Zazo shook his brown locks, angry, wondering, incredulous. But he said firmly,--
"Then forgive me, priest,--if I have really done you injustice."
"Pudentius," Verus continued, without replying, "was, I suspected, the go-between. I gained his confidence."
"That is, you deceived him--as you are perhaps deluding us," muttered Zazo.
"Silence, brother!" Gelimer commanded imperiously.
"It was not difficult to convince him. My family, like his, had by your kings--" he interrupted himself abruptly. "I expressed my anguish; I condemned your cruelty."
"With justice! Woe betide us, with justice!" groaned Gelimer, striking his brow with his clenched fist.
"I said that my friendship for you was not so strong as my resentment for all my kindred. He initiated me into the conspiracy. I was startled; for, in truth, unless God worked a miracle to blind him, the Vandal kingdom was hopelessly lost. I warned him--to gain time until your return--of the cruel vengeance you would take upon all Romans if the insurrection should be suppressed. He hesitated, promised to consider everything again, to discuss the matter once more with the King. There--this note, brought to me by a stranger to-day in the basilica, contains the decision. Act quickly, or it may be too late."
Gelimer gazed silently into vacancy. But Zazo drew his sword and was rushing from the hall.
"Where are you going?" asked the priest, in a low tone, seizing his arm. The grasp was so firm, so powerful, that the Vandal could not shake it off.