Half an hour elapsed, and Venantius again came forward.

Seeing Basil in the shadow of the portico, he went and sat beside him, and began to speak with rough but well-meaning solace.
Why this heaviness?
If he surmised aright, Basil had but avenged himself as any man would have done.

For his own part, he had never thought enough of any woman to kill a man on her account; but such little troubles were of everyday occurrence, and must not be taken too much to heart.

He had seen this Gothic damsel of whom there had been so much rumour, and, by Diana I (if the oath were not inappropriate) her face deserved all that was said of it.

His rival being out of the way, why should not Basil pluck up cheer?
Totila would not deal harshly in such a matter as this, and more likely than not he would be disposed to give the maiden to a Roman of noble race, his great desire being to win all Romans by generosity.
'Yonder priest tells me,' he added, 'that you were over hasty; that you struck on a mere suspicion.