'Has he married her?'
'Not yet--I think.'
Again she bowed her head. For a moment her tears fell silently, then
she looked up once more fighting against her anguish.
'It cannot be true that he would have given me to the Greeks; that
he may have forgotten me, that he may have turned to another love, I
can perhaps believe--for what am I that Basil should love me? But
to scheme my injury, to deliver me to our enemies--Oh, you are
deceived, you are deceived!'
Marcian was silent, with eyes cast down. In the branches, cicadas
trilled their monotone. The viper, which had been startled away,
again showed its lithe blackness among the stones behind Veranilda,
and Marcian, catching sight of it, again touched her arm.
'The snake! Come away from this place.'
Veranilda drew her arm back as if his touch stung her.
'I will go,' she said. 'I must be alone--my thoughts are in such
confusion I know not what I say.'
'Say but one word,' he pleaded. 'Having rescued you, I knew not how
to provide for your security save under ward of the king. Totila is
noble and merciful; all Italy will soon be his, and the Gothic rule
be re-established.
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