Essery mumbled a quiet sort of 'convallaria majalis', mostly because she wasn't sure at all she was pronouncing it the right way, but when the staircase started to move she stepped on and relaxed. Either she'd gotten it right, or the staircase wasn't too picky in its old age.
Coming up into his office, she looked around as she walked in. "Convallaria majalis?" She asked, obviously a question and not a mere restatement of the password. She wasn't an idiot.