"She will not harken to him--!" he cried with sudden desperation. "O Marsyas, this day I should be exorcised as a fury, bringing evil happenings. But better the sorry truth than a fair lie. Antonia hath lived out of the world for the last decade, as hast thou. But her seclusion hath achieved the opposite harm, that is hatched by solitariness. She retired, full of years and honor; the world, approaching her door, comes in fair garments, bringing tokens of esteem, talks of ancient triumphs, the virtues of Antonia and the great respect Caesar hath for her. Wherefore, kindly treated by the world, remembering nothing but the good of the old days and believing in her sweet dotage that she crushed evil when she crushed Sejanus, her natural strategic sense hath been lost in a great, all-enveloping charity. Her natural nobility hath outgrown the wariness which aids youth, and her dimmed sight sees things of stature, only, or of high relief. She will see in the prince's desire only a desire to clear himself of a charge and she will honor him for it! She will do his bidding!" Marsyas snatched up his cloak and sprang toward the archway. "Let me to her!" he cried. "Wait!" Junia cried. "Be prepared against defeat, though it never come! What wilt thou do, if she be immovable, or already gone--for Caesar is in Tusculum to-day?" Marsyas stopped and his face grew ashen. He saw Lydia again, among the stones of the rabble, and murder leaped into his heart. "Kill Eutychus!" he declared desperately. "It would be fatal for Agrippa," she protested. His hunted ideas turned then upon Caesar. Suddenly he rushed back to Junia and seized her hands. "Thou art close to Caesar," he said rapidly and with great supplication in his voice, "and thou art in Caesar's favor! Beseech him and right Agrippa's mistakes, I implore thee! Help me, Junia! Be my right arm! Promise me thine intercession!" Her face suffused, and she waited a moment before she could trust her voice. "For thy sake, Marsyas," she answered. "I give thee my word!" He pressed her hands to his lips and ran out of the house. She dropped back on her couch and put her fingers to her temples. "Save Agrippa, to kill Saul, to save Lydia, for this Judean vestal's sake?" she speculated to herself. "And where doth Junia profit? Ah! I shall get him in debt, and extort mine own price! Jew or Gentile, he will not think it exorbitant, for under it all, he is a man! But to Tusculum!" She clapped her hands and ordered her litter. CHAPTER XXV THE SPEAKING OF EUTYCHUS