His companion retained and quieted him. He should see Veranilda ere
long. But there was yet something to be spoken of.

'Have you forgotten that she is not of your faith?'

'Do I love her, adore her, the less?' exclaimed Basil. 'Does she
shrink from me on that account?'

'I know,' pursued his cousin, 'what the Apostle of the Gentiles has
said: "For the husband who believes not is sanctified by the wife,
and the wife who believes not is sanctified by the husband." None
the less, Veranilda is under the menace of the Roman law; and you,
if it be known that you have wedded her, will be in peril from all
who serve the Emperor--at least in dark suspicion; and will be
slightly esteemed by all of our house.'

The lover paced about, and all at once, with a wild gesture, uttered
his inmost thought.

'What if I care naught for those of our house? And what if the
Emperor of the East is of as little account to me? My country is not
Byzantium, but Rome.'

Aurelia hushed his voice, but her eyes shone with stern gladness as
she stood before him, and took him by the hand, and spoke what he
alone could hear.

'Then unite yourself in faith with those who would make Rome free.
Be one in religion with the brave Goths--with Veranilda.'