“Great is the wisdom of Kyria Danaë!” said Petros, with extreme respect, “and her words shall be obeyed. Take this, my lady,” he handed her a minute wedge of iron, “and hide it safely. The time we choose must be when Despina has gone to do her shopping, for the fewer witnesses the better, and therefore you must find means to let me know if she has not been out yet any day when I attend the Lord Romanos hither. Then I will keep her in talk while she lets us out, and you must slip the wedge into the hole of the lock, so that the bolt cannot shoot home. The rest you can leave to me.”
Danaë considered her instructions. “It will be difficult to get near the gate, but I will manage it somehow. You have made arrangements for getting the Lady unperceived to the boat?”
“Is it for me to share with you the secret instructions I have received from my lord your father, lady?” asked Petros sulkily—then, with a spasm of geniality, “But all the Despot’s thoughts are yours, as we know. Does the idea of a mock funeral procession, with yourself and the little lord among the mourners, please you, my lady?”
“Excellent!” cried Danaë. “Nothing could be better.”
“Then all is well, and all is ready. Therefore return now, Eurynomé, and kiss the Lady’s hand, and promise her to behave better in future.”
“I will not do it!” cried Danaë, her anger reviving.
“Then you return at once to Strio, my lady, and the plan falls through. No vengeance on the Lady!”
“Even for that I would not do it,” she said wrathfully. “But to save my brother and Janni from her evil arts—” she pushed past Petros, and marched doggedly to the tea-table. “Grant me pardon, Lady mine. I will not risk the little lord’s life again,” she forced herself to say.
“On your knees, Eurynomé!” said Prince Romanos sharply, conscious of his wife’s raised eyebrows, and the girl obeyed sullenly. The Lady held out a delicate hand with obvious lack of eagerness, and Danaë kissed it and dropped it as if it had been a hot coal, retiring awkwardly enough at an imperative sign from her brother.
“I can’t congratulate you on your protégée’s manners,” said the Lady lightly.