CHAPTER X.
Dusk had already fallen on island and sea, when Martialis returned to hisquarters at the villa Jovis. He had departed in brilliant spirits, andwith the brightest anticipations; but the latter had not been realised,and his mood had suffered. The untimely and unexpected advent of theSuburan had been by no means welcome; added to which, the failure of hispurpose to exact a settled arrangement for his union with Neaera hadfurther irritated and annoyed him. The parting caress of the laughing,lovely girl had hardly relieved his chafing spirit, and the journey homewas performed at a prodigious speed both by land and sea. The violentexertion allayed the sting of his feelings, but his mood was far fromsmooth when he saw and lifted the ill-fated missive of Plautia from thetable, where the slave Lygdus had finally left it.
His first exclamation, as he read its brief lines, was contemptuous andirritable, and he threw the paper impatiently back on to the table. Inanother moment curiosity had its turn, and he lifted it again for afurther examination. The handwriting furnished him with no clue to thewriter, and he was equally at a loss to imagine who could have occasionfor summoning him in such a mysterious manner. He remained in doubtwhether he should give the anonymous epistle any further attention or not;but his little chamber seemed oppressive to him, and his ruffled thoughtsinclined towards any occupation which might relieve and turn theircurrent.
He scarcely thought it necessary to arm himself; but, being in utterignorance of what kind of entertainment he was invited to, a moment'sreflection told him he had best be on the safe side. He, therefore, put ona light, flexible cuirass under his tunic, and took a sword, of the usualshort, straight Roman pattern, under his cloak. Thus prepared he once moretook the way down to the south landing, glad to be quit of his dark,cheerless rooms.
The white rock, which Plautia had specified, was one she had particularlynoticed on her way from the boat. It was of chalky formation, and wasembedded in the side of a craggy eminence, around which the rough pathwound on its way down to the narrow little beach below. This eminence,which was an irregular spur of a hill, was very rough, and thickly coveredwith trees and underwood of all kinds, thus affording an excellentshelter, which, in accordance with our story, had already been takenadvantage of. On the other side of the footway was only a narrow strip ofgreen turf, fringing a precipitous descent to the sea below.
Night had now quite fallen, and the young moon shed a hazy light from itsnarrow crescent. The Centurion paced leisurely onward, keepinginstinctively on the outer edge of the path, and from under the shadow ofthe rocks and brushwood which walled in the land side. He was well muffledup in his large cloak, and, whilst his hand kept a ready grasp of hissword beneath, his eyes maintained the keenest scrutiny of every objectand shadow as he paced along. Not a sound nor a movement, except the lightfall of his own feet on the short mossy turf, broke the perfect repose ofthe spot, and he had now arrived opposite the mass of white chalk orlimestone in question. Concluding that this was the appointed place, hestopped and waited, whilst he cast a curious glance around. He looked andlistened in vain for a few moments; there was the faint murmur of the seabelow, and the fitful breath of the night breeze ever and anon, and thatwas all. 'Um!' he muttered doubtfully.
As he spoke, something moved out of the black shadow of a thicket, andstood partly athwart the ghostly white face of the chalk rock. Heperceived, by the flow of drapery on the form, that it was a woman, andsurprise and wonder took more possession of him than ever. He remainedmotionless for a space, and finding that the strange figure did not move,he stepped forward two or three steps; upon which the mysterious shapedrew back into the dark shadow of the thicket whence it had appeared.
'This is the white rock,' said the Pretorian; 'who wants me?'
As his voice fell quietly on the calm air the female figure came forth andconfronted him.
'Martialis!' said the voice of Plautia, with a faint tremor in its richtones.
He started and scanned her keenly. 'That is my name,' he replied 'Was ityou who bade me come? I seem to know your voice. What can you want withme, and who may you be?'
'Accept the grateful thanks of Plautia for your kind and ready obedienceto her wish.'
'Plautia--you--here! And yet I was sure of the voice!' he muttered.
She put back the hood of her cloak, and turned her face to him full in thelight. He surveyed, indeed, to his intense astonishment, the beautifulface of the adventurous damsel; and, although the feeble rays of the thinmoon overlaid with their own wan paleness the tell-tale tints of her richflooding cheeks, they rather, on the other hand, lit up the liquidbrilliance of her dark eyes. Her white hand stole from the folds of hercloak, and rested gently on his arm. Young, high-spirited, warm andimpressionable, the look and soft touch of this lovely woman thrilled himthrough in despite of himself; but his lips closed a trifle closer, andhis form stretched aloft almost imperceptibly.
'Yes, 'tis I, Plautia!' she murmured, with her haughty head droopingdownward, and her hand falling from his arm at the same time.
'I am wonderstruck!' he said in a colder tone; 'in the name of heaven,Plautia, how came you to be in such a spot as this--such a place as thisisland?'
'No matter how, Centurion; I am here--that is enough.'
'But yet it is incomprehensible--have you been here long?'
'No.'
'Did you come alone?'
'I have said it is enough that I am here, Centurion; you will not obligeme to ask you not to be so uncourteous as to question further?'
'I am, to a certain extent, responsible for the careful guard of thisisland retreat of Caesar,' he replied rather grimly, 'and the unexpectedpresence of a stranger on its Argus-eyed shores renders me naturallycurious. Scarce the flight of a bird to or from these rocks passesunnoticed--much less the arrival or departure of an individual withoutauthority.'
'How know you that I am here without authority?'
'Because were it otherwise, it is more than likely that I should havebecome acquainted with the fact; and because no honourable woman wouldopenly seek the polluted air of this island. You cannot have known this--oryou have been misled, most likely. If it be so, quit the spot withoutdelay, for it is fraught with danger to such as you. Did you send for meto help you? It must be so.'
'No. I know all you tell me. I am here in secret.'
'If you are sure of that, it mocks our watch and ward. But rest contentthat you cannot hope to remain long without discovery, in whatever nookyou have found; at least you will tell me one thing--whether you have beendecoyed here, or whether you came of your own free will.'
'Of my own free will.'
'It is extraordinary--some matter of huge importance must have impelledyou.'
'Of the most vital importance--to me.'
'Why then have you summoned me, a comparative stranger to you and youraffairs?'
'Do you begrudge me the time and trouble?'
'Thus far surely not.'
'Have no fear that I will interfere with your duty.'
'Good! Then I am at your disposal.'
The breast of the lady heaved and fluttered unwontedly; her nativecharacteristics of haughty self-possession had given way to an unusualtremor and discomposure; and this in the presence of a Centurion only--asimple soldier. She whom the crowd of the highest and mightiest in Romehad dangled around, without causing her cheek to change its hue or herheart to throb a whit the faster. Then, as if a sudden shame for herweakness flashed across her mind, she drew up her ample form, and bracedher quivering limbs, at the same time raising her countenance to his withan effort at her accustomed imperious nonchalance. But it proved an emptypiece of bravado which she was unable to sustain. The young man, despitehis expectant curiosity, remained motionless, cold, and unsympathetic, andshe shrank again before him, with trembling joints and down-dropped head,like a leaping wave from the hard stern face of a rock.
The uncertain light was friendly to these signs of perturbation, andshrouded them so far from
his observation, as to merely impress his mindwith the idea that they were nothing save the symptoms of a littlehesitation. A slight noise among the rocks of the hillside struck theirears, and they both turned to listen.
'What was that?' she whispered.
But all was as quiet as the grave; it might have been nothing but ananimal displacing a stone as it prowled in search of prey, and thusMartialis replied.
'Come more into the shade,' she said hurriedly, laying her hand once moreupon his arm; 'some chance passer-by may see us here.'
He followed her a few paces into the shadow of the brushwood which linedthe path, and, at the same time, carelessly threw his cloak from his rightshoulder, so as to leave his right arm free and unhampered. It was asignificant action to the initiated, and seemed to say, that hisexplanation of the probable cause of the slight noise in the bushes wasnot exactly in accordance with his inmost conviction.
The quick eye and wit of Plautia perceived it, and she said reproachfully,'Are you afraid, Centurion? You are armed!'
She had, in passing her hand over the folds of his cloak, felt the hilt ofthe sword which he held in his grasp underneath.
'I have a weapon with me, truly,' he answered; 'but as to being afraid, Ithink I may say I am nothing more than cautious, as we soldiers aretrained to be. You must surely admit, Plautia, that I am neither blamablenor foolish in preparing myself somewhat; for, when a man receives arequest to meet an unknown person, in a mysterious manner, after dark, inan unfrequented spot, he is only acting prudently when he does as I havedone. It might have been a throat-cutting assignation for all that I couldtell. There are even some persons who would not, probably, have cared toattend at all.'
'But you know now who has brought you--do you think that I would lead youpremeditatedly into harm?'
'No! I know of no earthly reason why you should do such a thing. I havecertainly never done anything to merit your wrath or revenge, and such athing could never enter your mind.'
'There is not a soul here but you and I, and it was to be thus that Iasked your presence. The toil--the danger is on my side, believe me,Centurion.'
Whether it was the shade in which they stood gave her increased confidenceit would be hard to say, but her low rich tones grew steadier and morefervent, and both her white hands sought and clasped themselves upon hisbrown sinewy fingers.
'Yes, Centurion, the toil and the danger,' she repeated, speaking rapidlyand fervently; 'you saw me land last night, and in what company.'
'Last night!' said Martialis, starting. 'What--was it you who came withthat----?'
'No other--I and my slave dared and endured even the contact of the wretch,and thus obtained a landing, in secret, on this haunt of Caesar.'
Martialis withdrew his hand from her enclosing fingers, and placed it inhis bosom with a haughty gesture. She reared herself up at this eloquentmovement with a flash of her imperious fierceness.
'What! Do you think that I came as one of the train of that vile slave ofTiberius? I, Plautia!--do you think it? Speak, Martialis!'
'It would be the easier and more probable thing to believe that Plautiahad embarked in ignorance of her fellow-voyagers,' returned the Centurioncalmly.
'Yet why did you draw from me?' she said fawningly; 'it was even as yousay. It was an expedient arranged by another for landing on the island,and I simply followed my instructions, knowing nothing further. It hasachieved my purpose--here I am!'
'You are in the tiger's lair, and the man who conducted you hither is acreature of Caesar, and a vile reptile who fattens on his patronage.'
'He dare not break his trust, knowing who gave him his charge.'
'I can guess who that same person is; nevertheless it does not abate myopinion one jot. I dare swear your secrecy will be hardly worth the namein a few hours--perhaps even now. There is no trust to be put in such awretch. Lose no time in putting the straits between you and the island,let me commend you. Whatever business has brought you hither, despatch itat once--this night should see you away if possible.'
'I have no fear.'
'Because you are ignorant of the danger you stand in. To such as you, ofall people in the world, the pestilential air of this island is fraughtwith dire peril.'
'I care not, for I am with _you_.'
'Your position admits of little jesting, believe me,' said Martialis, in avoice which exhibited an amount of stern impatience; 'you are wastingprecious moments--I am here at your request: let me know in what I am toserve you, and I will at once answer whether I can be of help. Were thehand of Caesar to drop upon us now you would find your safeguard in assorry a plight as yourself. That you know right well, Plautia, and youdelivered the raillery with effective gravity. I neither ask nor desire toknow the cause of your extraordinary presence in this spot, but myapprehension certainly is that you wish me to assist you to leave.'
'Your apprehension is wrong,' replied the Roman beauty, in low, nervoustones, barely to be heard; 'I came hither impelled by a feeling againstwhich it was impossible to strive. It urged me through the hideous fatigueand disgust of the voyage hither, and it upholds me, undismayed, at thepresence of danger. You impress upon me that I am beset with dire peril.It may be so--I can well believe it; but I am careless of it. Fear I neverknew, and in this hour of all it can find less room than ever in myheart.'
Her head sank down, and her murmured words seemed to struggle with herhurried breathing, begot by a state of extreme tremor.
The Centurion knitted his brows, and, for a few moments, he remained insilent embarrassment. The deep shade of the thicket was friendly to hiscompanion, and shrouded the outward symptoms of her feelings from hisglance, but what his ears drank in was sufficient to make his mind uneasyand suspicious. He had really been under the impression that hiscompanion's presence in the island was probably due to some affair ofintrigue, and, indeed, if her explanation had not seemed to so fullyconfirm the protection or connivance of Sejanus, he would at once havearrived at that conclusion, from the well-known fact of her intimacy withhim. In expectation, therefore, of some political plan or plot in whichshe required him to join, he had been anxious to bring the interview to anend, being utterly averse to entangle himself in anything of the kind, oreven to run the chance of being discovered in her company. But now he wasas little disposed to force the matter to a conclusion, as before he hadbeen anxious, and, in uncomfortable doubt, he began, very naturally, tochafe for having allowed himself to be so carelessly led into such aposition. Had he only been prudent enough to consider, he might have atonce concluded that nothing but mischief lay planted between the lines ofan anonymous letter.
But the lady vouchsafed no other speech, and, anxious to appear quiteunconscious of any particular purport in her words, he hastened to breakthe silence, in an assumed manner of artlessness and lightness, which isoften used, alike to stave off an unpleasant subject and to play with oneas delightful.
'Fear, I am well assured, is a weakness unaccustomed to your breast,' hesaid, 'and, if I gather rightly from your words, you confess to be insubjection, no less than the rest of your sex, to the passion which theysay rules feminine nature. Nevertheless I wish, on this occasion, for yourown sake, fear had tempered curiosity a little.'
'Curiosity!' she returned with passionate scorn; then her voice sank toits former nervous intonation. 'And yet I said false, Martialis, when Iboasted of my fearlessness. I thought I was proof,--thus far without it,and now, lo, it has found me out.'
'No! no!' she continued rapidly, as he uttered some halting commonplace,'not business of Prefect, nor of Caesar, nor yet whim, nor curiosity, butonly my heart and thee, Martialis,--Lucius! Have you not seen? Do you notsee?'
'Plautia----'
'It might have been months ere Rome could see you again. The city seemedvoid. I loathed it. My house seemed turned to a dungeon. My occupationspalled upon me. I was weary, and everything was distasteful. I was nolonger mistress of myself, and where my mind dwelt, thither I was fated tofollow. What could stay me? Not
toil and fatigue, nor yet the risk of thelynx-eyed warders of this rocky hermitage of Caesar. Where the will isthere is the way, and what were a thousand times the obstacles in the wayof mine? I am near thee, Martialis--I have accomplished my purpose. I havecome and I confess to thee the reason, and I a woman. To you the worldwould apportion the voice, and to me the silence; but I own no law, noguide, but you and the promptings of my own heart. I have broken the coldforms and rules which bind a woman's unsought secret within her breast,even at the risk of her life. I make no excuse--I crave no pardon.Wherefore should I hide the truth? Could my lips alter it, or you blameit? You cannot chide me. Am I less a woman now than before? I have baredmy heart to thee, Martialis, but it is still a woman's, and it has neverbent to any sway but yours.'
Could the young soldier's senses have been more subtly stirred had he beena mariner of old, rousing himself in his idly-floating boat to listen tothe fatal, sweet ditties of a siren song stealing into his ears throughthe tranquil, yellow mist of evening?
He felt his hand imprisoned tightly within the warm grasp of her soft,white palms. Her breath played upon his cheek, and the gloom of theirleafy shelter could not hide the shadowy, star-like lustre of her eyesclose upturned to his. His ears drank in the rich, thrilling tones of hervoice, quivering, like her glorious form, with excess of passion. Thedelicate perfumes of her attire welled around him, and invaded hisfaculties like the very essences of her overpowering loveliness. Thetouch, the eloquent motions, the soft abandon of this creature of superbwomanhood: the strange, bewitching phenomenon of her haughty imperiousnesssinking into the overwhelming flood of passionate love and tendersubmission beglamoured his mind. His senses seemed overcharged. As onemight seek relief from a choking sensation, he reared his head backwards,with a deep, noiseless breath, and swept his eyes athwart his shoulderround the sea and star-lit heavens. Extraordinary and dream-like as hiswhole experience of that night was, it was no illusion, such as he beganto think it might be. There was the horned moon, bright and tranquil inthe dark sky; and there was the track of its silvery radiance dancing onthe softly-rippling waters below. The night-air, too, palpably rustled theleaves around his head, and a soft, velvety touch at that moment quiveredthrough him. It was the delicate pressure of her ripe, warm lips on hishand. It awoke the Pretorian to himself and brushed away the brief mist ofsensuous sweetness which had enthralled him. To have remained whollyindifferent to such a passionate revelation of the loveliest lips--to haverested unmoved by the soft contact and surrender of the richest wealth offemale beauty Rome could show, would have been to renounce all in commonwith human nature, even on the part of one bred with the phlegmaticcoldness and self-possession of a northern clime. But Plautia had castherself before one born to the same native characteristics of ardent andimpulsive blood as herself, though not perhaps in an equal degree ofintensity. With his pulses yet tingling he recalled, by a flash ofthought, all the evident signs of pleasure and satisfaction with which shehad hitherto greeted his presence when chance had thrown them together fora brief period. Her relaxed haughtiness, her glances and smiles were now,it seemed, only too well fraught with real meaning. Her excuses andpretexts for companionship, and a hundred little arts, which had nevercaused him more thought than an amused gratification, down to the latestevidence of all, in the gift she had sent to the camp, were nowsupplemented and concluded with a startling explanation. In common withthe rest of Rome he had admired her magnificent beauty of face and form,and, by a most natural process of a man in love, he had as oftencriticised her by the standard of the maiden enthroned in his heart ofhearts. He ever found the contrast, morally and physically, to be wellnighcomplete. As before, but now with tenfold more vividness, his mind spannedthe intervening distance and dwelt upon the fair girl he had left but ashort time before. It acted like the sudden transition from the oppressiveglow of a tropic dream steeped in narcotic odours, to the waking freshnessand cool relief of a breezy dawn. Neaera's image, ever ready to hisinvocation, rose before him in its changeless purity and sweetness, itsnoble dignity and calmness, and purged his spirit of the grosserintoxication which burdened it.
While yet his mind was agitated by such fleeting emotions and reflections,it was vaguely burdened with pain and dread, on account of the vehementnature of the self-willed woman before him. He was simple and chivalrous;and as he thought how she, who could command so much, had dared everythingto follow him to this spot for the sake of an unfortunate attachment, hisheart ached with pain and pity--all the more as she was doomed todisappointment. The only return she could accept he was unable to make,and the fact of his entire innocence brought him no comfort.
Such was the main current of his thoughts in the short pause whichfollowed on the passionate words of Plautia. In his simple, soldier way,he would rather have been summoned to face a legion single-handed than beunder the necessity of administering the _coup-de-grace_ to the dearesthopes and wishes of a woman. Her posture was at the moment half-recliningagainst his breast.
'You are cruelly silent,' she murmured in his ear. 'Shame! Would you haveme say more?'
'You have done me great honour--great and unexpected,' he answered,stammering with embarrassment; 'but I was not prepared to meet such asurprise. If I am confused there is an excuse for it. I thought--and yet,no--I do not know. That I should have held such place in your regard isalmost beyond my belief, and I should be little surprised to discover thatPlautia is beguiling a tedious evening with a frolic. If so, I shall laughwith as much zest as herself.'
'O brave frolic for a shallow wit!' she cried vehemently; 'and how am I togo about to convince thee, if thou hast not already been convinced? Do Imerit no worthier words than those, Martialis?'
'I made no assertion,' said the Centurion. 'If I am answerable for myutterances just for the time, I probably meant no more than to point outmore effectively my feelings of astonishment and incredulity as to whathas befallen me this night.'
'But that has passed,' she said, in a low voice, and inclining herselfagain closely to him. 'Though surprised, Lucius, why unbelieving? Can itbe so beyond belief? Had you been hideous, deformed, and as vile in mindas person,--a base negro, or Numidian slave, it had been then time towonder! But thank the gods for being what you are--then why do you soundervalue yourself? Have women the eyes of bats and hearts impenetrableas granite? Have I not said enough? Would you have me plead? No--youcannot!'
'What of my brother Caius?' said he, with a sterner accent in his voice.
'What of him--why, what of him?'
'He loves you--nay, more, he is infatuated with you. It is publicknowledge.'
'And am I to blame? Can you reproach me? I have never wished it nordesired it. I have scorned him. I would have driven him away from me, buthe would not be driven. Can I help his misfortune? It is impossible. Itmust be a task for himself. I can never love him, nor can he demand it,nor any force compel me.'
'You say true. If it be his own misfortune to love without return there isno law or force to help him. The same law, Plautia, stands good betweenall. Poor Caius! there are more than himself in the same unhappy plight.'
The Centurion gently withdrew his hand from beneath hers, and, turninghalf aside toward the sea, folded his arms across his breast. Her handsfell down before her, and her eyes contracted on his profile. The deepgravity of his manner alarmed her and grated ominously on her mind.
'But you are in no such wretchedness?' she said, with painful earnestness.
'I--no! the gods be thanked, far from it,' he replied quickly, almostlightly and gladly.
'Then why speak so meaningly? Such a common truth hardly needed it.'
He did not respond, but remained stolidly gazing over the cliffs upon thesea.
'Will you not speak?' she said, after a pause.
He turned upon her and took her hand.
'Plautia, I would you had never come to this spot. It had been better ifyou had never left home. Return at once. Let me see you safely away, thisnight if possible.'
Her face grew as ghastly white as the limestone rock bathed in themoonlight, and a deadly sickness seized upon her heart and numbed herfaculties for a moment.
'You wish to be quit of me--you spurn me!' she cried, catching her breath.
'I wish to seek your safety and--and, Plautia, it is impossible that I canlove you,' returned he, wringing the tardy words out of his heart.
She caught her hand away and struck it against her breast, and reared herform aloft in a moment's ominous silence.
'I have demeaned myself, then,' she gasped, 'to a man without a heart. Ihave stooped myself, most likely, to be the butt of a guard-room, andthence of the city--O miserable, weak, blinded fool!'
No tornado ever broke more fiercely and suddenly on a peaceful landscapethan the fit of fury on the dull torpor of her disenchanted mind. Shameand the keen anguish of disappointment resolved themselves into awhirlwind of rage. It choked her voice.
'Fool--fool!' she reiterated hoarsely. Her jewelled hand caught at thedrapery about her throat, and rent it away from the gleaming beauty of herneck and wildly heaving breast, as if to relieve a horror of suffocation.
'Not so--not so, Plautia!' cried the startled Centurion, 'you wrongyourself and me--you have demeaned yourself in no way--you have honoured mewith an affection it is out of my power to return. Your secret shall beever sacred with me. As to my heart, Plautia, it pains me too sharply forthe unhappiness it would have avoided, but cannot. All the love it canhold is given to another.'
'To another--another woman! Who is she?--Where is she?--What is her name?'was demanded, with something of the manner of a tigress.
'You have never known her, seen her, or heard of her, and to speak of herwill do no good.'
'I will know!'
'You may know some time hence, but it is to no purpose now.'
She gazed at him for a moment with a furious glance, her head thrown back,and her figure drawn up to its utmost height. Then, strange to tell, inthe next brief second every strained fibre of her body seemed to relax,and, with a kind of hysterical gasp or sob, she fell on his breast andgave way to an uncontrollable burst of weeping. Her brief madness, burntout by its own fierceness, and departing as rapidly as it had come, hadleft her at the mercy of the reaction, drained of strength and weak inspirit. Nor was the expression of her changed mood of helplesswretchedness in any degree less accordant with the vehemence of hernature. Her frame was shaken with convulsive violence, and the Pretorianwas enabled to contemplate another phase of the volcanic passions whichhad hitherto lain hid, to him at least, beneath the crust of her calmunruffled haughtiness. The frenzied storm gust had startled him, but thesudden drop into the depth of hysterical woe and feminine weakness quiteunmanned him. He had witnessed the anger of men and the weeping of womenere now, but here was a revelation. His heart turned chill at suggestingthe hate of the lava-blooded creature on his breast.
It was useless to attempt to stop or soothe the tempest of her feelings;like her wrath it was too fierce to last very long. It began to abate in afew minutes, to the intense relief of his agitated mind.
'Come, Plautia, courage! This is too terrible--courage!'
His voice restored her, and she lifted herself at once from his bosom withthe same proud mien the world knew, as if the teeming moments hadthoroughly purged her veins clear and cool of the riotous fires ofpassion.
'You say well,' she said, with stoical coldness. 'My miserable part beingplayed--I will return.'
'To the opposite shore? It must be--I will try to aid you,' he began, withalacrity at the welcome change to action, however hazardous.
'No!' interrupted she; 'to my lodging at the old wine-grower's hovel. Ihave brought you here to-night from, perhaps, a more pleasing occupation.Accept my thanks for your patient indulgence of a foolish woman's folly.More I cannot suffer you to undergo; much less the loss of your night'srepose, in the dangerous operation of smuggling me away from here, indirect opposition of your duty.'
'That is nothing,' he returned. 'It would be more to the point if I couldimpress upon you the danger of your sojourn here. I have been theunfortunate, although unwitting cause, of your presence here. That givesme grief enough without the fear of further evil. As soon as the moonsets, which will not be long, I----'
'No, Centurion, I will do as I have said. Be the consequences on my owndevoted head--I care not. I absolve you from all blame on my account,therefore be at rest.'
'It is sorely against my will,' he said sadly, for he could not but feel anew and softened regard for her as one result of the night's experience.
'It is in full accordance with mine,' she replied; 'nay, leave me to goalone, for it is but a few hundred yards. I wish it. Good-night!'
She gathered her drapery around her, and, stepping out into the path,proceeded in the direction of Tucca's dwelling with all her accustomedstateliness of gait.
After her disappearance, the Pretorian yet lingered on in deep reflection.The soft seductive spell of her beauty, and the delicate perfumes of herperson still lingered in his senses, and his mind was full to itsuttermost with speculations on the fate of such passions as he had seendisplayed that night. He pondered on the transformation of the haughty,unemotional lady of indolence, luxury, and refinement, into the daring,undissembling woman of a secret assignation; and tried to realise herdespair by endeavouring to picture his own, had his love for Neaera been asmisplaced. So, with a mind saddened and agitated, as to bode ill for hisnight's slumber, he turned slowly away, at last, in the direction of thevilla Jovis.
When the sound of his footsteps had died away, there was some rustling inthe thicket above the spot so lately occupied. Creeping cautiouslydownward over the rocky surface, a man reached the edge of the road, and,peeping out, satisfied himself that the coast was clear ere he steppedboldly forth.
''Tis all right, Prefect, the road is open--the play is over, and theactors have clean departed,' he said aloud.
'Then let us begone likewise, Afer, in the name of the furies,' returnedSejanus ill-temperedly enough, as he reached his companion and stretchedhis cramped limbs.
'Yes, it is quite certain that the Centurion has been more highlyentertained than ourselves,' responded Afer drily; 'but unbidden guestsmust take their chance. In the meantime, let us fix such scraps of speech,as did reach our ears, firmly in our memories, and exercise our ingeniousfancies in supplying matter to fill the vast gaps in the scene. It will bejust as amusing as the original, and the lovely Plautia will correct it ifnecessary.'
'I'm agreeable, if you will undertake to obtain the correction yourselffrom the damsel,' snarled the Prefect, brushing his cloak with his hand.'I think the result would repay any such trouble.'
'At least you have proof of the sublime virtue of your Pretorian,'continued Afer; 'that must be gratifying. Such a marvel of resoluteintegrity could fearlessly brave a host of Sirens, without stuffing hisears with wax as did Ulysses. Ill-starred Venus dashing herself againstthis incorruptible Adonis!'
'Now the better time, therefore, for you to persuade her to turn to warmersympathies for consolation,' remarked Sejanus sarcastically. 'TheCenturion has followed his own idea in a matter which will never offeritself to your choice, and it is of no further consequence to you or to meeither. But as to the lady herself, she must go to-morrow night, and youmust contrive to acquaint her with that fact early in the morning. I willarrange about the means of departure. If she fails to obey and keepwithin-doors till she is bidden to come forth, she does it to her grievousperil. Give my cloak a brush with your hand, Afer, and let us be off.'
Neæra: A Tale of Ancient Rome Page 21
