Benilo shrugged his shoulders disdainfully.
"Nothing whatever! I also know him!"
There was something in his tone, which struck the ever-watchful ear of Theodora like a danger-knell.
"You know him?" echoed a chorus of voices from every part of the great hall.
He waved back the eager questioners.
"I know him!" he declared emphatically, then he was silent.
Theodora seemed to have grown nervous.
"Are you serious?"
"Never more so!" Benilo replied, with a slight peculiar hardening of the lips.
"Is he a Roman?" cried a voice.