Would he
otherwise have kept her here with him, alone, and not rather have
continued the journey, with all speed, till he reached Totila's
camp?
'When I left her,' pursued Gaudiosus, whose confidence in his own
judgment was already shaken by the young man's vehemence, 'I spoke
in private with certain of the bondswomen, who declared to me that
they could avouch the maiden's innocence since her coming hither--
until to-day's sunrise.'
Basil laughed with scorn.
'Until to-day's sunrise? And pray, good father, what befell her at
that moment? What whisper the Argus-eyed bondswomen?'
'They tell me,' replied the priest, 'that she went forth and met
Marcian, and walked with him in a wood, her own woman having been
sent back to the villa. This troubled me; but her voice, her
countenance--'
'Helped by the devil,' broke in Basil. 'Reverend man, do not seek to
deceive yourself, or to solace me with a vain hope. I pray you, did
Marcian, when you came to visit him, speak of a lady whose virtue he
was sworn to guard? Plainly, not a word fell from him. Yet assuredly
he would have spoken had things been as you pretend.
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