ent a herald, a Greek whom they had captured, and,
covering him with arrows, made him call out that if your tongue was slit
they would know of it and slit the tongues of all the hostages also, and
that if your hand was cut off they could cut off their hands, and take
another vengeance which for the present they keep secret."

"At least they are faithful," I said. "But, oh! tell me, Martina, what
of Heliodore?"

"This," she whispered into my ear. "Heliodore and her father sailed an
hour after sunset and are now safe upon the sea, bound for Egypt."

"Then I was right! When Irene told me she was dead she lied."

"Aye, if she said that she lied, though thrice she has striven to murder
her, I have no time to tell you how, but was always baffled by those who
watched. Yet she might have succeeded at last, so, although Heliodore
fought against it, it was best that she should go. Those who are parted
may meet again; but how can we meet one who is dead until we too are
dead?"

"How did she go?"

"Smuggled from the city disguised as a boy attending on a priest, and
that priest her father shorn of his beard and tonsured. The Bishop
Barnabas passed them out in his following."

"Then blessings on the Bishop Barnabas," I said.

"Aye, blessings on him, since without his help it could never have been
done. The secret agents at the port stared hard at those two, although
the good bishop vouched for them and gave their names and offices.
Still, when they saw some rough-looking fellows dressed like sailors
approach, playing with the handles of their knives, the agents thought
well to ask no more questions. Moreover, now that the ship has sailed,
for their own sakes they'll swear that no such priest and boy went
aboard of her. So your Heliodore is away unharmed, as is her father,
though his mission has come to naught. Still, his life is left in him,
for which he may be thankful, who on such a business should have brought
no woman. If he had come alone, Olaf, your eyes would have been left to
you, and set by now upon the orb of empire that your hand had grasped."

"Yet I am glad that he did not come alone, Martina."

"Truly you have a high and faithful heart, and that woman should be
honoured whom you love. What is the secret? There must be more in it
than the mere desire for a woman's beauty, though I know that at times
this can make men mad. In such a business the soul must play its part."

"I think so, Martina. Indeed, I belie