Eirene sprang up from her chair, her eyes blazing. “That is you all over, Maurice! You can think of the usurper even when you are blaming your wife for not showing sufficient consideration for your sister. You may be a saint, as Zoe thinks, but you are not the man for Emathia. Do you imagine that if Romanos had been in your place, Kalliopé would have left his presence without being made to tell what she knows?”
“If I am not the man for Emathia, at least it was not my own choice that took me there,” said Maurice. “But if you are right, Kalliopé at any rate has reason to be thankful I am here.”
It was without any realisation of her good fortune in this respect that Danaë repaired to the nursery on her dismissal from the inquiry. She entered the room with a certain hesitation, which was immediately justified, for Linton rose in defence of Janni like a ruffled hen.
“You dare to come back here, you wicked girl?” she cried. “Not a step do you set in my nursery, or my name isn’t Sophia Linton. And as for letting you lay a finger on the blessed lamb that’s left—why, I would sooner trust one of the girls out of the kitchen! You be off, and don’t show your face again this side of the door, or I’ll teach you something!”
Danaë might have pleaded Wylie’s order as a reason for remaining, but her fiery spirit was roused. She went straight to her own room, and took up the bundle she had prepared the night before. She would go and search for Harold herself, and when she brought him back, they would be forced to acknowledge how unjustly they had judged her. She went down the stairs, crossed the great courtyard, and would have passed out at the gate, but the man on guard there barred her way with his rifle.
“Not this way just yet, my dear,” he said with a grin. “The back-door is more your style, isn’t it?”
“Let me pass!” said Danaë. He laughed in her face.
“Got another baby in that bundle, Lady Stealer-of-Children?”
“Will you let me pass?” she cried, furious.
He became serious. “No, my girl, I won’t. You’re not to be allowed to leave the Konak. We are too fond of you to let you slip away like this,” with a return to jocularity. “When we can exchange you for our little lord, then you may go, and welcome. Back with you!”