Part 3 — XVII

THE Apostolatos Bank sold the San Lucido mines. The Franco-African bought them at the lowest possible price, with the tacit consent of the Italian Government (with whom, by the way, they concluded an important financial pact in Asia Minor). During the whole time the negotiations were going on, and they were long, only an impersonal correspondence passed between the two houses; but Irene first, and then Lewis, drafted and signed for each other various notes and memoranda which kept them constantly in communication. As these conversations carried on from a distance became gradually more steady, carried on without jarring note or passion, their views on business policy in the Mediterranean were soon found to be identical in many particulars. Their interests began to coincide. The results were profitable, just as though Fate, which had done its utmost to separate them and to prevent them from being happy, was eager to give her blessing to this financial union and to make their fortunes as soon as they consented to give themselves only to an ordinary life. Fickle fortune ministered to them. They sometimes wondered why they had not always worked together; all their constraint fell from them and they went so far as to admit that if they had been destined to love perfectly they would probably at the moment be standing amongst the ruins of their fortunes. For Love never hesitates to ruin the lives of those who do not want him.

Since Corfu, Lewis and Irene have never seen one another, but they write to each other every day.