"And she?" asked Yanni.
"Oh, she likes me," said Mitsos. "I am sure she likes me, else we could not have got on so well together. We used to play and laugh like children, and everything was a joke—that was when we first started, and before she knew of Suleima."
"Why did you not tell her of Suleima?"
"Oh, that was some dear nonsense of Suleima's own. Then one day I did tell her, because she asked me straight who were they at home."
"What did she say?"
"I forget. Nothing, I think. Oh yes, she asked why I had treated her like a stranger, and not told her. I remember now; it puzzled me that she said that. Christos and I were playing draughts at the time, and I remember she went out soon after, though it was most wet and stormy."
Yanni whistled low and thoughtfully to himself, and Mitsos continued:
"I expect she will be soon at Nauplia when the fleet comes. Oh, she is splendid. You shall see."
He pointed down the hill where the relief party had come up.
"Do you see there?" he cried. "There are lights moving at the bottom of the hill, and men. They are drawing their lines more closely where you came up. There will be no passing them next time."