CHAPTER V
Gelimer sat down on the couch; Zazo stood before him, leaning on his long sword, and began,--
"Soon after you went to the field, Pudentius came from Tripolis to Carthage."
"Again?"
"Yes, he is often at the palace and talks for hours, alone with the King. Or with Euages and Hoamer, the King's nephews, our beloved cousins. The latter, arrogant blockhead, can't keep silent after wine. In a drunken revel he told the secret."
"But surely not to you?"
"No! To red-haired Thrasaric."
"The savage!"
"I don't commend his morals," cried the other, laughing. "Yet he has grown much more sedate since he is honestly trying to win the dainty Eugenia. But he never lies. And he would die for the Vandal nation; especially for you, whom he calls his tutor. You begin education with blows. In the grove of Venus--"
"The Holy Virgin, you mean," Gelimer corrected.