laughed the praetor, slapping the alarmed youth lightly on
the shoulder. "What good could it do me to ruin you? I have only one
thing at heart just now, and that is to save Caesar from care and
anxiety. Keep him occupied only during the third hour after midnight and
you may count on my friendship; but if out of fear or ill-will you refuse
me your assistance you do not deserve your sovereign's favor and then you
will compel me--"

"No more, no more!" cried Antinous interrupting his tormentor in despair.

"Then you promise me to carry out my wish?"

"Yes, by Hercules! Yes, what you require shall be done. But eternal gods!
how am I to get Caesar--"

"That, my young friend, I leave with perfect confidence to you and your
shrewdness."

"I am not shrewd--I can devise nothing," groaned the lad.

"What you could do out of terror of your master you can do still better
for love of him," retorted the praetor. "The problem is an easy one; and
if after all you should not succeed I shall feel it no less than my duty
to explain to Hadrian how well Antinous can take care of his own
interests and how badly of his master's peace of mind. Till to-morrow, my
handsome friend--and if for the future you have flowers to send, my
slaves are quite at your service."

With these words the praetor left the room, but Antinous stood like one
crushed, pressing his brow against the cold porphyry pillar by the
window. What Verus required of him did not seem to have any harm in it,
and yet it was not right. It was treason to his noble master, whom he
loved with tender devotion as a father, a wise, kind friend, and
preceptor, and whom he reverenced and feared as though he were a god. To
plot to hide impending trouble from him, as if he were not a man but a
feeble weakling, was absurd and contemptible, and must introduce an error
of unknown importance and extent into his sovereign's far-seeing
predeterminations. Many other reasons against the praetor's demands
crowded on him, and as each occurred to his mind he cursed his tardy
spirit which never let him see or think the right thing till it was too
late. His first deceit had already involved him in a second.

He hated himself; he hit his forehead with his fists and sobbed aloud
bitterly again and again, though he shed no tears. Still, in the midst of
his self-accusation, the flattering voice made itself heard in his soul:
"It is only to preserve your master from sorrow, and it is nothing wrong
th