Ilina gave a little cry of delight.
“Did he say that – did he really – say it?”
“On one condition that you sleep well and you don’t walk down the stairs or walk up them again.”
Ilina looked at him questioningly and he said,
“That means, since Pegasus cannot oblige, I will carry you down and I have the feeling that you are even lighter now than when I carried you up here from the study.”
He smiled before he added,
“That is really an order and you are to eat plenty for dinner tonight. I am going to tell Mrs. Bird that you are very hungry!”
“Oh – no! Please don’t.” Ilina exclaimed.
But already the Duke had left the schoolroom and she found herself talking to a closed door.
But she was thrilled at the news that, after being incarcerated for so long in two rooms, she could go downstair
