said. 'It's of no use.'

When Mrs. Rushmore declared that you might say what you liked, she was
in earnest, but her visitor was not familiar with the expression.

'Nevertheless,' he said, in a soothing way, 'my errand concerns Miss
Donne.'

'Well then,' said Mrs. Rushmore, 'don't! That's all I have to say, and
it's my last word. She doesn't care for you. I don't want to be unkind,
but I daresay you have made yourself think all sorts of things.'

She felt that this was a great concession, to a Greek and an
adventurer.

'Excuse me,' said Logotheti quietly, 'but we are talking at cross
purposes. What I have to say concerns Miss Donne's financial
interests--her fortune, if you like to call it so.'

Mrs. Rushmore's suspicions were immediately confirmed.

'She has none,' said she, with a snap as if she were shutting up a safe
with a spring lock.

'That depends on what you call a fortune,' answered the Greek coolly.
'In Paris most people would think it quite enough. It is true that it
is in litigation.'

'I really cannot see how that can interest you,' said Mrs. Rushmore in
an offended tone.

'It interests me a good deal. I have come to see you in order to
propose that you should compromise the suit about that invention.'

Mrs. Rushmore drew herself up against the straight back of the garden
chair and glared at him in polite wrath.

'You will pardon my saying that I consider your interferences very much
out of place, sir,' she said.

'But you will forgive me, dear madam, for differing with you,' said
Logotheti with the utmost blandness. 'This business concerns me quite
as much as Miss Donne.'

'You?' Mrs. Rushmore was amazed.

'I fancy you have heard that Mr. Alvah Moon has sold the invention to a
New York syndicate.'

'Yes--but----'

'I am the syndicate.'

'You!' The good lady was breathless with astonishment. 'I cannot
believe it,' she gasped.

Logotheti's hand went to his inner breast pocket.

'Should you like to see the telegrams?' he asked quietly. 'Here they
are. My agent's cable to me, my instructions to him, his
acknowledgment, his cable saying that the affair is closed and the
money paid. They are all here. Pray look at them.'

Mrs. Rushmore looked at the papers, for she was cautious, even when
surprised. There was no denying the evidence he showed her. Her hands
fell upon her knees and she stared at him.

'So you have got control of all that Margaret can ever hope to have of
her own,'