'
'It is true; and perchance you shall hear more of it. Be not
impatient; great things are not hastily achieved.'
With sundry other such remarks, so uttered that their triteness
seemed to become the maturity of wisdom, Leander brought the
colloquy to an end. It was his principle to trust no man unless he
were assured of a motive strong enough to make him trustworthy, and
that motive he had not yet discovered in Marcian. Nor, indeed, was
he entirely sure of himself; for though he had gone so far as to
communicate with the Gothic king, it was only in view of
possibilities whose issue he still awaited. If the Pope set forth
for Constantinople, he would leave as representative in Rome the
deacon Pelagius, and from this brother cleric Leander had already
received certain glances, which were not to be misunderstood. The
moment might shortly come when he would need a friend more powerful
than any he had within the city.
But Vigilius lingered, and Leander, save in his influence with the
irresolute Pontiff, postponed the step he had in view.
CHAPTER XVIII
PELAGIUS
Rome waited.
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