“Oh dear, I suppose we must go!” groaned Zoe. “But Harold must come, and sit in his high chair beside me. And Janni had better come too, poor little fellow! for he feels himself quite eclipsed. Do you know, he is really most frightfully jealous—after having Linton all to himself, of course. We must all take particular notice of him to-day——”
“If we can, in the presence of this conquering hero,” said Armitage, holding out his arms for Harold. “Let me carry my god-son downstairs, Princess. I see Prince Theophanis is coming across with Wylie to pay his respects, so this youngster is highly honoured.”
“Now do tell me,” began Zoe, when they were seated at breakfast, and Maurice had presented his own and Eirene’s most hearty congratulations, “how you managed it. Oh, and where is this wonderful boy Sotīri? He seems to have turned up just when he was wanted, and disappeared without waiting to be thanked. But I must thank him. I can’t be happy until I have done it. Surely you must know where he is?”
“I’m afraid I am partly to blame for his disappearance,” said Armitage. “It struck me that he was a little inclined to insist on his share in the exploit and belittle his cousin’s, and I let him know that I didn’t think it quite fair. I’m sorry if I hurt his feelings, though, for he did well. What do you think about your cousin, Kalliopé?” he turned to Danaë, whose face was a study as she stood behind Janni’s chair, and spoke in Greek. “Has he run off because I scolded him?”
She responded with eager haste. “Oh no, lord, it is nothing of that kind. He has done what he came for, and is gone. You will never see him again. He would wish you to forget him. To be thanked and praised is a thing he would detest.”
“Then Kalliopé must act as his representative, and take his thanks and praise as well as her own,” said Wylie.
“Yes,” said Zoe. “Kalliopé, what is there that you would really like? You understand that nothing the Lord Glafko and I could do for you would be in the slightest degree the measure of our gratitude, but we should like to give you something tangible at once, which would show the servants what we thought of you.”
The girl’s eyes glowed, then gloomed. “Something that I should really like, lady mine?” she asked breathlessly.
“Yes, whatever you like best,” Zoe assured her. “Don’t be afraid, Kalliopé. Tell me what it is, and if we have not got it here we will send for it at once.” She expected to be asked for a watch and chain, of the showy kind that Artemisia and her like loved to display upon the velvets and satins of their feast-day attire, but Danaë fell upon her knees, and breathed out the desire of her heart in scarcely audible accents.
“Lady—oh, lady mine, if I may indeed have what I should prize most in all the world, let me for this one evening wear European clothes, and eat at your table as if I were a European like yourselves!”