victims carefully, analyzing their personalities, assessing their strengths and their
weaknesses.
When Demiris had had three small freighters and needed a loan to expand his fleet,
he had gone to a Swiss banker in Basel. The banker had not only turned him down but had
telephoned other banker friends of his to advise them not to give the young Greek any
money. Demiris had finally managed to borrow the money in Turkey.
Demiris had bided his time. He decided that the banker’s Achilles’ heel lay in his
greed. Demiris was in negotiation with Ibn Saud of Arabia to take over leases on a newly
discovered oil development there. The leases would be worth several hundred million
dollars to Demiris’ company.
He instructed one of his agents to leak the news to the Swiss banker about the deal
that was about to take place. The banker was offered a 25-percent participation in the new
company if he put up five million dollars in cash to buy shares of the stock. When the deal
went through, the five million dollars would be worth more than fifty million. The banker
quickly checked the deal and confirmed its authenticity. Not having that kind of money
available personally, he quietly borrowed it from the bank without notifying anyone, for
he had no wish to share his windfall. The transaction was to take place the following
week, at which time he would be able to replace the money he had taken.
When Demiris had the banker’s check in his hand, he announced to the newspapers
that the arrangement with Arabia had been canceled. The stock plummeted. There was no
way for the banker to cover his losses, and his embezzlement was discovered. Demiris
picked up the banker’s shares of stock at a few cents on the dollar and then went ahead
with the oil deal. The stock soared. The banker was convicted of embezzlement and given
a prison sentence of twenty years.
There were a few players in Demiris’ game with whom he had not yet evened the
score, but he was in no hurry. He enjoyed the anticipation, the planning and the execution.
It was like a chess game, and Demiris was a chess master. These days he made no
enemies, for no man could afford to be his enemy, so his quarry was limited to those who
had crossed his path in the past.
This, then, was the man who appeared one afternoon at Noelle Page’s Sunday salon.
He was spending a few hours in Paris on his way to Cairo, and a young sculptress he was
seeing suggested that they stop in at the salon. From the moment Demiris saw Noelle, he
knew that he wanted her.
Aside from royalty itself which was unavailable to the daughter of a Marseille
fishmonger, Constantin Demiris was probably the closest thing there was to a king. Three
days after she had met him Noelle quit her play without notice, packed her clothes and
joined Constantin Demiris in Greece.
Because of the prominence of their respective positions it was inevitable that the
relationship between Noelle Page and Constantin Demiris become an international cause
célèbre. Photographers and reporters were constantly trying to interview Demiris’ wife,
but if her composure was ruffled, she never betrayed it. Melina Demiris’ only comment to