‘You were our prisoner, my lord,’ said the officer more civilly. ‘We cannot allow you to escape. And this lady was a prisoner also. She is not English; she is of the island. And one of the islanders has slain the Pasha. She must answer for it.’
‘What can she have had to do with it?’
‘It may have been planned between her and the assassin.’
‘Oh, and between me and the assassin too, perhaps?’
‘Perhaps, my lord. It is not my place to inquire into that.’
I shrugged my shoulders with an appearance of mingled carelessness and impatience.
‘Well, what do you want of us?’ I asked.
‘You must accompany us back to Neopalia.’
‘Well, where did you suppose I was going? Is this a boat to go for a voyage in? Can I row a hundred miles to Rhodes? Come, you’re a silly fellow!’