"Can we rely upon him and his Saracens when the hour tolls that shall see Theodora mistress of Rome?" "Weighing a sack of gold against the infidel's treachery, it is safe to predict that the scales will tip in favor of the bribe--so it be large enough." "Be lavish with him, and if his heart be set on other matters--" She paused, regarding the man with an inscrutable look. Shrewd as he was, he caught not its meaning. "Why not entrust to his care the Lady Hellayne?" The devilish suggestion seemed to find not as enthusiastic a reception as she had anticipated. "After having seen the Lady Theodora," Basil said, his eyes avoiding those of the woman, "I fear the Lady Hellayne will appear poor in Hassan Abdullah's eyes." Theodora had grown pensive. "I do not think so. To me she seemed like a snow-capped volcano. All ice without, all fire within. Perchance I should bow to your better judgment, my lord, and perchance to Hassan Abdullah's, whose good taste in preferring the Lady Theodora cannot be gainsaid. But, our guests are becoming impatient. Take me to the palace." Basil barred the woman's way. "And when you have reached the summit of your desire, will you remember certain nuptials consummated in a certain chamber in the Emperor's Tomb, between two placed as we are and mated as we?" Theodora's lips curved in one of those rare smiles which brought him to whom she gave it to her feet, her abject slave. "I shall remember, my lord," she said, and, linking her arm in his, they strode towards the palace. CHAPTER X DEVIL WORSHIP The dawn of the following day brought in its wake consternation and terror. From the churches of the two Egyptian Martyrs, Sts. Cosmas and Damian, the Holy Host had been taken during the preceding night. Frightened beyond measure, the ministering priests had suffered the terrible secret to leak out, and this circumstance, coupled with the unexplained absence of the Senator, the tardiness of the Prefect to start his investigations, and the captivity of the Pontiff, threw the Romans into a panic. It was impossible to guard every church in Rome against a similar outrage, as the guards of the Senator were inadequate in number, and, consisting chiefly of foreign elements, could not be relied upon. The early hours of the morning found Tristan in the hermitage of Odo of Cluny. To him he confided the incidents of the night and his adventure in the Catacombs. To him he also imparted the terrible discovery he had made. Odo of Cluny listened in silence, his face betraying no sign of the emotion he felt. When Tristan had concluded his account he regarded him long and earnestly. "I, too, have long known that all is not well, that there is something brewing in this witches' cauldron which may not stand the light of day.--" "But what is it?" cried Tristan. "Tell me, Father, for a great fear as of some horrible danger is upon me; a fear I cannot define and which yet will not leave me."