He stared at her as if he thought she had gone mad.
"Listen, Hellayne," he urged, taking her hands in his, in the endeavor to soothe her. "What spirit of evil has whispered this madness into your ears? Even just now you said, he has sworn to kill me. How could there be reconciliation between Roger de Laval and myself—who love his wife?"
"Then what is it?" she queried, her eyes upon his lips as if she were waiting sentence to be pronounced upon her.
"I am the Senator's man!"
The words fell upon her ears like the knell of doom.
"He will release you! I will go to him—if your pride is greater, than your love."
She was all woman now, deaf to reason and entreaty, thinking of nothing but her great love of him.
He drew her down beside him on the marble seat.
"Listen, Hellayne! You do not understand—you wrong me cruelly. Naught is there in this world that I would not do to make you happy—you, whose love and happiness are my one concern while life endures. But this thing may not be. The Senator of Rome is away on a pilgrimage. He has chosen me to watch over this city till his return. Danger lurks about me in every guise. Its nature I know not. But I do know that there is some dark power at work plotting evil. There is one I do not trust—the Lord Basil."
Hellayne gave a start.