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Basil and he, who had not met since the day of the family gathering, spoke together in the portico. He had come, said Gordian, in the fear that Petronilla had been forsaken by all her household, as sometimes happened to those infected. Had it been so, he would have held it a duty to approach her with what solace he could.
I speak only of Veranilda, against whom you can feel no enmity. Will you release her to me? It will only be anticipating by a few days her release to Bessas. Veranilda in his hands, trust me, he will care little what becomes of Aurelia. 'I listen to you, replied Petronilla, 'because I am curious to learn into what extravagances your ignoble passion drives you.
Again Basil stood for a moment voiceless in wrath. Then he threw up an arm, and spoke with terrible vehemence. 'Woman, if you have lied to me, wickedly seeking to put enmity between me and my friend, may the pest smite you, and may you perish unforgiven of man and God! Petronilla blanched not. For one instant he glared at her, and was gone.
"Nay, what is it, trow?" inquired Kate, who looked with deep interest through the interstices of the filagree, and saw nothing but a few inches of coarse linen thread. "Oh, it is de blessed relic! Look you, our Lady made shirt for Saint Joseph, and she cut off de t'read, and it fall on de floor, and dere it lie till Saint Petronilla come by, and she pick it up and put it in her bosom.
The thought stung Basil to frenzy, for, if Veranilda once fell into the hands of the Greeks, what hope had he of ever seeing her again? 'Did Petronilla know? he asked of Marcian. 'Who can say? answered his friend, easily understanding the curtailed question.
They had laid out fresh underwear and several perfectly new suits of Bonifacius Ritter's for him to choose from; and he sat down to breakfast a "newborn" man. Petronilla herself brought in breakfast. While serving, she told him everybody, even all the servants, had gone out. She left the room, and returned a few moments later to ask if there was anything else he wished. "Nothing, thank you."
Did I not yesterday visit the church of the blessed Petronilla, and might I not, if so I had willed, have escaped instead of returning to the city? 'What has this to do with the matter? demanded Basil. 'Child! child! cried the other, as if with boundless contempt. 'You ask that, knowing why this Veranilda is sought by the Greeks?
Have not emperors, have not bishops and numberless holy men lived and died in the faith I confess ? She checked herself; grew silent, brooded. Meanwhile, the old nurse talked on, and presently began to relate how a handmaid of Petronilla, in going with her this morning, professed to know on the surest evidence that Aurelia, by her father's deathbed, had renounced Arianism.
Speak the truth to me, and you shall be rewarded; refuse to answer, or lie to me, and I swear by the Cross that you shall suffer. Who was the woman that died here yesterday? The freedman answered without hesitation, telling the same story Basil had already heard from Petronilla. 'Good. She has been buried? 'She was carried out before dawn.
This evening the corpse would be conveyed to the cathedral of Surrentum, where due rites would be performed early on the morrow; there it would remain in temporary interment until a coffin of lead could be prepared, and arrangements completed for the removal. Was the year too advanced, questioned Petronilla, to allow of the sea voyage?
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