'O witty Galla!' he exclaimed. 'Crumbs from the hand of Bessas. Say
on, say on; I love your spicy wit, O Galla! Cannot you find
something sharp, for the most grave, the most virtuous Basil?'
'Hold your saucy tongue, child,' said Heliodora with a pouting
smile. 'But it is true that Muscula has won advancement. One doesn't
need to have a very long memory to recall her arrival in Rome. There
are who say that she came as suckling nurse in a lady's train, with
the promise of marriage to a freedman when her mistress's baby was
weaned. That is malice, of course; poor Muscula has had many
enemies. For my part, I have never doubted that she was suckling her
own child, nor that its father was a man of honourable name, and not
a slave of the Circus stables as some said.'
Again Vivian rolled on the cushions in mirth, until he caught
Basil's eye as it glanced at him with infinite scorn. Then he
started to a sitting posture, fingered the handle of his dagger, and
glared at Heliodora's neighbour with all the insolent ferocity of
which his face was capable. This youth was the son of a man whose
name sounded ill to any Roman patriot,--of that Opilio, who,
having advanced to high rank under King Theodoric, was guilty of
frauds, fell from his eminence, and, in hope of regaining the king's
favour, forged evidence of treachery against Boethius.
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