“Can you remain with your brother, madame, while I look after Princess Theophanis? It has been necessary to inform him of the death of the poor child, and we have had a very sad scene. She has quite broken down, and I was obliged to get her out of the room.”
“But think of spoiling the good news from Czarigrad by telling him to-day!” cried Zoe.
“Hush! he will hear you. Pray go to him, and if there is any rise of temperature, tell me at once. He insisted that I should go to the Princess, but I am anxious about him.”
Zoe took the thermometer and went into the sick-room, half hoping that Maurice would be asleep. But he spoke to her as soon as she approached the bed.
“It was not Eirene’s fault, Zoe. I made her tell me. I told her she absolutely must bring him in.”
Zoe could not speak, but she laid her hand on his forehead for a moment, and he went on.
“I wish you—they—had told me before. I have been looking forward so much—— I thought he would come and sit on the bed, and we should have such talks together.”
“Yes, he was so good and quiet.” Zoe commanded her voice with difficulty.
“But it is worse for Eirene than me. She had such hopes and plans for him. He was to be all that I am not.”
“He would have been exactly like you, and I’m glad of it,” said Zoe, with fierce conviction. “And Eirene has no one but herself to thank for the destruction of her hopes.”