So for a few
more minutes he endured the horror of that unbroken yell. When it
ceased, he could hear his heart beating.
Summoned at length to the lady's presence, he found her lying in the
chamber of the Hermaphrodite. A strange odour floated in the air,
overcoming that of wonted perfumes.
Faint with a sudden nausea, Marcian performed no courtesy, but stood
regarding the living woman much as he had gazed at the face in
marble, absent and sombre-browed.
'What now?' were Heliodora's first words, her smile fading in
displeasure.
'Must we needs converse in your torture-chamber?' asked Marcian.
'Are your senses more delicate than mine?'
'It seems so. I could wish I had chosen another hour for visiting
you.'
'It was well chosen,' said Heliodora, regarding him fixedly. 'This
slave I have chastised, shall I tell you of what he was guilty? He
has a blabbing tongue.'
'I see not how that concerns me,' was his cold reply, as he met her
look with steady indifference.
From her lounging attitude Heliodora changed suddenly to one in
which, whilst seated, she bent forward as though about to spring at
him.
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