With news for _him_? And, as if
expecting a letter, he stretched forth his hand eagerly.
'He has nothing, that I know of, for you,' said the captain. 'If he
tells the truth, he is charged with a message for the king.'
'Is it Sagaris--a Syrian slave?'
'A Syrian, by his looks; one I remember to have seen with Marcian a
year ago.'
'Sagaris, to be sure. Then you can trust him. He has the eye of his
race, and is a prating braggart, but Marcian has found him honest. I
must see him, Venantius. Will you send him to me, dear lord?'
Venantius had seated himself on a chair that was beside the bed; he
wore a dubious look, and, before speaking again, glanced keenly at
Basil.
'Did you not expect,' he asked, 'to meet Marcian in the king's
camp?'
'My last news from him bade me go thither as fast as I could, as he
himself was leaving Rome to join the king. I should have gone a
little out of my road to visit his villa near Arpinum, on the chance
of hearing news of him there; but our encounter with the marauders
drove me too far away.'
'So much,' said Venantius, 'I gathered from your talk last night,
when you were not quite so clear-headed as you are now.
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