"Atacinus and Gulo knew him; but Atacinus fell yesterday at the litter,
and Gulo I killed."

"I am sorry for him," said Petronius. "He carried not only thee, but
me, in his arms."

"I intended to free him," answered Vinicius; "but do not mention him.
Let us speak of Lygia. Rome is a sea-"

"A sea is just the place where men fish for pearls. Of course we shall
not find her to-day, or to-morrow, but we shall find her surely. Thou
hast accused me just now of giving thee this method; but the method was
good in itself, and became bad only when turned to bad. Thou hast heard
from Aulus himself, that he intends to go to Sicily with his whole
family. In that case the girl would be far from thee."

"I should follow them," said Vinicius, "and in every case she would be
out of danger; but now, if that child dies, Poppæa will believe, and
will persuade Cæsar, that she died because of Lygia."

"True; that alarmed me, too. But that little doll may recover. Should
she die, we shall find some way of escape."

Here Petronius meditated a while and added,--"Poppæa, it is said,
follows the religion of the Jews, and believes in evil spirits. Cæsar
is superstitious. If we spread the report that evil spirits carried off
Lygia, the news will find belief, especially as neither Cæsar nor Aulus
Plautius intercepted her; her escape was really mysterious. The Lygian
could not have effected it alone; he must have had help. And where