Will you send him to me, dear lord ?' Venantius had seated himself on a chair that was beside the bed; he wore a dubious look, and, before speaking again, glanced keenly at Basil.
'Did you not expect,' he asked, 'to meet Marcian in the king's camp ?' 'My last news from him bade me go thither as fast as I could, as he himself was leaving Rome to join the king.

I should have gone a little out of my road to visit his villa near Arpinum, on the chance of hearing news of him there; but our encounter with the marauders drove me too far away.' 'So much,' said Venantius, 'I gathered from your talk last night, when you were not quite so clear-headed as you are now.

What I want to discover is whether this Syrian has lied to me.

He declares that he left Marcian in Rome.

Now it happens that some of our men, who were sent for a certain purpose, yesterday, along the Latin Way, came across half a dozen horsemen, riding westward, and as their duty was, learnt all they could from them.