Logotheti broke off suddenly.

‘What do they say?’ Margaret was interested.

‘No, I shall not tell you, because I don’t believe it.’

’If you say you don’t believe the story, what harm can there be in telling it?’

’No harm, perhaps.  But what is the use of repeating a bit of wicked gossip?’

Margaret’s curiosity was roused about the beautiful Englishwoman.

‘If you won’t tell me, I may think it is something far worse!’

‘I’m sure you could not imagine anything more unlikely!’

’Please tell me!  Please!  I know it’s mere idle curiosity, but you’ve roused it, and I shall not sleep unless I know.’

‘And that would be bad for your voice.’

‘Of course!  Please—­’

Logotheti had not meant to yield, but he could not resist her winning tone.

’I’ll tell you, but I don’t believe a word of it, and I hope you will not either.  The story is that her husband found her with Van Torp the other evening in rooms he keeps in the Temple, and there was an envelope on the table addressed to her in his handwriting, in which there were four thousand one hundred pounds in notes.’

Margaret looked thoughtfully at Lady Maud before she answered.

’She?  With Mr. Van Torp, and taking money from him?  Oh no!  Not with that face!’

‘Besides,’ said Logotheti, ’why the odd hundred?  The story gives too many details.  People never know as much of the truth as that.’

‘And if it is true,’ returned Margaret, ’he will divorce her, and then we shall know.’

‘For that matter,’ said the Greek contemptuously, ’Leven would not be particular, provided he had his share of the profits.’

‘Is it as bad as that?  How disgusting!  Poor woman!’

’Yes.  I fancy she is to be pitied.  In connection with Van Torp, may I ask an indiscreet question?’

‘No question you can ask me about him can be indiscreet.  What is it?’

‘Is it true that he once asked you to marry him and you refused him?’

Margaret turned her pale face to Logotheti with a look of genuine surprise.

’Yes.  It’s true.  But I never told any one.  How in the world did you hear it?’

‘And he quite lost his head, I heard, and behaved like a madman—­’

‘Who told you that?’ asked Margaret, more and more astonished, and not at all pleased.

’He behaved so strangely that you ran into the next room and bolted the door, and waited till he went away—­’

‘Have you been paying a detective to watch me?’

There was anger in her eyes for a moment, but she saw at once that she was mistaken.

‘No,’ Logotheti answered with a smile, ’why should I?  If a detective told me anything against you I should not believe it, and no one could tell me half the good I believe about you!’

‘You’re really awfully nice,’ laughed Margaret, for she could not help being flattered.  ‘Forgive me, please!’