He seized the Pagan by the throat, his eyes
sparkled, his blood boiled, he began to suspect even then that Antonina
was lost to him for ever.
'I ask you again where is she?' he shouted in a voice of fury. 'If
through this night's work she is lost or harmed, I will revenge it on
you. Is this the performance of your promise? Do you think that I will
direct your desired restoration of the gods of old for this? If evil
comes to Antonina through your treachery, sooner than assist in your
secret projects, I would see you and your accursed deities all burning
together in the Christians' hell! Where is the girl, you slave?
Villain, where was your vigilance, when you let that man surprise us at
our first interview?'
He turned towards Numerian as he spoke. Trouble and emergency gift the
faculties with a more than mortal penetration. Every word that he had
uttered had eaten its burning way into the father's heart. Hours of
narrative could not have convinced him how fatally he had been deceived,
more thoroughly than the few hasty expressions he had just heard.
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