“ ‘Have you the slate, Harold?’ cried the older man, as this strange being fell rather than sat down into a chair. ‘Are his hands loose? Now, then, give him the pencil. You are to ask the questions, Mr. Melas, and he will write the answers. Ask him first of all whether he is prepared to sign the papers?’
“The man’s eyes flashed fire.
“ ‘Never!’ he wrote in Greek upon the slate.
“ ‘On no condition?’ I asked, at the bidding of our tyrant.
“ ‘Only if I see her married in my presence by a Greek priest whom I know.’
“The man giggled in his venomous way.
“ ‘You know what awaits you, then?’
“ ‘I care nothing for myself.’
“These are samples of the questions and answers which made up our strange half-spoken, half-written conversation. Again and again I had to ask him whether he would give in and sign the documents. Again and again I had the same indignant reply. But soon a happy thought came to me. I took to adding on little sentences of my own to each question, innocent ones at first, to test whether either of our companions knew anything of the matter, and then, as I found that they showed no signs I played a more dangerous game. Our conversation ran something like this: