Proba, whose pious muse inspired her to utter the Gospel in a
Virgilian canto. And at Aurelia's side, bending over a piece of
delicate needlework, sat the Gothic maiden, clad in white, her
flaxen hair, loosely held with silk, falling behind her shoulders,
shadowing her forehead, and half hiding the little ears. At Basil's
entrance she did not look up; at the first sound of his voice she
bent her head yet lower, and only when he directly addressed her,
asking, with all the gentleness his lips could command, whether the
journey had left much fatigue, did she show for a moment her watchet
eyes, answering few words with rare sweetness.

'Be seated, dear my lord,' said his cousin, in the soft, womanly
voice once her habitual utterance. 'There has been so little
opportunity of free conversation, that we have almost, one might
say, to make each other's acquaintance yet. But I hope we may now
enjoy a little leisure, and live as becomes good kinsfolk.'

Basil made such suitable answer as his agitation allowed.

'And the noble Decius,' pursued Aurelia, 'will, I trust, bestow at
times a little of his leisure upon us. Perhaps this afternoon you
could persuade him to forget his books for half an hour? But let us
speak, to begin with, of sad things which must needs occupy us. Is
it possible, yet, to know when the ship will sail for Rome?'

Aurelia meant, of course, the vessel which would convey her father's
corpse, and the words cast gloom upon Basil, who had all but
forgotten the duty that lay before him. He answered that a week at
least must pass before the sailing, and, as he spoke, kept his eyes
upon Veranilda, whose countenance--or so it seemed to him--had