'That I do not ask. But,' she added significantly, 'will you send
him here, and let me use gentler ways of discovering what I can?'
'That, willingly.'
And when Marcian went away, he reflected that all was not yet lost.
For Heliodora still had faith in the prophecy of her astrologer; she
was more resolute than ever in her resolve to triumph over Bessas;
she could gain nothing to this end by helping her confederate's
ruin. Before parting, they had agreed that Marcian would do well to
affect ignorance of the discovery Bessas had made; time and events
must instruct them as to the projects of their enemies, and guide
their own course.
That same day, he despatched the Syrian with a letter to Heliodora,
and on the man's return spoke with him as if carelessly of his
commission. He remarked that the face of Sagaris shone as though
exultantly, but no indiscreet word dropped from the vaunter's lips.
A useful fellow, murmured Marcian within himself, and smiled
contempt.
Another day or two of indecision, then in obedience to an impulse he
could no longer resist, he sought speech with the deacon Pelagius.
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