The latest news that reached Bashi Konak from Therma, before the destruction of the telegraphs, was that the city was on fire and the troops engaged in a general massacre, and the excitement among the Emathian delegates and their sympathisers rose to fever-heat. Eirene durst not meet the eye of Professor Panagiotis, lest she should read there that all the horrors now occurring were a part of the plan she had concerted with him, nor was her conscience quieted by his vigorous denunciation of agents provocateurs and unauthorised revolutionaries. She knew that he was continually receiving and sending messages, and that his protestations did not ring quite true, and she had a horrible fear that in his eyes the untimeliness of the outbreak was atoned for by the severity it had evoked from Jalal-ud-din. With the inconsistency which Zoe was wont to call Eirene-ish, she made no attempt to undo what she had done, and found her comfort in refusing to let her boy out of her sight. Clasping him in her arms, regardless of his unconcealed preference for the toys from which she had snatched him, she could remind herself that it was all for his sake. Out of the blood and fire of the present would rise the imperial throne on which he should sit in the future.
It was at first suggested that the games, now drawing towards their close, should be discontinued in consequence of the news from Therma, but the Prince of Dardania decided otherwise. His little capital was filled with a motley crowd of competitors from all parts of the Balkans and sightseers from many parts of Europe, and to leave these without the occupation for which they had come to Bashi Konak would inevitably tend to turn their thoughts to politics. Then would come heated discussions and inflammatory speeches, and the correctness of attitude on which Prince Alexis prided himself as characteristic of his state would be imperilled. He had sacrificed much in order to give no offence to any one, allowing Princess Emilia to feed daily a large company of refugees from Emathia at great expense and in a highly inefficient manner, and refusing to allow volunteers or warlike stores to be conveyed across his frontier into the disturbed districts, and he had no mind to lose his reward. When the general break-up came, who would be so fit to receive an accession of territory as the ruler who had resisted every temptation to take part in hostilities, who had contrived, as far as mortal man could, to live peaceably with each of his neighbours and yet alienate none of the others? Therefore the Prince decreed that the aquatic sports, with which the festival was to end, should take place as had been announced, and the Court and its guests prepared to migrate from the capital to the port for the purpose.
The day before the move, Zoe went to the Palace as usual by way of the garden, and was surprised to find Princess Emilia in a highly disturbed state. Her flushed face and agitated manner suggested that she had just gone through a trying scene, and Zoe ascribed the trouble mentally to the Dowager Princess, whose visit was certainly not proving an unmixed success. Princess Emilia looked up at her friend’s entrance, and ran to her impulsively.
“Zeto, dearest Zeto, tell me; you have learnt to care for him, haven’t you? You are going to make me happy?”
“Not in that way, Principessina. But you mustn’t let it make you miserable. He is happy enough.”
“Oh, he!” cried the Princess viciously, dismissing the absent Romanos with an emphatic gesture. “I don’t care about him; it is you. That he should have dared——! Oh, but I promised I would say nothing. But assure me that you don’t care for him, Zeto. Comfort me in that way, if not in the other. If you do care for him, he shall still—— But you wouldn’t like that. Oh, I don’t know what I am saying!”
“Most certainly I don’t care for him, if that will comfort you,” said Zoe, bewildered. “But what has he done—or is it I? I always told you I should never think of marrying him, so please don’t try to bring him reluctantly to my feet. Of course I knew he didn’t really care, but you wouldn’t believe me. How have you found out now that I was right?”
“Oh, it was a revelation—a detestable revelation! It was my mother-in-law who brought it about, of course; all the disagreeable things happen through her. Pretending to gratify my dear romantic heart, too! But, Zeto, he is to ask you formally to marry him, and abide by your answer. I insisted on that.”
“My dear child, what was the necessity?” cried Zoe impatiently, but Princess Emilia drew herself up.
“It was due to me. I will have it done, and he understands perfectly. You will find him in the garden. I sent her—Olimpia—to tell him to wait for you on the terrace. Don’t go near the orange walk, for my mother-in-law is there. She retired there to weep over my ingratitude, she said, so keep to the other end of the terrace.”