‘I will find her,’ he cried, ’if it cost me my life!  And I will be revenged upon those who have robbed me of her.  She may at this moment be in Rome.  The ship that carried. her off was large enough, they say, to make the voyage, and winds have been favourable.  My good Decius, I am so overcome with misery that I forget even to ask how you sped on the sea.’

’A smooth and rapid voyage.  I had only time to reperuse with care the Silvae of Statius—­his Epicedion being appropriate to my mood.  Arrived at Portus, I sent a post to those who awaited the ship’s coming, and the remains of Maximus were brought with all due honour to their resting place.’

‘Was the deacon Leander here to receive you?’ asked Basil.

‘I learnt that he had not yet been heard of.’

They exchanged a significant look, and Basil remarked that he would soon discover the deacon’s movements since his leaving Surrentum.  Marcian was even now on his way to visit Petronilla, and would come with news this evening.

‘If I could know,’ he cried, ’whether she has been delivered to the Greeks, or is kept imprisoned by that Megaera!  It may be that Petronilla is ignorant of what I have told you; yet, if so, I fear she will soon learn it, for Chorsoman will write—­if the barbarian can write—­to Bessas, and cannot but mention her.  There are prisons in Rome for those who offend the tyrant of Byzantium.’

‘It troubles me to hear you say that,’ said Decius, with an anxious glance.

‘I, too, may be in peril, you think,’ replied his kinsman gloomily.  ’True, all the more that I am known to have just inherited.  Bessas takes a peculiar interest in such people.  Be that as it will.  Let us turn for a moment to other things.’

They spoke of the duties that had to be discharged by Basil as his uncle’s heir.  On the morrow he must assemble such of his kinsfolk as were in Rome, and exhibit to them the testament.  Aurelia’s part in it would of course excite discussion, perhaps serious objection; whereas her disappearance would probably be regarded as a matter of small moment, and Petronilla, even if suspected, could count on sympathy.  When he left the library, Basil found all the members of his household, from the old nurse Aguella, whose privilege it was to treat him with motherly affection, to the men who groomed his horse, assembled outside to give him welcome.  His character and bearing were such as earn the good-will of dependents; though proud and impatient, he never behaved harshly, and a service well rendered often had its recognition.  Among the young men of his rank, he was notable for temperance in pleasures; his slaves regarded him as above common temptations of the flesh, and, though this might be a loss to them in one way, they boasted of it when talking to the slaves of masters less exceptional.  Having learnt from Felix that their lord was heir of Maximus, the servants received him with even more