must know that in my boyhood I passed three years at Berytus, and
there obtained that knowledge of law which you may have remarked in
talking with me--well, I was at sea--'

'Peace!' interposed Felix. 'We are summoned.'

Sagaris sighed, and became the obsequious attendant.





CHAPTER V

BASIL AND VERANILDA




At the appointed hour next morning, when yet no ray of sunshine had
touched the gloomy little street, though a limpid sky shone over it,
Basil stood at Aurelia's door. The grey-headed porter silently
admitted him, and he passed by a narrow corridor into a hall lighted
as usual from above, paved with red tiles, here and there trodden
away, the walls coloured a dusky yellow, and showing an imaginary
line of pillars painted in blue. A tripod table, a couch, and a few
chairs were the only furniture. When the visitor had waited for a
few moments a curtain concealing the entrance to the inner part of
the house moved aside, and Aurelia's voice bade her cousin come
forward. He entered a smaller room opening upon a diminutive court