Among the leaders of fashion and
of pleasure--for fashion and pleasure did not fail to revive in
Rome soon after the horrors of the siege--shone a lady named
Heliodora, the Greek wife of a little-respected senator, who,
favoured by Bessas, rose to the position of City Prefect. With
Heliodora's character rumour made very free; the captives of her
beauty were said to be numerous, and one of the names mentioned by
those who loved such scandal was that of the young Basil. Gordian,
finding that there was some ground for this suspicion, spoke no more
of the suggested marriage, and it was at his instance that Maximus,
ill in Campania, summoned Basil away from the city. Reports from
Surrentum gave reason to hope that this measure had succeeded. But
to-day, as he entered Basil's house, Gordian's face wore a troubled
look, and there was no warmth in his response to the greeting which
met him.
'You have sent for me, my dear lord,' he began with grave and
distant courtesy, 'to speak of the matter of your inheritance.
Forgive me if I first of all ask you a question--of more intimate
concern.
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