Round about it were marble seats, and here, shielded from the sun by little silken awnings, sat Heliodora and her guests.

At once Basil became aware of the young Vivian, whose boyish form (he was but some eighteen years old) lounged among cushions on the seat nearest to Heliodora, his eyes fixed upon her beauty in a languishing gaze, which, as soon as he beheld the new comer, flashed into fierceness.

The others were two women, young and comely, whose extravagant costume and the attitudes in which they reclined proved them suitable companions of the lady of the house.

Whilst yet at some distance, Basil had heard a feminine voice rising to shrillness, and as he approached the group he found a discussion going on which threatened to become more than vivacious.

The shrill speaker he had met here before, who she was, he knew not, save that she bore the name of Muscula.
'You--you--you!' this lady was exclaiming contemptuously.