Once more he would visit
Heliodora; if fruitlessly, then for the last time.
But of this decision he did not speak to Marcian.
CHAPTER XV
YOUNG ROME
At the hour named by Heliodora, Basil set forth alone and rode by
unfrequented ways towards the street on the Quirinal named Alta
Semita. A sense of shame forbade him to make known even to his
slaves whither he was going. He kept repeating to himself that it
was for the last time; and perhaps a nobler motive would have
withheld him altogether, had not the story told by Marcian of his
'rival's' insolent menace rankled in him and urged him to show that
he felt no fear. Chance led him past the little church of St.
Agatha, which belonged to the Arians; it helped him to fix his
thoughts upon Veranilda, and silently he swore that no temptation
should prevail against the fidelity due to his beloved.
Not far from the Thermae of Constantine, and over against that
long-ruined sanctuary of ancient Rome, the Temple of Quirinus, he
drew rein at a great house with a semicircular portico of Carystian
columns, before which stood a bronze bull, the ornament of a
fountain now waterless; on either side of the doorway was a
Molossian hound in marble.
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