Remember,' he raised his head, and his voice struck a deeper note, 'that the guilt of blood is upon you, and that no plea of earthly passion will avail before the Almighty Judge.

Behold your hand--even so, but far more deeply have you stained your soul.' Basil scarce heard.

Numbness had crept over him again; he stared at the doorway by which the priest re-entered the house, and only after some minutes recalled enough of the old man's last words to look upon his defiled hand.

Then he called aloud, summoning any slave who might hear him, and when the doorkeeper came timidly from a recess where he had been skulking, bade him bring water.

Having cleansed himself, he walked by an outer way to the rear of the villa; for he durst not pass through the atrium.
Here his men were busy over their meal, sitting or sprawling in a shadowed place, the slaves waiting upon them.