So I mounted half a dozen bowmen,
who will ride and shoot with any Hun, and as many stout fellows who
can wield lance or throw javelin, and here they are at your gates.
Have no fear for the girls within doors; my men are both sober and
chaste by prudence, if not by nature. There was a time when I had to
make an example here and there'--he scowled a smile--'but now
they know me.'
Basil replied as became him, not without some slight imitation of
his guest's bluff manliness. Admiring, as he did, above all things,
that which savoured of heroism, he was strongly impressed by
Venantius, whose like, among natives of Rome, he had not yet beheld,
who shone before him, indeed, in a nobler light than any man he had
seen since the days when he worshipped Belisarius. Arrangements were
speedily made for the entertainment of the little armed troop, and
as dusk gathered the host and his two guests sat down to supper.
Whilst the meal was being made ready, Basil had found opportunity of
speech with Aurelia, who heard with great satisfaction of the coming
of Venantius, and promised to receive him early on the morrow.
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