"Because I simply do not change my mind!" Helena had answered.

"Not even when you're wrong?" Terry asked.

"I am not wrong! Could you prove me wrong?" she asked.

"What if I could?"

"How? Something you know that I don't?"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Don't you?"

Once again, even her cats seemed to be listening intently.

"No."

"You're lying." she said. "I don't read people as well as I do cats, but you lie. Atropa bella donna, Terry!" she finished. "In a way, that is what he did!"

"What does atr-whatever you said mean?"

She ignored his question.

"There is no reason for me to humiliate myself in front of other people. And especially not him."

"I would not bother trying to convince her, Terry." Selina said, after seeing Helena leave the room. "She's just too stubborn to change her mind! She's always been."

"Have you tried to get her to?" he asked.

"I have. But she just won't."

"Doesn't she listen to you?"

"She does, and if I told her she had to, she would. But forcing her wouldn't be a good idea. Helena does her best to stay away from anything that could be painful to her."

"And you really don't think she would change her mind?"

"No. But I hope you can."

"Me?"

"If anyone can, it would be you. She listens to you. But you have to be more convincing when you tell her there's nothing for her to figure out."

"What?"

"Helena does not know anything, but that doesn't mean she can't figure it out for herself."

"She told me," Terry did not know how to phrase this. "she's gone through your correspondence."

Selina nodded.

"Of course."

"You're okay with that?"

"I can't say I am exactly. But I've always found it too difficult to say no to or even scold her."

"Difficult to even keep anything locked?"

"Locks wouldn't stop Helena. Nothing can stop her from getting what she wants. You didn't notice the charms?"

"Yeah, I did. She used them as keys. To open the door."

"They can serve as lock picks as well."

"I gotta say, that was creative. Did you use kitty charms?"

"No. Although I wish I would have thought of that."

"But you have to be more convincing when you lie to her, and say you don't know anything."

"And she wants to know. She said something..." he tried to remember. "Atro bell donna?"

"Atropa bella donna." smiled Selina.

"Yeah. She was saying he did whatever that was."

"It's Italian, Greek as well, a kind of warning. 'Never betray a beautiful lady'. I'm afraid she is starting to think there's something. And she wants to know."

"But there's no way she could find out, is there?"

"I can't think of any."

"By the way," Terry said. "your stepson, Ferrando, I think I've seen him somewhere before."

"You may have. Do you watch any European films, sitcoms, or anything like that?" Selina asked.

"No. Why?"

"He's an actor. Though, of course, he's known mostly in the European celebrity system."