It was an exquisite painting of a mother and daughter. Noelle was seated in a chair,
sipping an ouzo, quietly watching.
“It’s a beauty,” Demiris agreed. He turned to Noelle. “How do you like it?”
“It’s lovely,” she said. She turned to the curator. “Where did you find it?”
“I traced it to a private dealer in Brussels,” he replied proudly, “and persuaded him to
sell it to me.”
“How much did you pay for it?” Noelle asked.
“Two hundred and fifty thousand pounds.”
“It’s a bargain,” Demiris declared.
Noelle picked up a cigarette, and the young man rushed to light it for her. “Thank
you,” she said. She looked at Demiris. “It would have been more of a bargain, Costa, if he
had bought it from the man who owned it.”
“I don’t understand,” Demiris said.
The curator was looking at her oddly.
“If this is genuine,” Noelle explained, “then it came from the estate of the Duke of
Toledo in Spain.” She turned to the curator. “Is that not so?” she asked.
His face had turned white. “I—I have no idea,” he stammered. “The dealer didn’t tell
me.”
“Oh, come now,” Noelle chided him. “You mean you bought a painting for this
amount of money without establishing its provenance? That’s difficult to believe. The
estate priced the painting at one hundred and seventy-five thousand pounds. Someone’s
been cheated out of seventy-five thousand pounds.”
And it had proven to be true. The curator and the art dealer were convicted of
collusion and sent to prison. Demiris returned the painting. In thinking it over later he
decided that he was less impressed by Noelle’s knowledge than by her honesty. If she had
wished to, she could simply have called the curator aside, threatened to blackmail him and
split the money with him. Instead she had challenged him openly in front of Demiris with
no ulterior motive. He had bought her a very expensive emerald necklace in appreciation,
and she had accepted it with the same casual appreciation with which she would have
accepted a cigarette lighter. Demiris insisted on taking Noelle with him everywhere. He
trusted no one in business and therefore was forced to make all his decisions by himself.
He found it helpful to discuss business deals with Noelle. She was amazingly
knowledgeable about business, and the mere fact of being able to talk with someone
sometimes made it easier for Demiris to make a decision. In time Noelle knew more about
his business affairs than anyone with the possible exception of his lawyers and
accountants. In the past Demiris had always had several mistresses at a time, but now
Noelle gave him everything he needed, and one by one he dropped them. They accepted
the congé without bitterness, for Demiris was a generous man.