“I was wrong in one point, I confess it. It is clear that there was no open quarrel. My daughter was not offered the choice between death and disgrace. She writes to me that she is convinced her husband will soon acknowledge her openly. He had pledged himself afresh that very morning, accompanying the pledge with a gift of so much significance that she durst not describe it on paper, but hoped to show it me before long at the Palace.”
“It was a piece of jewellery,” said Prince Romanos hastily. “You will be at no loss to imagine what it was—since she received it as an earnest of her hopes? The crown which she was never to wear—alas! I had pleased myself with having it made for her to my own design.”
“Did Petros know of it?” asked Zoe. “Because if he did, it might supply a motive for the murder.”
“I have no reason to think he did. But stay—the drawer in which she placed it was broken open and the jewel stolen by the murderers. It certainly looks——”
“Kalliopé,” interrupted Zoe, “do you think Petros can have murdered your mistress for the sake of the jewellery the Prince had just given her?”
“Oh no, my lady; he had no part in her death. And as for the jewel——” she hesitated, and looked at Prince Romanos for guidance. “Am I to tell all, lord?”
“Most certainly. Always tell the truth,” he said bluffly. To his utter stupefaction, Danaë unclasped the Girdle of Isidora from her waist, and laid it on the table.
“I would fain have spared you this shame, lord,” she said sadly. “Lady,” she turned to Zoe, “my lord gave this holy thing to the schismatic woman, and hailed her as Orthodox Empress. When she was dead, I took it from where I had seen her put it, and hid it, that it might be safe for my little lord’s wife when he grows up.”
“My girdle!” Danaë’s voice was drowned by Eirene’s shriek of joy as she sprang forward and seized the jewel. “At last, at last! Now we may hope for success!” she murmured, fondling the girdle and kissing it as if it were a living thing. Danaë’s eyes blazed, and she threw herself forward to tear it from her. Prince Romanos pushed her back, not too gently.
“Be still, girl! That belongs to Princess Theophanis.” Then to the rest, “There is some mistake. This girdle came to light in the course of the destruction of the old Scythian Consulate, after the visit which Prince Theophanis and Colonel Wylie and I paid to the operations. You will remember,” he turned to Maurice, “that I was about to join you when this terrible event occurred. The girdle was handed to me just before I started, and I promised myself the pleasure of restoring it to Princess Theophanis with my own hands. My wife teased me to show it to her, and I allowed her to put it on, and left it in her charge till the afternoon. I thought it had disappeared with the crown, but now I see it was not so.”