of introduction.’

‘I should think they would need to be good,’ observed Logotheti.  ’With that face of his he would need an introduction to a Port Said gambling-hell before they would let him in.’

’I agree with you.  But he is well provided, as I say, and he goes everywhere.  Some one has put him down at the Mutton Chop.  You never go there, do you?’

‘I’m not asked,’ laughed Logotheti.  ’And as for becoming a member, they say it’s impossible.’