Buoyed by his ardour, Basil interpreted the first words of courteous preamble in the most hopeful sense.

What followed gave him pause; he saw a shadow of obstacle arise.

Another moment, and the obstacle had become very real; it grew to vastness, to insuperability He stood, as it were, looking into the very eyes of the Serene Majesty of Byzantium.

Not that the speaker used a tone of peremptory discouragement.

Granting the indispensable condition that Veranilda became a Catholic, it was not an impossible thing, said Pelagius, that Basil should obtain her as a wife; _but_ it could only be by the grace of the Emperor.