"'It is.'

"Then say:

"'I am the leopard-tamer.'

"He will then allow one of your spare bearers to take the horse.

"Divest yourself of your toga then, not sooner. Equip yourself for
your journey. Mount and order your bearers to take your empty litter
home. Follow the Praenestine Highroad till it meets the _Via
Labicana_. Then take the first crossroad to the Highroad to Tibur.
From Tibur press on to Carseoli. Prom there return to Villa Andivia as
you judge best. Provide for yourself thereafter as best you may.

"Farewell."

I recognized Vedia's handwriting. I trusted her implicitly. I was far more
elated at her concern for me than I was depressed at my impending ruin.
Somehow the fact that she had taken the trouble not only to warn me, but
to think out for me all the details of a plan of at least temporary
escape, the inference that she hoped, hoped against hope, that I might be
somehow saved, heartened me amazingly; so that I was rather inspirited at
the prospect of adventure than daunted by the shadow of inescapable doom.
I gathered myself together, determined to take as much advantage as
possible of Vedia's warning, and of the respite it afforded me. I resolved
to follow her suggestions. I had set out for the Palace unusually early. I
had plenty of time. I ordered my bearers to carry me through the heart of
the City down the whole length of the _Vicus Tuscus_ to the meat market.

I should, I suppose, have been in an agony of vain regrets; I rather
expected from moment to moment to be drowned in an inundation of such
sensations, I was more than a little surprised at my actual feelings. Here
I was, hitherto a wealthy Roman nobleman in excellent standing with my
fellows, my superiors and the Prince; from now on a hunted fugitive and
not likely to postpone my last hour more than a few days. I was,
presumably, viewing the throbbing heart of glorious Rome for the last
time. I should have felt chief mourner at my own funeral. Actually I
relished, I hugely enjoyed, every pace of my progress through the filling
streets, where the passers-by and idlers were still fresh, and lively
after a night's sleep and where everything was irradiated by cheerful
morning sunlight. I felt cheerful as the sunlight.

Beyond the Meat Market I had my bearers stop at the Temple of Fortune,
which I entered, there I prayed fervently before the statue of the
Goddess.

When I was again out in the