‘’Tis as good a way as any for you, Prefect, though not perhaps for the sweet lady herself. She is in excellent keeping.’ ‘Well, let us hope so—it must stand as our Imperial master has arranged it, at all events. She has only her headstrong folly to thank for her fate. She cannot say but that she had ample warning.’ ‘The fact, nevertheless, remains, that with her subtlety and good looks, she may worm her way into the Imperial favour, and be pleased to make mischief if she be so inclined.’ ‘Hm!’ said Sejanus, ‘we will see. Come! Tiberius has arrived at the villa above and I go to him at once. If he should open his lips to tell us anything of this it would be as well to be truly astonished to hear it.’ ‘You would not be very prudent to play a part, Prefect,’ said Afer drily. ‘If Tiberius has had such prompt information of the lady’s presence, depend upon it there will be not much more that you or I could impart to him. The best course will be a candid one, without any disguise.’ ‘Disguise, Afer!’ ejaculated the Prefect scornfully; ‘am I a truant schoolboy fearing the rod of the pedagogue? What atom of concern is it to me? Had she been mine, and of interest to me, I would have demanded restitution from Caesar himself, and he would not dare to retain her. I will tell him all, or little, or nothing at all, just as I am inclined. Go, bid the people prepare and we will start.’ CHAPTER XII. Things were changed in the small household of Masthlion. The same daily routine proceeded, but it was carried on under the depressing shadow of a cloud which darkened the brow of the potter. He was no more than human, and transient shadows had been there before; but, in the memory of the two females who shared his home, never such an unwelcome symptom of abiding care as that which now haunted their eyes. He was their self‐imposed autocrat, and it was natural that the gloom of his mind should be reflected on their own, just as the landscape takes its hue from the skies. Their sleepless solicitude, rooted in tender love, outweighed even the fear‐quickened service of the trembling slaves of Caesar; and never was man less exacting in his demands upon such a boundless store of devotion to his needs, or yet more innocent of direct effort or intention to deserve it. It was the simple tribute to his nature, which bore not a ripple of vanity or self‐sufficiency to break the unruffled flow of his cheerful serenity.