t do you think of it?'

'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 yo