Such phrases were often on Eirene’s lips, as in the days when they had been received with mingled scorn and resentment by her ignorant fellow-travellers, but it was a novelty for them to be welcomed as this was.
“I don’t know about one day,” said Armitage, with desperate boldness. “You could do something for me now, ma’am, that would leave me in your debt for ever.”
She looked at him with surprise plainly tinged with displeasure, but her voice was no less gracious than before. “In our present circumstances I had hardly hoped to be able to reward our friends otherwise than by my thanks, so I am happier than I thought. What is there that the Prince and I can do for you, Lord Armitage?”
“It is Princess Zoe—I love her,” he broke out. “If I could make her care for me, would you oppose it?”
Eirene’s first impulse was to gain time for thought. “But you—I never thought of you,” she said confusedly. “It was always—I mean, you are not the person.”
“I have cared for her ever since the night I first saw her by the camp-fire under Hadgi-Antoniou,” he answered; “but of course I knew how it was with Wylie, and I tried to put all thought of her out of my head. And I was always so hard-up in those days, too; I had nothing to offer her. Then when the title and all the rest of it came to me, there was still Wylie to think of; I made sure he would come back some day and ask her again, and she would have him. But now that he has given up all thoughts of her——”
“Given up all thoughts of her!” repeated Eirene. “How can you possibly know?”
“He told me,” said Armitage, unshaken. “Said that that sort of thing didn’t interest him now.”
“Oh, but that’s only because he is feeling ill and miserable,” said Eirene quickly, but checked herself. After all, even if this change of feeling on Wylie’s part was only temporary, why not take advantage of it? A marriage between Armitage and Zoe might not be all that her ambition had planned, but it offered certain solid benefits. Eirene was not blind to the fact that the support of a British peer, with an ancient title and a fair amount of wealth, had already proved useful in investing the Theophanis cause with an atmosphere of plausibility—even respectability, and it would be a wise stroke to attach him permanently to the family. There could be no question of putting pressure on Zoe, of course, and Maurice, in his unreasonableness, would see to it that the final decision rested freely with her; but pending the prospect of a more magnificent alliance, there could be no harm in not destroying Armitage’s hopes. Eirene spoke low and confidentially. “I can make no promises for Zoe,” she said; “for what you have told me may surprise her as much as it does me, but I see no reason—at any rate at present—why she should refuse you. Certainly I can promise that I shall not set myself against the idea.”
“You are awfully good, ma’am. I don’t think I could be more interested in Teffany’s—I mean the Prince’s—cause than I was before, but it makes one frightfully keen to feel that one’s in it oneself in a sort of way. I know I have nothing to offer Princess Zoe compared with what she might expect, but——”