Logotheti smiled; she had reached the point to which he knew she must come before long.
'Oh, yes!' he replied with alacrity. 'Of course it is.'
'That accounts for everything, since you are admitting that I need not even try to believe it was a man whom I heard speaking.'
'To tell the truth, I have some suspicions about that myself,' answered Logotheti.
'I have a great many.' Margaret laughed rather harshly. 'And you behave as if you wanted me to have more. Who is this Eastern woman? Come, be frank. She is some one from Constantinople, isn't she? A Fanariote like yourself, I daresay—an old friend who is in Paris for a few days, and would not pass through without seeing you. Say so, for heaven's sake, and don't make such a mystery about it!'
'How very ingenious women are!' observed the Greek. 'If I had thought of it I might have told you that story through the telephone yesterday. But I didn't.' [{89}]
Margaret was rapidly becoming exasperated, her eyes flashed, her firm young cheeks reddened handsomely, and her generous lips made scornful curves.
'Are you trying to quarrel with me?'
The words had a fierce ring; he glanced at her quickly and saw how well her look agreed with her tone. She was very angry.
'If I were not afraid of boring you,' he said with quiet gravity, 'I would tell you the whole story, but——' he pretended to hesitate.