"He hath had years of want and humiliation," she continued. "He hath walked under clouds and suffered from ill report, until he is soulsick of it. Now, the favor of his emperor and the peace of good repute restored to him, are things that he would not willingly let go from him again. The inventions of an enemy have risen against him in Rome; even hath the ill-favored sire of the story been discovered, and Agrippa, conscious of his integrity toward thee, is restive. He wants to be examined; his innocence proven and thy good will toward him firmly established." "Well, well!" Tiberius said. "I shall await your happier mood," she said, gathering her robes about her. "Any mood is happy enough for the Jew," was the retort. Antonia unmistakably eyed the old man. "Say on, good Antonia," he urged uncomfortably. "I have not forsworn justice." "Agrippa asks nothing more. His charioteer robbed him, and when he was captured and in danger of punishment, he claimed that he had information against Agrippa which concerns thy welfare. It is simply a device to put off punishment. He hath appealed to thee and thou hast not yet heard him. The Herod is eager that the matter be settled and begs that the slave be heard at once." "Eh! what a fanfare of probity!" the emperor mumbled. "Leave it to a Jew to flourish his righteousness. If he is innocent, he can wait; if he is guilty, we shall overtake him soon enough. I owe him a sentence of uncertainty for his slights to my grandson, the little Tiberius." "And thou hast but this moment said that thou hadst not forsworn justice!" Antonia exclaimed. "Jupiter, but thou art provoking!" he fumed. "Hither, Euodus!" Junia made a slight movement as if she meant to step between her father and the emperor, but was suddenly reminded of her part. She stopped again. "How my sentimental heart cries out against my obligation to Flaccus!" she said to herself. "Here must I stand idly by, while this new Penelope to a dead Ulysses works the Herod's ruin!" Euodus bowed beside Caesar. "Bring me the Jew's slave that hath a charge for me to hear. Bring him hither, and haste!" The old man turned to Antonia. "Go tell thy valiant Herod that he shall have justice. Justice! Say that. It may not please him so much to have that message." The gilded lectica moved on. The widow went back to her litter and was borne away. Junia remounted her chair and followed the emperor. "O lady," she said, looking after Antonia's litter, "it may be very superior to live aloof from the world, and ignorant of its intrigues, but it is fatal for thy friends, I observe." At the brink of a precipitous descent into the valley west of Tusculum, Euodus returned with Eutychus, whom Piso, at Agrippa's defiant instigation, had been forced to send to Tusculum to be available in event of Caesar's summons.