Listen, I pray you, to the story heard in Rome since Petronilla returned.

It is right that you should hear it just as it comes from her own lips.' Thereupon Gordian repeated a narrative which would have been substantially true had it not crowned Basil's love with marriage.

The listener, shaken with violent passion, could scarce wait till the end.
'And now hear _me_,' he cried.

'If I were prudent, I also should lie, for the truth may be dangerous.

But you shall know it, O Gordian, and if you choose to harm me--' The other raised a hand, and so full of dignity was this gesture, so solemn the look which accompanied it, that Basil's vehemence felt itself rebuked; he grew silent and listened.
'Basil, check your tongue, which I see will be your greatest peril.