“Might have walked that last bit,” growled Wylie in disgust, as the rider pulled up in surprise at the sight of the three men confronting him.
“Will you be good enough to dismount and step aside with us, Prince?” said Maurice. “There is a point I should be glad to settle with you before we join the ladies at the inn.”
“None of that!” said Wylie sharply, arresting the Greek’s arm as he raised his whip. It had a loaded handle, and his evident intention was to bring it down on Maurice’s head, and dash forward in the confusion. “Will you get off or be pulled off?”
“I bow to superior force,” said Prince Romanos, with an angry flush on his sallow cheek. “I suppose it did not strike you, Mr Teffany, that it would have been more in order if you had brought one of my friends here, instead of two of your own?”
“We are not going to fight a duel,” said Maurice.
“No? Only to murder me?” He threw his horse’s bridle to Wylie and dismounted. “You have chosen your ground well. It seems that I should have done better, after all, to listen to the warning of your tool, but you will admit that her method of detaining me was open to misconstruction.”
“I don’t know what you mean,” said Maurice. “Who tried to detain you? Who’s the tool? We have been expecting you for hours.”
Prince Romanos looked virtuously indignant. “Your ways are too deep for me, Mr Teffany. I am tricked, by means of my tenderest affections, into an interview which I discover is intended to prevent me from starting as I had intended. On that discovery I tear myself away—practically by force—ride headlong all night, and find you in ambush awaiting me. Proceed, sir; I confess you have succeeded in catching me unawares, but you need not hope to gain anything by this treachery.”
“Once for all,” said Maurice, “there has been no treachery—on our part, at any rate. We made no attempt to detain you.”
Prince Romanos bowed, obviously unconvinced. “The attempt was made, and it was clearly to your interest that it should succeed,” he said. “However, this argument is unprofitable. You are three to one; pray do your business.”