Heliodora kept silence for a moment, then bade the girl bring her a lamp. A very small lamp was set upon the table, and as she glanced at its poor flame, Heliodora remembered that the store of oil was nearly at an end. Again she had sat alone for nearly half an hour, scarcely stirring, so intent was she on the subject of her thoughts, when a light footfall sounded without, and the curtain at the door was raised. She turned and saw a dark countenance, which smiled upon her coldly. 'Where have you been?' broke angrily from her lips. 'Hither and thither,' was the softly insolent reply, as Sagaris let the curtain fall behind him and stepped forward to the brazier, over which he held out his hands to warm them. By his apparel, he might have been mistaken for a noble. Nominally he had for a year held the office of steward to Heliodora. That his functions were not, as a matter of fact, all comprised under that name was well known to all in the house, and to some beyond its walls. 'Were you at the Circus?' she next inquired, using the large hood to avoid his gaze without seeming to do so. 'I was there, gracious lady. Not, of course, in such an exalted place as that in which I saw _you_.' 'I did not choose that place,' said Heliodora, her voice almost conciliatory. 'Being sent for, I could not refuse to go.' Sagaris set a stool near to his mistress, seated himself, and looked up into her face. She, for an instant, bore it impatiently, but of a sudden her countenance changed, and she met the gaze with a half-mocking smile. 'Is this one of your jealous days?' she asked, with what was meant for playfulness, though the shining of her eyes and teeth in the lamplight gave the words rather an effect of menace. 'Perhaps it is,' answered the Syrian. 'What did Bessas say to you?' 'Many things. He ended by asking me to sup at the palace. You will own that the invitation was tempting.' Sagaris glared fiercely at her, and drew upon himself a look no less fierce. 'Fool!' she exclaimed, once more speaking in a natural voice. 'How shall we live a month hence? Have you a mind to steal away to the Goths? If you do so, you can't expect me to starve here alone. Thick-willed slave! Can you see no further than the invitation to sup with that thievish brute?--which I should have accepted, had I not foreseen the necessity of explaining to your dulness all that might follow upon it.' Esteeming himself the shrewdest of mankind, Sagaris deeply resented these insults, not for the first time thrown at him by the woman whom he regarded with an Oriental passion and contempt. 'Of course I know what you mean,' he replied disdainfully. 'I know, too, that you will be no match for the Thracian robber.' Heliodora caught his arm. 'What if I can make him believe that Belisarius has the Emperor's command to send him in chains to Constantinople! Would he not rather come to terms with Totila, who, as I know well, long ago offered to let him carry off half his plunder?'