"Then all that is needed is to delay Hadrian's arrival by four days and
nights."

"Send some interesting people--say the astronomer Ptolemaeus, and
Favorinus, the sophist, who await him here--to meet him at Pelusium.
They will find some way of detaining him there."

"Not a bad idea! We will see. But who can reckon on the Empress's
moods? At any rate, consider that you have only eight days to dispose
of."

"Good."

"Where do you hope to be able to lodge Hadrian?"

"Well, a very small portion of the old building is, strictly speaking,
fit to use."

"Of that, I regret to say, I have fully convinced myself," said the
prefect emphatically, and turning to the steward, he went on in a tone
less of stern reproof than of regret.

"It seems to me, Keraunus, that it would have been your duty to inform me
earlier of the ruinous condition of the building."

"I have already lodged a complaint," replied the man, "but I was told in
answer to my report that there were no means to apply to the purpose."

"I know nothing of these things," cried Titianus.