ing back some one said to be
Maternus, whether or not they caught the right man. Commodus was
indulging in one of his storms of imperial righteousness. He was going
to stamp out lawlessness. He was going to make it safe for any one to
come or go along the Roman roads. Oh, he was in a fine Augustan mood.
It wasn't safe for any one but Marcia to come within a mile of him.
Scowl--you know that scowl of his--it freezes the very sentries on the
wall if he looks at their backs through the window! I don't suppose
there was a woman in Rome just then who would have cared to change
places with Marcia! He sent for her, and half the palace betted she was
ripe for banishment to one of those island retreats where Crispina (the
wife of Commodus who was banished to the isle of Capreae and there
secretly put to death) lived less than a week! But Marcia is fertile of
surprises. She won't surprise me if she outlives Commodus--by Hercules,
she won't surprise me if--"

He stared at Pertinax with impudently keen eyes. Pertinax looked at the
bronze door leading to the sweating room, shrugging himself as if the
frigidarium had grown too cool for comfort.

"Marcia actually persuaded Commodus to countermand the order!" Livius
said, emphasizing each word. "Almighty Jove can only guess what
argument she used, but if Maternus had been one of her pet Christians
she couldn't have saved him more successfully. Commodus sent a messenger
post-haste that night to recall the cohort."

"And a good thing too," Pertinax remarked. "It isn't a legion's
business to supply cohorts to do the work of the district police. There
were five thousand raw men on the verge of mutiny in Ostia--"

"And--wait a minute--and," said Livius, "don't go yet--this is
interesting: Marcia, that same night, sent a messenger of her own to
find Maternus and to warn him."

"How do you know?" Pertinax let a sign of nervousness escape him.

"In the palace, those of us who value our lives and our fortunes make it
a business to know what goes on," Livius answered with a dry laugh,
"just as you take care to know what goes on in the city, Pertinax."

The older man looked worried.

"Do you mean it is common gossip in the palace?" he demanded.

"You are the first man I have spoken with. There are therefore only
three who know, if you count the slave whom Marcia employed; four if you
count Marcia. I had the great good luck not long ago to catch that
slave in flagrante deli