Her beauty was regal indeed, as she stood there brooding, her bare arms dropping by her side. But for the expression of the eyes, in which a turmoil of passion seemed to seethe, the wonderful face in repose would have seemed that of an angel rather than a woman meditating the destruction of another. After a time Persephoné returned. By her side walked Hellayne. Her beauty seemed even enhanced by the expression of suffering revealed in the depths of her blue eyes. She wore a dark robe, almost severe in its straight lines. The loose sleeves revealed her white arms. Her hair was tied in a Grecian knot. At a sign from Theodora Persephoné left the room. For a moment the two women faced each other in silence, fixing each other with their gaze, each trying to read the thoughts of the other. It was Hellayne who spoke. "The Lady Theodora has desired my presence." "It was my anxiety for your welfare, Lady Hellayne," Theodora replied, inviting her to a seat, while she seated herself opposite her visitor. "After the trying experiences of yesterday I do not wonder at the shadows that creep under your eyes. They but prove that my anxiety was well founded. May I ask if you rested well?" "I owe you thanks, Lady Theodora, for your timely aid," Hellayne replied in cold, passionless accents. "They tell me I was in dire straits, though I cannot conceive who should care to abduct one who would so little repay the effort." "Enough to infatuate him, whoever he was, with a beauty as rare as it is wonderful," Theodora replied, forced to an expression of her own admiration at the sight of the exquisite face, the white throat, the wonderful arms and hands of her rival. "I but did what any woman would do for another whose life she saw imperilled. Your wonderful youth and strength will soon restore you to your former self. Deign then to accept the hospitality of this abode until such a time." There was a pause during which each seemed to search the soul of the other. It was Hellayne who spoke. "I thank you, Lady Theodora. Nevertheless I intend to depart at the earliest. I can picture to myself the anxiety of the Blessed Sisters of Santa Maria in Trastevere at my mysterious disappearance." "You intend taking holy orders?" Theodora's question was pregnant with a strange wonder. A negative gesture came in response. "The convent proved a haven of refuge to me when I was sorely tried." "Yet--you cannot return there," Theodora interposed. "You would not be safe. Know you from whose minions my Africans rescued you on yester eve?" Hellayne's wide eyes were silent questioners. "Then listen well and ponder. You were in the power of the Lord Basil. And that which he desires he usually obtains." Hellayne covered her face with her hands. "The Lord Basil!" "You know him, Lady Hellayne?" "Slightly. He was wont to call upon the man I once called my husband." "The man you deserted for another." Hellayne's eyes glittered like steel.