Part 32 (2/2)

After that last agonising moment she remembered nothing more until she found herself in her own house, lying on her bed, with Licinia's anxious, wrinkled face bending over her.

”What hath happened, Licinia?” she had asked feebly as soon as consciousness had returned.

”We brought thee home safely, my precious treasure,” replied the old woman fervently, ”all praise be unto the G.o.ds who watched over their beloved.”

”But how did it happen?” queried Dea with some impatience. ”Tell me all that happened, Licinia,” she reiterated with earnest insistence, as she raised herself on her elbow and fixed her large blue eyes, in which burned a feverish light, upon the face of her slave.

”Yes! yes! I'll tell thee all I know,” rejoined the woman soothingly.

”Thy slaves were close at hand in the vestibule of the imperial tribune, and thy litter was down below with the bearers, in case thou shouldst require it. But I had stood on the threshold of the tribune for some time watching thee, for thy sweet face had been pale as death all the morning, and I feared that the heat would be too much for thee. Thus I saw much of what went on. I saw the traitor advance toward the Caesar, trying to smother him with a cloak. I saw the Caesar--whom may the G.o.ds protect--stab the traitor in the breast, and then leave the Amphitheatre hurriedly, followed by a few among his faithful guard. But my thoughts then were only of thee. I could see thy lovely face white as the maple leaf, and thou wast leaning against the wall as if ready to swoon. The traitor whom the Caesar had justly punished lay bleeding from many wounds close to thy foot. The next moment I had thee in my arms, having caught thee when thy dear body swayed forward and would have fallen even upon the breast of the dead traitor.”

”The traitor?” murmured Dea Flavia then.

”Aye! the praefect of Rome,” said Licinia, with a vicious oath. ”He had incited the rabble against the Caesar, and--may his dead body be defiled for the sacrilege!--he was causing the populace to acclaim him as their Emperor, even whilst he raised his murderous hand against him who is the equal of the G.o.ds!”

”He was striving to save Caesar, Licinia, and not to murder him,” said Dea Flavia earnestly.

”To save the Caesar? Nay! nay! my precious, the praefect of Rome tried to murder Caesar by smothering him with a cloak.”

”It is false I tell thee!”

”False? Nay, dear heart, I saw it all, and thou wast beside thyself and knew not rightly what happened. Even a minute later thou laidst in my arms like a dead white swan, and I pushed my way through the soldiers, and past the other Augustas who cowered in the tribune, screaming and wringing their hands. Two of thy slaves were luckily close at hand.

Together we carried thee down to thy litter and bore thee safely home for which to-morrow I will offer special sacrifice to Minerva who protected thee.”

”And what happened after we were gone?”

”Alas! I know not. They say that the populace became more and more unruly: there were shouts for the praefect of Rome, who fortunately lay dead on the floor of the tribune, and there were even some sacrilegious miscreants who called for death upon the Caesar.”

”Do they say,” queried Dea Flavia, speaking slowly and low, ”that the praefect of Rome is dead?”

”If he be not dead now,” retorted Licinia viciously, for her loyalty to the Caesar was bound up with her love for Dea Flavia, and treachery to Caesar meant treachery to her beloved, ”If he be not dead now, he shall still suffer for his treason: and if he be dead his body shall be defiled.”

”Oh!”

”Aye! a traitor must suffer even in death. His body shall be given to the dogs, his blood to the carrion....”

”Silence, Licinia!” broke in Dea Flavia sternly, ”fill not mine ears with thy hideous talk. Every word thou dost utter is impiety and sacrilege, and I would smite thee for them had I but the strength.

”But I am so tired,” she added after a slight pause, with a weary little sigh, even whilst Licinia, subdued and frightened, stood silently by: ”I would like to sleep.”

”Then sleep, my G.o.ddess,” said the old woman, ”I'll watch over thee.”

”No! no! I could not sleep if I were watched,” rejoined Dea Flavia with the fretfulness of a tired child. ”I would rather be alone.”

”But thou'lt have bad dreams.”

”Order Blanca to lie across the threshold. I can then send her to fetch thee, if I have need of thee.”

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