of Maximus—­ money to be paid out of the great coffer which the senator had conveyed hither.  As they talked, Marcian urged upon him a close friendship with Venantius, in whose castle he would be welcomed.  Here at Surrentum he could not long rest in safety, for Chorsoman might at any time have his suspicions awakened by learning the delay of Veranilda’s journey to Rome, and the news of her marriage could not be prevented from spreading.

So Basil lay through an anxious hour or two before sleep fell upon him to-night.  He resolved to change the habits of his life, to shake off indolence and the love of ease, to fortify himself with vigorous exercises, and become ready for warfare.  It was all very well for an invalid, like Decius, to nurse a tranquil existence, unheeding the temper of the times.  A strong and healthy man had no right to lurk away from the streaming flood of things; it behoved him to take his part in strife and tumult, to aid in re-establishing a civic state.  This determination firmly grasped, he turned to think of the hoped-for meeting with Veranilda in the morning, and gentler emotions lulled him into dreams.

At dawn he bestirred himself.  The gallery outside his chamber was lighted with a hanging lamp, and at a little distance sounded the footstep of the watchman, who told him that the morning was fair, and, at his bidding, opened a door which admitted to the open terrace overlooking the sea.  Having stepped forth, Basil stood for a moment sniffing the cool air with its scent from the vineyards, and looking at the yellow rift in the eastern sky; then he followed a path which skirted the villa’s outward wall and led towards the dwelling of Aurelia.  Presently he reached the ruined wall of the little garden, and here a voice challenged him, that of a servant on watch until sunrise.

‘It is well,’ he replied.  ’I will relieve you for this last half hour; go to your rest.’

But the slave hesitated.  He had strictest orders, and feared to disobey them even at this bidding.

‘You are an honest fellow,’ said Basil, ’and the lady Aurelia shall know of your steadfastness.  But get you gone; there is no danger whilst I am here.’

Impatiently he watched the man retire, then stood just within the gap of the wall, and waited with as much fear as hope.  It might be that Veranilda would not venture forth without speaking to Aurelia, who might forbid the meeting; or, if she tried to steal out, she might be detected and hindered; perhaps she would fear to pass under the eyes of a watchman or other servant who might be in her way.  He stamped nervously, and turned to look for a moment in the outward direction.  This little villa stood on the edge of a declivity falling towards the sea; a thicket of myrtles grew below.  At the distance of half a mile along the coast, beyond a hollow wooded with ilex, rose a temple, which time and the hand of man had yet spared; its whiteness glimmered against a sky whose cloudless dusk was warming with a reflection of the daybreak.  An influence in the scene before him, something he neither understood nor tried to understand, held him gazing longer than he supposed, and with a start he heard his name spoken by the beloved voice.  Close to him stood Veranilda.  She was cloaked and hooded, so that he could hardly see her face; but her white hands were held out for his.