as almost up to the brim of his hat behind.

Logotheti and little Madame De Rosa came up to Margaret at once. The
other singers were already filing out, eager to get into the fresh air.

'The Signora,' said Logotheti, 'says she will come and lunch with me.
Will you come too? I daresay we shall find something ready, and then,
if you like, I'll run you out to Mrs. Rushmore's in the motor car.'

Margaret hesitated a moment, and looked from one to the other. She was
very hungry, and the prospect of a luxurious luncheon was much more
alluring than that of the rather scrappy sort of meal she had expected
to get at a Bouillon Duval. As 'Miss Donne,' a fortnight ago, she would
certainly not have thought of going to Logotheti's house, except with
Mrs. Rushmore; but as the proposal tempted her she found it easy to
tell herself that since she was a real artist she could go where she
pleased, that people would gossip about her wherever she went, and that
what she did was nobody's business. And surely, for an artist, Madame
De Rosa was a chaperon of sufficient weight. Moreover, Margaret was
curious to see the place where the man lived. He interested her in
spite of herself, and since Lushington had insisted on going off,
though she had begged him to stay, she felt just a little reckless.

'Do come!' said Logotheti.

The two words were spoken in just the right tone, neither as if his
life depended on her answer, nor as if he were asking her to do
something just a little risky, which would be amusing; but quite
naturally, as if he would be really glad should she accept, but by no
means overwhelmed with despair if she refused.

'Thank you,' she answered. 'It's very nice of you to ask us. I'll
come.'

Logotheti smiled pleasantly, but looked away, perhaps not caring that
she should see his eyes, even in the uncertain light. The three
hastened to leave the theatre, for the stage was already full of
workmen, the Egyptian palm was moving in one direction, the
Commendatore's white horse was joggling away uneasily in another, and
the steps of somebody's enchanted palace were being dragged forward
into place. All was noise, dust and apparent confusion.

Margaret expected that Logotheti's house would somehow correspond with
his own outward appearance and would be architecturally over-dressed,
inside and out, but in this she was greatly mistaken. It was evidently
a new house, in a quarter where many houses were new and where some
were n