‘Oh, many things,’ said Vlacho. ‘Yes, secrets, my lady! And my lord bids me say that from love to you he will show you to-night the great secret of his house. He desires to show his love and trust in you, and will therefore reveal to you all his secrets.’ When I, behind the curtain, heard the ruffian say this, I laid firmer hold on my lance. But the lady was equal to Vlacho. ‘You’re very melodramatic with your secrets,’ she said contemptuously. ‘I am tired, and my head aches. Your secrets will wait; and if my husband will not come and sup with me, I’ll sup alone here. Tell him I can’t come, please, Vlacho.’ ‘But my lord was most urgent that you should come,’ said Vlacho. ‘I would come if I were well,’ said she. ‘But I could help you. If you would permit, I and my men would carry you down all the way on your couch.’ ‘My good Vlacho, you are very tedious, you and your men. And my husband is tedious also, if he sent all these long messages. I am ill and I will not come. Is that enough?’ ‘My lord will be very angry if I return alone,’ pleaded Vlacho humbly. ‘I’ll write a certificate that you did your best to persuade me,’ she said with a scornful laugh. I heard the innkeeper’s heavy feet move a step or two across the floor. He was coming nearer to where she lay on the couch. ‘I daren’t return without you,’ said he. ‘Then you must stay here and sup with me.’ ‘My lord does not love to be opposed.’ ‘Then, my good Vlacho, he should not have married me,’ she retorted. She played the game gallantly, fencing and parrying with admirable tact, and with a coolness wonderful for a woman in such peril. My heart went out to her, and I said to myself that she should not want any help that I could give. She had raised her voice on the last words, and her defiant taunt rang out clear and loud. It seemed to alarm Vlacho. ‘Hush, not so loud!’ he said hastily. There was the hint of a threat in his voice. ‘Not so loud!’ she echoed. ‘And why not so loud? Is there harm in what I say?’ I wondered at Vlacho’s sudden fright. The idea shot into my head--and the idea was no pleasant one--that there must be people within earshot, perhaps people who had not been trusted with Constantine’s secrets, and would, for that reason, do his bidding better. ‘Harm! No, no harm; but no need to let every one hear,’ said Vlacho, confusedly and with evident embarrassment. ‘Every one? Who is here, then?’ ‘I have brought one or two men to escort my lady,’ said he. ‘With these cut-throat Englishmen about’ (Bravo, bravo, Vlacho!) ‘one must be careful.’ A scornful laugh proclaimed her opinion of his subterfuge, and she met him with a skilful thrust. ‘But if they don’t know--yes, and aren’t to know that I am the wife of Constantine, how can I go to the house and stay with him?’ she asked.