I will straightway beg him to defer his
business.'
The lady turned and gazed into the dusky shop.
'He is not alone, I see.'
'A kinsman is with him, noble lady.'
'Then bid the kinsman go his way, and keep apart, you, until you are
summoned. I will speak for a moment with the lord Basilius.'
The Alexandrian, masking a smile, drew near to Basil, and whispered
that the lady Heliodora demanded to see him alone. A gesture of
annoyance was the first reply, but, after an instant's reflection,
Basil begged his kinsman to withdraw. Heliodora then entered the
shop, which was nothing more than an open recess, with a stone
counter half across the entrance, and behind it a couple of wooden
stools. Upon one of these the lady seated herself, and Basil, who
had greeted her only with a movement of the head, stood waiting.
'So you will not sup with me?' began Heliodora, in a voice of
bantering indifference. 'You will not come to see me? You will not
write to me? It is well. I care less than the clipping of a
finger-nail.'
'So I would have it,' Basil replied coldly.
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