Part 23 (1/2)
Brinnaria, for once in her life, was submissive and silent.
Not many days later the Pontiff greeted her with a contented smile.
”Almo,” he said, ”is now practically recovered. He is well enough to have enjoyed brief visits from several of his former cronies. He is in his house on the Carinae, and it is besieged by all the fas.h.i.+onables of Rome, not only his boyhood friends and acquaintances, but people who never spoke to him. Everybody is rus.h.i.+ng to call on him.
”He is a free man again. At an intimation of the Emperor's wishes Elufrius became as supple as possible and all willingness to oblige.
He asked a huge price for Almo's release, and no wonder, for after the advertis.e.m.e.nt you gave him, Almo could have commanded fabulous fees for all future fights and the profits accruing to Elufrius must have been enormous. So Elufrius had to be paid a large sum, but nothing compared to even one year's acc.u.mulation of revenue from Almo's estates administered by his agents. So Almo will never feel that. The papers have all been drawn, signed and sealed. The cash has been paid. Almo is no longer a member of a gladiatorial band.
”And, at a word from the Emperor, the Senate framed and pa.s.sed a decree relieving Almo of all the legal disabilities inhering in his past. He has been restored to his former rank in the n.o.bility, has been confirmed in the possession of all inheritances which he might otherwise have forfeited, has been declared free from all stain and entirely fit to hold any office in the service of the Republic. The decree has been engrossed, sealed and signed by the Emperor. Almo is a n.o.bleman as before. Are you pleased?”
”I am,” Brinnaria confessed.
Lutorius nodded.
”Now, do not take umbrage,” he said, ”at what I am about to ask. If you must say no, say no without being offended. May I tell the Emperor what you have said to me?”
”Certainly,” Brinnaria authorized him. ”Aurelius is so good a friend to me that sometimes I think he is the best friend I have on earth.”
After an interval of some days the Pontiff hinted that the Emperor desired to see her. Brinnaria's disposition to stand upon ceremony and to insist on her full rights as a Vestal had waned as she grew to maturity. In her dealing with Aurelius she had long laid it aside altogether and likewise with Lutorius, both were so una.s.suming, so manifestly actuated by the sincerest regard for her. Now she obediently sent in her application for an audience with the Emperor.
It was accorded her about twenty days after Almo's fight. Aurelius came straight to the point.
”Daughter,” he said, ”I want you to tell me the entire truth. You can confide in me without reservation and you should do so without hesitation, since I ask it.
”What I wish you to tell me is this: Has your lover's behavior effaced your regard for him, as you a.s.serted to Lutorius, or were you self-deceived? Is everything at an end between you and will you ignore his existence in future and remain a Vestal for life or have your feelings overcome your displeasure and are you again thinking of him and of your future as you did in the past?”
”Castor be good to me,” Brinnaria confessed. ”I did think his folly had alienated me from him forever, but the more I brood over it all the more I realize that no matter what he has done or does or will do I love him just as genuinely as if he deserved it, and as far as I can judge I shall love him to the last breath I draw. I am ashamed of my weakness, but I foresee that, when my service is over, I shall be just as eager to marry him as if he had been all he ought to have been.”
”You please me,” said Aurelius, ”particularly in the way you put it.
”I am not in the habit of giving a second chance to any man. But Almo's case is so peculiar and the circ.u.mstances so unusual and my interest in him is so compelling that I am going to make an exception in respect to him. I shall give him another opportunity as an officer. I have reflected where to send him and I have concluded to relegate him to Britain. There, in the north, our frontier, pushed far beyond the former line, is ceaselessly attacked by the Caledonian savages. My predecessor's great earthwork needs larger garrisons. There Almo will find occupation and may rehabilitate himself. There he will be under the watch of Opstorius, who is a stern and scrupulous governor. He sets out this very day.
”Now is the time for me to speak to you of Calvaster. Calvaster, unfortunately, is as indispensable as ever, even more so. My impulse was to banish him, but I had to forego the idea. I contented myself with summoning him to my presence and telling him in so many words that the slightest suspicion of any further machinations by him against you or Almo would draw down on him the unescapable consequences of my severest displeasure. By that admonition, and by his chagrin at the unexpected and unwelcome outcome of his plot, I think him sufficiently punished.
Also I think him thoroughly cowed. He will make no further attempt to trouble you.
”It appears that when he was touring Spain, inspecting the copies of the sacred books at all the chief temples of the five provinces, he recognized Almo in the arena at Corduba. He at once used all the influence in his power to arrange that Elufrius should bring his gang of fighters to Rome and that their bouts should be so managed that Almo would be saved to fight before you as he did. Almo himself found this out through Elufrius since he became again a free man and in control of his fortune, and it took a great deal of money and the partic.i.p.ation of a great many experts to uncover and prove the facts. Proved they have been to my satisfaction and Calvaster's confusion.
”Almo had expected to serve his three years in Spain and was as dismayed as possible when he found he was to be transferred to Rome. But an articled gladiator has taken oath to submit to anything, specifying death, torture, burning, wounding, flogging and more besides, an articled gladiator cannot object to fighting anywhere. Almo had to acquiesce.
”And now, having heard that it was not wholly his fault that you were so cruelly tried before all of us, will you not agree to say farewell to him a second time?”
In the flood-tide of her revulsion of feeling Brinnaria could refuse Aurelius nothing. The Emperor gave a signal and Almo was ushered in as he had been six years before.
Brinnaria's eager scrutiny could detect no limp in his gait, could barely descry the scar on his chin, even when she knew so well where to look for it. She noted that he looked well, vigorous and very handsome in his gilded armor and scarlet cloak. She contrasted their magnificent surroundings with the rough frontier to which he was going.
Almo tried to speak and choked.
”Caius,” she said, ”the Emperor has told me how it all came about.
Don't ask me to forgive; I ask your pardon for misconceiving you; I have nothing to forgive in you. If you are what I believe you to be I shall never have to forgive anything from you. Go, and with the help of the blessed G.o.ds, prove yourself all you ought to be. Farewell!”