He enjoyed a plot for
its own sake, and a plot, long savoured, which gave him triumph over
ecclesiastical rivals, and even over the Emperor Justinian, was well
worth the little risk that might ensue When he returned to Rome, it
would doubtless be with the victorious Goth--safe, jubilant, and
ere long to be seated in the chair of the Apostle.
At the same hour Marcian was riding along the Praenestine Way, the
glory of summer sunrise straight before him. The thought most active
in his mind had nothing to do with the contest of nations or with
the fate of Rome: it was that on the morrow he should behold
Veranilda. For a long time he had ceased to think of her; her name
came to his lips in connection with artifice and intrigue, but the
maiden herself had faded into nothingness, no longer touched his
imagination. He wondered at that fantastic jealousy of Basil from
which he had suffered. This morning, the caress of the warm air, the
scents wafted about him as he rode over the great brown wilderness,
revived his bygone mood. Again he mused on that ideal loveliness
which he attributed to the unseen Veranilda For nearly a year she
had been sought in vain by her lover, by Greek commanders, by
powerful churchmen; she had been made the pretext of far-reaching
plots and conspiracies; her name had excited passions vehement and
perilous, had been the cause of death.
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