word fell from him; his concern seemed to be solely with
the lady Aurelia, regarding whom he would set every possible inquiry on
foot. He advised Basil not to leave the neighbourhood for a day or two,
and to communicate with him before he went far. Gratefully Basil kissed
the old man's hand. They never met again. A week later the bishop was
dead.

After all, Venantius sat at table with Chorsoman. Fuming, he waited
till the next morning, when, if the news could be believed, it became
certain that Aurelia and her companion were not at Cumae. Basil, having
no choice, then paid for ransom nearly all the money he had secreted,
and rode away with Venantius, purposing to remain at Nuceria until
joined by Marcian. Three days later Marcian appeared at the castle He
brought no intelligence of the lost ladies. As for their abode, it had
been thoroughly pillaged; the treasure chamber was discovered and
broken open; not a coin, not a vessel or ornament which had its price,
not a piece of silk, had escaped the clutches of the Hun.

Chorsoman's departure was followed by an invasion of the Surrentines,
who robbed more grossly. A fire broke out in the house of Proba, and
much of that building was destroyed. In the once magnificent villa
there lurked but a few slaves, who knew not whether their owner lived.

CHAPTER X

THE ANICIANS

Not many days after, in a still noontide of mellow autumn, Basil and
Marcian drew towards Rome. They rode along the Via Appia, between the
tombs of ancient men; all about them, undulant to the far horizon, a
brown wilderness dotted with ruins. Ruins of villas, of farms, of
temples, with here and there a church or a monastery that told of the
newer time. Olives in scant patches, a lost vineyard, a speck of tilled
soil, proved that men still laboured amid this vast and awful silence,
but rarely was a human figure visible. As they approached the city,
marshy ground and stagnant pools lay on either hand, causing them to
glance sadly at those great aqueducts, which for ages had brought water
into Rome from the hills and now stood idle, cleft by the Goths during
the siege four years ago.

They rode in silence, tired with their journey, occupied with heavy or
anxious thoughts. Basil, impatient to arrive, was generally a little
ahead. Their attendants numbered half a dozen men, among them Felix and
Sagaris, and two mules laden with packs came in the rear. Earthworks
and rough buildings of military pur