“Perchance to be thy companion and thy servant, my lady.” “But who art thou?” “I was a dancing-maiden. Now I am a prisoner.” “Art thou the Psyche who danced at Pompey’s Theatre?” “Ay, my lady.” “I have seen thee portray Niobe.” “’Tis the character I loved best to portray.” “But why art thou a prisoner?” “I know not, my lady.” “Where are thy parents?” “They are also prisoners.” “And their crime, my child?” “I know not their crime, my lady. We lived a peaceful life in a small house outside of the city. In one short day our happy family was torn asunder.” “Hast thou a brother or sister?” “I had a brother.” “Where is he?” “I will answer thee in Greek, my lady. He was murdered!” said Psyche, glancing towards the soldier who guarded them. “By whom?” asked Agrippina, also speaking in Greek. “By Sejanus.” “Sejanus the minister?” “Ay, my lady. Gannon, my brother, was employed as his secretary.” “Ah, the atrocious villain has also destroyed thy family!” exclaimed Agrippina. “I have not seen or heard from my parents or from my betrothed since the day I was led to prison,” said Psyche, sadly. “Thou wert to have been wed?” “Ay; to the charioteer named Gyges.” “Well do I remember the man who drives for the green faction. Often have I seen him from the palace of Antonia.” “He was also sought for by Sejanus,” said Psyche. “But there must be some reason for such violence. Why was thy brother killed?” asked Agrippina. “I will tell thee all I know, my lady. In the office of Sejanus, Gannon was a secretary. He wrote and translated letters. Sometimes he was employed to carry messages. One day he happened to read one. On the night of that same day he was murdered.” “How, my child?” “He was thrown from the roof of the Praetorian barracks. The next day my parents were arrested. At that very hour I was seated with my lover in the peristyle of our new little home. When I returned to my father’s house with Gyges, two soldiers were waiting to conduct me to prison. Perchance my parents are now dead,” she said sadly. “Perchance Gyges, too, is dead.” And she wept bitter tears as she thought of the possibilities of their fate. “Weep not, my child,” said Agrippina, resting her hand caressingly upon Psyche’s head. “The last words I had from my brother,” Psyche continued, when she grew calm enough to speak, “were those he had written upon a piece of cloth which he had sewed to the under side of his tunic. By chance only I read them. Gannon’s body had been carried away. His tunic lay in a heap on the floor. I took it up and kissed it and I saw the writing. This was the message he had written: ‘Have done wrong; read a letter from L to S about Lygdus.’ Methought the L must stand for Livilla and the S for Sejanus.” “Who is Lygdus, my child?” “Gyges told me that he was a eunuch and a most cunning scoundrel.” “My son Nero has mentioned a eunuch as being employed by Livilla in her household. I forget the name. When did this happen?”