Van Torp's not very pressing invitation to stay to luncheon, given
at the very moment when he was getting into his motor, and a few
seconds later he was tearing down the avenue.

Mr. Van Torp stood on the steps till he was out of sight and then came
down himself and strolled slowly away towards the trees again, his
hands behind him and his eyes constantly bent upon the road, three
paces ahead.

He was not always quite truthful. Scruples were not continually
uppermost in his mind. For instance, what he had told Lady Maud about
his engagement to poor Miss Bamberger did not quite agree with what he
had said to Margaret on the steamer.

In certain markets in New York, three kinds of eggs are offered for
sale, namely, Eggs, Fresh Eggs, and Strictly Fresh Eggs. I have seen
the advertisement. Similarly in Mr. Van Torp's opinion there were
three sorts of stories, to wit, Stories, True Stories, and Strictly
True Stories. Clearly, each account of his engagement must have
belonged to one of these classes, as well as the general statement he
had made to Logotheti about the charges brought against him in the
anonymous letter. The reason why he had made that statement was plain
enough; he meant it to be repeated to Margaret because he really
wished her to think well of him. Moreover, he had recognised the
handwriting at once as that of Mr. Feist, Isidore Bamberger's former
secretary, who knew a good many things and might turn out a dangerous
enemy.

But Logotheti, who knew something of men, and had dealt with some
very accomplished experts in fraud from New York and London to
Constantinople, had his doubts about the truth of what he had heard,
and understood at once why the usually reticent American had talked
so much about himself. Van Torp, he was sure, was in love with the
singer; that was his weak side, and in whatever affected her he might
behave like a brute or a baby, but would certainly act with something
like rudimentary simplicity in either case. In Logotheti's opinion
Northern and English-speaking men might be as profound as Persians in
matters of money, and sometimes were, but where women were concerned
they were generally little better than sentimental children, unless
they were mere animals. Not one in a thousand cared for the society
of women, or even of one particular woman, for its own sake, for the
companionship, and the exchange of ideas about things of which women
know how to think. To the better sort, that i