nt
rolls. A dozen secretaries labored in the next room, but the door
between was closed; the only witnesses were leisurely, majestic swans,
seen down a vista of well pruned shrubbery that flanked the narrow lawn.
An awning crimsoned and subdued the sunlight, concealing the lines on
the governor's face and suggesting color on his pale cheeks.

He was a fat man, pouched under the eyes and growing bald--an almost
total contrast to the lean and active, although older Pertinax. His
smile was cynical. His mouth curved downward. He had large, fat hands
and cold, dark calculating eyes.

"I would feel more satisfied," he said, "if I could have Norbanus'
evidence."

"Find him then!" Pertinax answered irritably. "What is the matter with
your police? In Rome, if I propose to find a man he is brought before
me instantly."

"This is not Rome," said the governor, "as you would very soon discover
if you occupied my office. I sent a lictor and a dozen men to Norbanus'
house, but he is missing and has not been seen, although it is known,
and you admit, that he dined with you last night at Daphne. He has no
property worth mentioning. His house is under lien to money-lenders.
He is well known to have been Sextus' friend, and the moment this order
arrived proscribing Sextus I added to it the name of Norbanus in my own
handwriting, on the principle that treason keeps bad company.

"My own well known allegiance to the emperor obliges me to tear out the
very roots of treason at the first suggestion of its presence in our
midst. I have long suspected Sextus, who was a cross-grained,
obstinate, quick-witted, proud young man--a lot too critical. I am
convinced now that he and Norbanus were hatching some kind of plot
between them--possibly against the sacred person of our emperor--a
frightful sacrilege!--the suggestion of it makes me shudder! There is,
of course, no doubt about Sextus; the emperor's own proscription brands
him as a miscreant unfit to live, and he was lucky to have died by
accident instead of being torn apart by tongs. It seems to me
unquestionable that Norbanus shared his guilt and took care to escape
before he could be seized and brought to justice. What is in doubt,
most noble Pertinax, is how you can excuse yourself to our sacred
emperor for having let Sextus escape from your clutches, after you had
seen that letter! How can you excuse yourself for not pouncing the
letter, to be used as evidence against r