the plain intention of exhibiting herself to the loiterers whom her
appearance drew together; at every slightest movement, the clink of
metal sounded from her neck, her arms, her ankles; stones glistened on
her brow and on her hands; about her she shed a perfume like that
wafted from the Arabian shore.

The Greek merchant, as soon as he was aware of her arrival, ran forward
and stood obsequiously before her, until she deigned to notice him.

'I would speak with you. See that we are private.'

'Noble lady,' he replied, 'the lord Basilius, heir of the Senator
Maximus, is within. I will straightway beg him to defer his business.'

The lady turned and gazed into the dusky shop.

'He is not alone, I see.'

'A kinsman is with him, noble lady.'

'Then bid the kinsman go his way, and keep apart, you, until you are
summoned. I will speak for a moment with the lord Basilius.'

The Alexandrian, masking a smile, drew near to Basil, and whispered
that the lady Heliodora demanded to see him alone. A gesture of
annoyance was the first reply, but, after an instant's reflection,
Basil begged his kinsman to withdraw. Heliodora then entered the shop,
which was nothing more than an open recess, with a stone counter half
across the entrance, and behind it a couple of wooden stools. Upon one
of these the lady seated herself, and Basil, who had greeted her only
with a movement of the head, stood waiting.

'So you will not sup with me?' began Heliodora, in a voice of bantering
indifference. 'You will not come to see me? You will not write to me?
It is well. I care less than the clipping of a finger-nail.'

'So I would have it,' Basil replied coldly.

'Good. Then we are both satisfied. This is much better than making
pretence of what we don't feel, and playing a comedy with our two
selves for spectators. You amused me for a while; that is over; now you
amuse me in another way. Turn a little towards the light. Let me have a
look at your pretty face, Basilidion.'

She spoke with a Greek accent, mingling now and then with the Roman
speech a Greek word or exclamation, and her voice, sonorous rather than
melodious, one moment seemed about to strike the note of anger, at
another seemed softening to tenderness.

'With your leave,' said Basil, 'I will be gone. I have matters of some
importance to attend to.'

'With your leave,' echoed Heliodora, 'I will detain you yet a little.
For you, Basilidion, there is only one matter of importan