Volume II Part 70 (1/2)
”But how,” asked the bewildered Cedric, ”shall I discover them? Verily it doth seem that to-day I am destined to work out impossibilities.
How it comes to pa.s.s that a poor ignorant wretch like myself should compa.s.s these things, it faileth my weak fancy to discover!”
”The soothsayer's speech is not lightly to be regarded. Hark thee, knave! Is life precious unto thee?”
”Yea, truly is it. I have a wife and children, besides a few herds and other live stock, likewise sundry beeves i' the forest. But unless I can find favour in your eyes, my goods, alas! I am not like to see again.”
”Nor wilt thou peradventure again behold the light of yon blessed sun which hath just gone down. The shades of evening are upon us, and the shadows of death are upon thine eyelids; for, hark thee, I do suspect some treasonable message in thine errand to the city.”
Cedric, with a look of terror and incredulity, stammered out--
”As I live, I know not thy meaning!”
”Thou art in my power; and unless thou servest me faithfully, thou diest a cruel and fearful death. What was the exact message wherewith thou was entrusted?”
The Briton's countenance brightened as he replied--
”I give it to thee with right good-will. No treason lurks there, I trow. 'Take this,' said my master, yesternight, giving me a signet ring; 'take it to York by daybreak. At the gate show it to the guard.
If they let thee pa.s.s, well. If not, return, for there is mischief in the city. At the bridge, shouldest thou get so far, again show it, where, I doubt not, thou shalt find thereby a ready pa.s.sage. Seek thee out some by-tavern where thou mayest refresh; then about mid-day go into the street called the Goldsmiths', and there inquire for one Caius Lupus, the empress' jeweller. Show him the signet, and mark what he shall tell thee.'”
”Thou hast given him the signet, then?” said the centurion, sharply.
”Nay. For my mistress, as ill-luck would have it, hearing of my journey, and she having had some knowledge of the soothsayer's art aforetime, bade me consult him ere my errand was ready with the goldsmith, and deliver a pressing request for the horoscope which had been long promised. What pa.s.sed then, as thou knowest, is the cause of my calamity.”
”But didst thou not search out the dwelling of this same Caius, and do thine errand?”
”I did. But in the straits which I endured I was not careful to note the time. An hour past mid-day I sought out his dwelling; but he was gone to the palace on urgent business with the empress, nor was it known when he might return.”
”Sayest thou so, friend? I would like to look at this same potent talisman.”
Cedric drew forth the ring. It was a beautiful onyx, on which, engraven with exquisite workmans.h.i.+p, was a head of the youthful Caracalla encircled by a laurel wreath, showing marks of the most consummate skill.
”Was thine errand told to the soothsayer?” was the next inquiry.
”Verily, nay,” said the messenger; ”there was little s.p.a.ce for parley ere I was thrust forth.”
”He saw not the signet, then?”
”Of a truth it has not been shown save to the guards for my pa.s.sport.”
”Now, knave, thy life hangs on a thread so brittle that a breath shall break it. This same goldsmith I do suspect; but thou shalt see him, and whatsoever he showeth I will be at hand that thou mayest tell me privily. I will then instruct thee what thou shalt do. If thou fail not in thy mission, truly thou shalt have great rewards from the emperor. But if thou whisper--ay to the walls--of our meeting, thou diest! Remember thou art watched. Think not to escape.”
The poor wretch caught hold on this last hope of deliverance, and promised to obey.
There was a narrow vault beneath the women's apartments in the palace, communicating by many intricate pa.s.sages with an outlet into the Forum. Here, on this eventful night, was an unusual a.s.semblage. The vault was deep, even below the common foundations of the city, and where the light of day never came. An iron lamp hung from one of the ma.s.sy arches of the roof; the damp and stagnant vapours lending an awful indistinctness to the objects they surrounded. Chill drops lay on the walls and on the slippery floor. The stone benches were green with mildew; and it seemed as though the foot of man had rarely pa.s.sed its threshold.
In this chamber several individuals were now a.s.sembled in earnest discourse, their conversation whispered rather than spoken; yet their intrepid and severe looks, and animated gestures, ever and anon betrayed some deep and resolute purpose more than usually portentous.
”An untoward event truly,” said one of the speakers, Virius Lupus himself, the emperor's private secretary. ”If the old magician could have been won, it had been well.”