Bessas wore the smile which means that he has
over-reached somebody.'
'Then we shall find her,' exclaimed Basil.
'They will find her, I doubt not,' was the reply.
The meal being ready, they sat down to eat together, but their
appetite was small. Decius, who had wearied himself this morning in
finding discreet answers to the questions with which he was
privately assailed by his kinsfolk, did not come to table. Having
dined, Basil and his friend set forth on foot, half a dozen servants
walking behind them. Midway in the descent of the Caelian, they were
met by an odd procession: a beautiful boy of some twelve years old,
clad in yellow, riding upon a small white ass with rich housings,
and behind him three slaves, dark-visaged men of the East, on mules
of great size, caparisoned with yellow cloth, to which hung
innumerable tinkling bells. At sight of Basil, the child drew rein;
jumped down, and ran forward with smiling demonstrations of respect.
'What is it, Laetus?' asked Basil, with no welcome upon his sombre
countenance. 'I cannot talk with you now.'
The boy, who had been sold into slavery from the far island of the
Angles, did but smatter the Roman tongue.
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