"But mind you," Blondel snarled, "the proof. I must have the proof," he
repeated. He was anxious to persuade himself that his surrender depended
on a condition; he would fain hide his shame under a show of bargaining.
"The proof, man, or I will not take a step."

"You shall have it."

"To-day?"

"Within the hour."

"And if she be not mad--I believe you are deceiving me, and it was the
_remedium_ the girl took--if she be not mad----" The Syndic, stammering
and repeating himself, broke off there. He could not meet the other's
eyes; between a shame new to him and the overpowering sense of what he
had done, he was in a pitiable state. "Curse you," with violence, "I
believe you have laid a trap for me!" he cried. "I say if she be not
mad, I have done."

"Let it stand so," Basterga answered placidly. "Trust me, if she has
taken the philtre she will be mad enough. Which reminds me that I also
have a crow to pick with Mistress Anne."

"Curse her!"

"We will do more than that," Basterga murmured. "If she be not very good
we will burn her, my friend.

Uritur infelix Dido, totaque videtur
Urbe furens!"

His eyes were cruel, and he licked his lips as he applied the
quotation.

CHAPTER XVIII.

THE BARGAIN STRUCK.

Claude, at the first sign of peril, had put himself between Anne and the
door; and, had not the fear which seized the girl at the sight of
Basterga robbed her of the power to think, she must have thrilled with a
new and delicious sensation. She, who had not for years known what it
was to be sheltered behind another, was now to know the bliss of being
protected. Nor did her lover remain on the defensive. It was he who
challenged the intruders.

"What is it?" he asked, as the Syndic crossed the threshold; which was
darkened a moment later by the scholar's huge form. "What is your
business here, Messer Syndic, if it please you?"

"With you, none!" Blondel answered; and pausing a little within the
door, he cast a look, cold and searching, round the apartment. His
outward composure hid a tumult of warring passions; shame and rage were
at odds within him, and rising above both was a venomous desire to exact
retribution from some one. "Nothing with you!" he repeated. "You may
stand aside, young man, or, better, go to your classes. What do you here
at this hour, and idle, were the fitting question; and not, what is my
business! Do you hear, sirrah?" with a rap of his staff of office on the
fl