"Onesimus!" Agon cried, trying not to sound too displeased – though he sprang away from Pelleus and began searching the room with his eyes. "What is this, my friend? Have you been eavesdropping?"

  "Rather I have been witnessing an exchange of contracts, as the legal representative of my young friend here," Onesimus replied, gesturing in the direction of Pelleus.

  "I see," said Agon, now fidgeting with his hands. "That's very well; I stand by my offer and I only think it right to hold Pusanella to her word as well."

  "Impossible," Onesimus said simply.

  "What are you talking about?" Agon asked, nonplussed. But Onesimus was now calling out to Hippolyta, who – to everyone's surprise – came out of the neighbouring courtyard where she too had been listening to the exchange. She walked slowly, looking very dignified, and did not so much as look at her husband with her narrowed, disdainful eyes.

  At this point Marinus, feeling quite overwhelmed by the situation, could contain himself no longer; he just had to expose the truth before he and his friend were embroiled in any more intrigues.

  "You cannot take Pusanella," he cried out to Agon, before anyone else could speak, "for she is not who she says she is – 'she' is really a he, my oldest and dearest friend, Pelleus!"

  There was a heavy silence after these words. Marinus half expected Onesimus to contradict him for the sake of some subtle scheme he had in mind, but the old man did not seem at all put out by the admission. It was Agon who spoke first.

  "What nonsense! You can't fool me that easily, young man," he said with a glib smile – his confidence had faltered for just a moment, and now he was his usual, oily self. "I know, you must be heart-broken to lose your darling to such a man as I, but there's no good making up lies about her. Break-ups can be bitter affairs, but we needn't burn all our bridges, my lad!"

  "I am afraid Marinus speaks the truth, Agon," Onesimus said in a gentle tone of voice. "Pusanella here is really an enterprising young man named Pelleus, who has been playing you false all this time."

  Pelleus nodded, and muttered to his two hosts in turn: "it's true; forgive me, my lord; my lady."

  Hippolyta looked astonished; her hands shot up to her mouth, opened in a silent cry of humiliation. As for Agon – well, he was speechless at first, but there came into his eyes a conflicted expression; a genuine ambivalence to the news. In a trembling voice, crushed by his humiliations, he spoke out again after some moments.

  "It matters not. My offer still stands, Pelleus, whoever you are..."

  "You can't mean it..." Pelleus said, exchanging a look of purest horror with his friend Marinus. Hippolyta made a strangled sound in her throat, and Onesimus merely cast his unseeing eyes down sadly, shaking his head.

  "But I do!" Agon replied, his voice growing in strength as he gazed at the fair youth. "Come with me, Pelleus – or Pusanella – whoever you are, and let us leave this wretched place. There may yet be some city of more tolerant views, that can accept the love between a lord and his squire."

  "No, Agon," Onesimus said firmly.

  "She – he – gave his word!" Agon shot back.

  "But as I had begun to tell you, before we were interrupted," Onesimus said, and Marinus stirred uncomfortably beside him, "it is impossible for Pelleus to uphold his part of the contract. You see, unfortunately for you, Agon, Pelleus cannot freely consent to this arrangement. It is against the law of Arcadia for wards of a lord – under the age of their majority, which is 21 – to enter into contracts with their master or benefactor. As you will recall, I served as a judge in legal disputes here in Kithera for many years; I know our legal codes well."

  As he delivered this explanation there crept into the old man's features a cold smile, his unfocussed eyes glinted with cunning.

  "In that case I retain my rights to this estate!" Agon said at once, striving by great efforts to mask his disappointment. He stamped his foot indignantly, and shot a sidelong look at his wife, who was eyeing him with disgust.

  "I am afraid that does not follow," Onesimus answered him, to general astonishment. "You see, with regards to that contract, concerning the restoration of all lands and properties to Eustathios, Pelleus stands only as the intermediary between the two parties, and as such his consent is not required."

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  "But she – he – said that she would come with me if I agreed to restore those lands to their rightful owner..." Agon stammered, his voice rising in pitch and emotion.

  "On the contrary," Onesimus went on, with the satisfaction of one driving his prey into a well-laid trap, "as Pelleus here has stated, and as our other witnesses can confirm, the offer of living together was unconditional. Pelleus merely stated in passing that his heart would rest more easily if the wrong done to Eustathios were righted."

  "But... I thought..."

  "The one contract's being invalid has no binding force upon the other, nor can it lead to its being revoked," Onesimus concluded.

  "This is unbelievable!" Agon cried, clutching his hair with both hands.

  "It is justice..." Hippolyta murmured, speaking up at last. "How long have we profited over the misery of old Eustathios? Your little trick, carried off with no effort of yours, at his great expense!"

  "Silence!" Agon hissed, as if she were about to reveal too much.

  "Quite so, my lady," Onesimus concurred. "While the law of this land has hitherto stood in your favour, Agon, you cannot now complain when it is applied impartially."

  "What law? You are just making things up as you go, old friend!" Agon said, thrusting a finger at Onesimus. "How can this youth be a middle-man between myself and Eustathios when the old beggar has been gone for years?"

  "He has been hidden, but not 'gone' by any means," Onesimus said, frowning at Agon's words. "I am astonished that you, of all people, could tell such a bald-faced lie."

  "He is not gone," Pelleus repeated. "Thanks to your wife, Hippolyta, I was able to find him."

  Agon glared at Hippolyta accusingly, but she would not deign to look at him. She kept her eyes fixed on Pelleus now, rapt with curiosity.

  "You see," Pelleus went on, looking at Marinus now with some emotion, "I found the truth about Eustathios – my father. He did not forget about me, after sending me to school with you in Athens. Far from it. When I was young I was frail and sickly. Being a cautious man, my father feared for my health here in Arcadia. Above all he did not want me to grow up coddled and weak. He sent me away, thinking that I would be strengthened by my experiences away from the comforts of home, and enriched by a good education. He never dreamed it would be the end of our relationship – as it nearly was. I ran away to a life on the sea with you, Marinus, thinking that my father did not love me – that his harshness showed a lack of care. Just as he underestimated my strength and determination, I underestimated his affection for me.

  "Even before I was captured by pirates, word reached Eustathios of my disappearance. He was frantic, and blamed himself. He searched for news of me in every port in Hellas, and spent all of his savings in desperate ventures to try and find me, hiring ships to carry him over every inch of the Aegean. He didn't know I had since been captured and taken far abroad.

  "When his savings ran out, he tried to sell up his lands, though the other lords of Arcadia banded together and, out of pity for him, they refused to buy up more than a portion of his properties. They did not want to see the man ruin himself for the sake of a hopeless cause. Alas, this refusal only drove Eustathios into greater desperation, and he began to offer his land to the highest bidder. The common folk had far too much reverence for the gentry to make him an offer. Only Agon here, a petty little aristocratic upstart, had the shamelessness to press the advantage against him.

  "It estranged him from the other lords of Arcadia, of course, and the precise circumstances of his 'deal' with Eustathios went unknown for many years, but suffice it to say that Agon profited, while Eustathios was ruined. He never succeeded in launching the final rescue mission that he dreamed of.

  "I found the man himself, and he told me how it had happened. Agon had met him in a tavern, and Eustathios had gambled all he owned in exchange for hard cash, should he win. In the event Agon won, and it cost him nothing, for the odds had fallen in his favour.

  "But sly young Agon had some measure of humanity beneath his cunning, and he allowed Eustathios to live on in the lands that rightfully belonged to him – as a servant; a pig-keeper to be precise."