Part 2 (1/2)
”Brinnaria!” he called, imperatively. ”What does this mean?”
”Mean?” she repeated. ”It means that I am making the most of Almo while I can. I love Almo; I've promised to forget him, to be a good wife to Calvaster, and of course I'm going to keep my word. From the moment I'm married to Calvaster I'll never so much as look at Almo, let alone touch him. So I'm touching him all I can while I have the chance.”
She paused, kissed Almo twice, lingeringly and loudly, and looked up again.
”How's that for kissing, Calvaster?” she chirped. ”Don't you wish it was you?”
”Come, son!” Pulfennius spluttered, ”let us be gone! This is no place for us. We are being mocked and insulted.”
”Nonsense, Pulfennius!” his host exclaimed. ”Can't you see that I had no part in this, that the minx devised it all by herself expressly to thwart me? Don't let her have the satisfaction of outmanoeuvering both of us. Don't let a mere prank of a child spoil all our arrangements.
She'll be a good wife as she says.”
”A good wife!” Pulfennius snorted. ”I much doubt whether she can now ever be a good wife to any man. I'm sure she'll never be a wife to my son. You'd never convince me that she's fit to be my son's wife.
Make her a Vestal, indeed! She a Vestal? She's much more likely to be something very different!”
”Do you mean to insinuate--” his host began.
”I mean to insinuate anything and everything appropriate to her wanton behavior,” Pulfennius raged.
The two men glared at each other in a silence through which could be heard the cooing of the doves, the trickle of the two fountains, Brinnaria's low chuckle and the faint lisping sound of three distinct kisses.
”I beg your pardon!” spoke a voice behind them.
The four looked around.
”What brings you here, Segontius?” Brinnarius asked.
”One of my slaves brought me word,” the intruder explained, ”that my son had entered this house. I knew you had not changed your mind since you forbade him to cross your threshold, so I came here at once to disclaim any share in his intrusion and to take him home. I feared he might get into mischief.”
”He has,” Brinnarius replied, sententiously, ”as you may see.”
Brinnaria, entirely at her ease, hugged Almo rapturously and kissed him repeatedly.
”And I thought,” Segontius pursued, ”that you would probably smash every bone in his body if you caught him.”
”I don't know why I haven't,” spoke the big man reflectively.
”I know,” shouted Pulfennius, ”I can tell you. It is because this whole comedy has been rehea.r.s.ed between you just to make me ridiculous. I know your way, your malignity, your tenacity of a grudge, your pretence of reconciliation, your ingenuity, your well-laid traps. I'll be revenged for this yet!”
”You won't live to be revenged,” Brinnarius told him, ”unless you get out of here quick. I'll break every bone in your body, for certain, if you address another word to me.”
”Come, son, said Pulfennius, and shambled away.
”And now,” spoke Segontius, ”don't you think, Marcus, that you and I had best forget our quarrels and be friends again? These young folks were plainly meant for each other by all the G.o.ds who favor lovers. Let us not stand in the way.”
”Indeed, Lucius,” spoke the big man, holding out his huge hand. ”I am of the same mind. But both of them deserve some punishment for their presumption. They should wait four years at least before they marry. My girl is too young.”
”I agree,” said Segontius, ”and I'll send my boy to Falerii for the present. That will keep them apart and ensure propriety of behavior.”
”That is well,” growled Brinnarius, ”and I'll send my girl to her aunt Septima's.”