the rest
by acclamation. Then, three months of upright government--deification
by the senate--"

Pertinax laughed explosively--an honest, chesty laugh, unqualified by
any subtleties, suggesting a trace of the peasantry from which he
sprang. It made Cornificia wince.

"Can you imagine me a god?" he asked.

"I can imagine you an emperor," said Sextus. "It is true; you have no
following among the legions just at present. But I make one, and there
are plenty of energetic men who think as I do. My friend Norbanus here
will follow me. My father--"

Noises near the open window interrupted him. An argument seemed to be
going on between the slaves whom Pertinax had set to keep the roisterers
away and some one who demanded admission. Near at hand was a woman's
voice, shrilling and scolding. Then another voice--Scylax, the slave
who had ridden the red mare. Pertinax strode to the window again and
leaned out. Cornificia whispered to Galen:

"If the truth were known, he is afraid of Flavia Titiana. As a wife she
is bad enough, but as an empress--"

Galen nodded.

"If you love your Pertinax," he answered, "keep him off the throne! He
has too many scruples."

She frowned, having few, which were firm and entirely devoted to
Pertinax' fortune.

"Love him? I would give him up to see him deified!" she whispered; and
again Galen nodded, deeply understanding.

"That is because you have never had children," he assured her, smiling.
"You mother Pertinax, who is more than twice your age--just as Marcia
has mothered that monster Commodus until her heart is breaking."

"But I thought you were Pertinax' friend?"

"So I am."

"And his urgent adviser to--"

"Yes, so I was. I have changed my opinion; only the maniacs never do
that. Pertinax would make a splendid minister for Lucius Severus; and
the two of them could bring back the Augustan days. Persuade him to it.
He must forget he hates him."

"Let him come!" said the voice of Pertinax. He was still leaning out,
with one hand on a marble pillar, much more interested in the moonlit
view of revelry than in the altercation between slaves. He strolled
back and stood smiling at Cornificia, his handsome face expressing
satisfaction but a rather humorous amusement at his inability to
understand her altogether.

"Are you like all other women?" he asked. "I just saw a naked woman
stab a man with her hairpin and kick his corpse into the shrubbery
before the