In sad obedience, the servant made known that he and his fellows had been closely questioned, first by Venantius, later, some two or three of them, by the king himself, regarding their master’s course of life since he went into Picenum.  They had told the truth, happy in that they could do so without fear and without shame.

‘And how did the king bear himself to you?’ asked Basil eagerly.

‘With that nobleness which became him,’ was the fervid answer.  ’It is said among the Goths that only a lie or an act of cowardice can move Totila to wrath against one who is in his power; and after speaking face to face with him, I well believe it.  He questioned me in few words, but not as a tyrant; and when I had replied as best I could, he dismissed me with a smile.’

Basil’s head drooped.

‘Yes, Totila is noble,’ fell softly from him.  ’Let be what will be.  He is worthier than I.’

A knock sounded again at the door of the cell, and there entered Marcus.  His keen and kindly face betrayed perturbation of spirit, and after looking from Basil to the new comer and then at Basil again, he said in a nervous voice: 

’The lord abbot bids you repair at once, my brother, to the prior’s room.’

‘I go,’ was the prompt reply.

As they left the room, Marcus caught Basil’s arm and whispered: 

’It is the King of the Goths who awaits you.  But have courage, dear brother; his face is mild.  Despite his error, he has borne himself reverently to our holy father.’

‘Know you what has passed between them?’ asked Basil, also in a whisper.

’That none may know.  But when Totila came forth from the tower, he had the face of one who has heard strange things.  Who can say what the Almighty purposes by the power of his servant Benedict?  Not unguided, surely, did the feet of the misbelieving warrior turn to climb this mount.’

Leaving the poet monk to nurse his hopes, Basil betook himself with rapid steps to the prior’s room.  At the door stood three armed men; two had the long flaxen hair which proclaimed them Goths, the third was Venantius.  A look of friendly recognition was all that passed between Basil and his countryman, who straightway admitted him to the room, announced his name, and retired.  Alone—­his attitude that of one who muses—­sat the Gothic King.  He was bareheaded and wore neither armour nor weapon; his apparel a purple tunic, with a loose, gold-broidered belt, and a white mantle purple seamed.  Youth shone in his ruddy countenance, and the vigour of perfect manhood graced his frame.  The locks that fell to his shoulders had a darker hue than that common in the Gothic race, being a deep burnished chestnut; but upon his lips and chin the hair gleamed like pale gold.  Across his forehead, from temple to temple, ran one deep furrow, and this, together with a slight droop of the eyelids, touched his visage with a cast of melancholy, whereby, perhaps, the comely features became more royal.