his eyes with a peculiar intensity on the troubled bishop.

Petronilla drew near. The will was already known to her in every
detail, and she harboured a keen suspicion of the secret which lay
behind it. Leander, she could not doubt, was behaving to her with
duplicity, and this grieved her to the heart. It was to the bishop
that she now addressed herself.

'Holy father, I am your suppliant. Not even for a day will I remain
under this roof, even if--which is doubtful--I should be
suffered to do so. I put myself under the protection of your
Holiness, until such time as I can set forth on my sad journey to
Rome. At Surrentum I must abide until the corpse of my brother can
be conveyed to its final resting place--as I promised him.'

Much agitated, the prelate made answer that a fitting residence
should be prepared for her before noon, and the presbyter Andreas
added that he would instantly betake himself to the city on that
business. Petronilla thanked him with the loftiest humility. For any
lack of respect, or for common courtesy, to which they might be
exposed ere they quitted the villa, she besought their Sanctities
not to hold her responsible, she herself being now an unwilling
intruder at this hearth, and liable at any moment to insult.
Uttering which words in a resonant voice, she turned her eyes to
where, a few yards away, stood Aurelia, with Basil and Decius behind
her.

'Reverend bishop,' spoke a voice not less steady and sonorous than
that of the elder lady, 'should you suffer any discourtesy in my
house, it will come not from me, but from her who suggests its