Following his conductor,
Basil passed along a corridor, and into a peristyle with a double
colonnade. In the midst of a little garden, planted with flowering
shrubs, rose the statue which its late owner had most prized, an
admirable copy of the Aphrodite of Cnidos; it stood upon a pedestal
of black basalt and was protected by a light canopy with slender
columns in all but transparent alabaster. Round about it were marble
seats, and here, shielded from the sun by little silken awnings, sat
Heliodora and her guests. At once Basil became aware of the young
Vivian, whose boyish form (he was but some eighteen years old)
lounged among cushions on the seat nearest to Heliodora, his eyes
fixed upon her beauty in a languishing gaze, which, as soon as he
beheld the new comer, flashed into fierceness. The others were two
women, young and comely, whose extravagant costume and the attitudes
in which they reclined proved them suitable companions of the lady
of the house. Whilst yet at some distance, Basil had heard a
feminine voice rising to shrillness, and as he approached the group
he found a discussion going on which threatened to become more than
vivacious.
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