“By Jove! I shouldn’t wonder,” cried Wylie. “No, I hadn’t thought of that, though it did cross my mind that the philanthropic Petros was in all probability the murderous husband of the story. We are certainly introducing a novel element into our home circle.”
“But that’s absurd. We won’t take her with us.”
“What are we to do—leave her here? That’s exactly what I don’t want to do. You don’t see my point. What will you take that there has been no murder at all?”
“I don’t see what you mean.”
“Well, listen. I will send a man back to Therma to-night to bring out the earliest issues of the papers in the morning. If the girl was concerned in the affair the fact will have come out by this time. By her account, the thing was public enough. But if there is no murder in the papers at all?”
“Because it has been hushed up?”
“No, because it never happened. Because the story was ingeniously contrived to furnish a reason for the girl’s foisting herself on us, and going with us to Klaustra.”
“But why burden herself with the child?”
“To make it look more natural, I suppose. How can I tell what’s at the back of their minds? But you can see that Romanos has contrived to make us introduce of our own accord the spy who is to keep an eye on us.”
“We send her back with compliments, I suppose?”