Zoe started angrily. “I was speaking to you for your good,” she said. “Knowing Prince Romanos, I should think it highly unlikely—— No, I won’t say it. But surely you see that you must protect yourself? He won’t do it. I can’t quite make out what part the Princess Dowager has been playing. You don’t think she deceived you deliberately?”
“I think not, but one cannot tell—with her. I don’t believe she wished my husband to be Prince, or why take such pains to promote our marriage?”
“I think you are both merely pawns in her game,” said Zoe. “At any rate, you can’t feel any confidence in consulting her. If it suited her, she would sacrifice you without a qualm. That’s what I always feel about her.”
“You know that she has your brother also in her power?” said Donna Olimpia suddenly. “I know it, because she told me so once, to comfort me. I did not want my husband to be Prince, but neither did I wish him to suffer the humiliation of being defeated by Prince Theophanis. ‘Be tranquil,’ she said; ‘Prince Theophanis will not reign. A word from me would make him impossible.’”
“Then you think she has brought about his defeat?” cried Zoe indignantly. Donna Olimpia shook her head.
“No, and I will tell you why. The hold she has over him is something connected with a paper. When we were at Skandalo, Princess Theophanis visited her twice, in great trouble. They talked very low, and I heard nothing in the anteroom until the end of the second visit. Then they seemed to have come suddenly close to the door, where the icon hangs, and something was said about Prince Christodoridi’s being elected, but I could not hear distinctly. Then I heard the Princess Dowager say something about ‘the paper signed by your husband,’ and Princess Theophanis said, ‘I will give you the paper when my husband’s life is safe,’ or words like that.”
“Well?” said Zoe breathlessly.
“Then on the day we heard that the prisoners were to be released—I am certain of it, because the English naval officer told me the news when he brought a packet of letters and telegrams addressed to the Princess at Therma—she went out without me, to congratulate Princess Theophanis. When she came back, she locked a large envelope up in her desk. Before she did it, she took out a paper that was inside it, with a deep mourning border, read it through, and put it back again. I saw her.”
“The day the flag-lieutenant came?” said Zoe. “But Maurice had only signed one paper then—a letter to a stockbroker—and he could hardly manage that. That was black-edged, I know, but there was nothing in it that could get him or anybody into trouble. Unless Eirene had added what she wanted the money for—but even then—— No, I don’t see what it could have been.”
“You won’t mind my interrupting you for a moment, Zoe?” said Eirene, coming out of the house, “but I saw that you had Donna Olimpia here, and I wanted her to take a note back to the Princess for me. You will be sure to give it her at once, won’t you?” she asked of the girl. “It is very important.”