"By the shade of thy mother, by all the gods, is she not in the palace?"

"By the shade of my mother, Marcus, she is not in the palace, and Cæsar
did not intercept her. The infant Augusta is ill since yesterday, and
Nero has not left her cradle."

Vinicius drew breath. That which had seemed the most terrible ceased to
threaten him.

"Ah, then," said he, sitting on the bench and clinching his fists,
"Aulus intercepted her, and in that case woe to him!"

"Aulus Plautius was here this morning. He could not see me, for I was
occupied with the child; but he inquired of Epaphroditus, and others of
Cæsar's servants, touching Lygia, and told them that he would come again
to see me."

"He wished to turn suspicion from himself. If he knew not what
happened, he would have come to seek Lygia in my house."

"He left a few words on a tablet, from which thou wilt see that, knowing
Lygia to have been taken from his house by Cæsar, at thy request and
that of Petronius, he expected that she would be sent to thee, and this
morning early he was at thy house, where they told him what had
happened."

When she had said this, she went to the cubiculum and returned soon with
the tablet which Aulus had left.

Vinicius read the tablet, and was silent; Acte seemed to read the