“Not likely,” said Wylie. “Unless she has altogether broken with her husband, he would have been able to get her to write to her father and beg him again not to come. No, I’m afraid it’s worse than that——” Zoe pinched his arm, and he changed the form of his sentence suddenly. “But after all, it’s quite possible that she has refused to be bamboozled any longer, and he has shut her up somewhere lest she should spoil his matrimonial projects.”
“Do you think he can have carried her off to Strio?” said Zoe. “Don’t you remember that stagey old ruffian of a father of his? He said to me so evilly that Strio had dungeons as well as palaces, when he thought I aspired to the honour of being his daughter-in-law.”
“But they are on the worst possible terms,” said Armitage.
“Do you know, I should say that Professor Panagiotis would be the best person to enlist on your side, Cavaliere,” said Maurice suddenly. “He is very keen on the Scythian match, but he can have no idea of the harm he has been doing.”
“No, wait,” said Wylie. “Imagine the Professor’s feelings when he finds out that he has been tricked all along—that the Scythian match can’t take place, and never could have done. I don’t think it would be for Donna Olimpia’s safety for him to make that discovery, and I am sure it will lose Prince Romanos his throne.”
“That last consideration would have no weight with me, Colonel,” said the Cavaliere. “Whether my son-in-law retains his position or not is a matter of indifference. My sole object now is to rescue my daughter from his clutches, and to carry off her and her child into safety—if it is not too late. After that forged letter I could believe him capable of sinking to any depths of baseness. And if it is so, if he has repaid Olimpia’s confidence with treachery, then I will unveil his iniquity and hound him from his throne, if I have to tramp barefoot through Europe.”
Eirene crossed quickly to where he stood. “Be it so!” she said, holding out her hand. “We are united. We will make it clear what he really is, and drive him from the throne he has usurped.”
CHAPTER X.
THE PORTRAIT.
The Cavaliere Pazzi had gone on to Therma, as what Armitage called his “advance agent,” to find out the best hotel and take rooms for him there, and discover which of the public buildings of the new city were worthy of being immortalised by Milordo’s brush. Happily the people of Therma were not likely to guess that their lofty stucco palaces were anathema to the artistic mind, which would have infinitely preferred the tumble-down Roumi relics they replaced, so that the Cavaliere would be able to pursue his private inquiries under cover of his architectural researches. Maurice and Wylie were much occupied with a vexatious matter which was disturbing the extreme north of their territory, at the point where it touched the Debatable Land. A Pannonian scientific expedition, duly authorised by the Therma Government, which was conducting a geological survey of the district, had contrived in some way to excite the dislike of the inhabitants, who declared that the members were looking for hidden treasure. Natural cupidity combined with race-hatred to make the search as difficult as possible, and the Emathians put so many obstacles in the explorers’ way, and dogged their steps with such persistent malignity, as would have stirred even the mildest of scientists to revolt. These particular scientists were young and fiery, and demanded effectual protection for themselves and their pursuits, under the threat of holding up the North Emathian administration to the execration of Europe, sending a deputation to Klaustra to argue the case against the representatives of the peasants. Wylie would fain have hurried at once to the disputed area, and settled the difficulty on the spot, but this suggestion did not meet the learned men’s wishes. They wanted, not police protection, but a definite edict to secure them from molestation, and deprecated the untoward importance which would be attached to their mission if Wylie carried out his intention. The peasants were equally determined that the strangers’ proceedings ought to be stopped at all costs, and brought up relays of witnesses to prove that they were impiously and callously interfering with all manner of time-honoured landmarks.
The game of accusation and contradiction went on merrily, wasting time day after day, and Armitage was left to his own devices and to the society of the ladies for entertainment. Thus forsaken, he conceived the idea of occupying his leisure by painting Danaë’s portrait, and to Wylie’s intense delight asked Zoe’s leave to do so. True to her first resolution, Zoe consented, hoping to discover, during the hours occupied in the task, some clue to the enigma of the girl’s personality.