“Have you seen this sailor?”

“No; he died of exhaustion soon after he was rescued; but I have seen the men of the galley, who brought me note of certain goods consigned to me in her hold.  They repeated this story to me with their own lips.”

“So, after all, she whom so many sought was destined to the arms of Neptune, as became a pearl,” reflected Saturius.  “Well, well, as Domitian cannot be revenged upon Neptune he will be the more wroth with the man who sent her to that god.  Now I go to tell him all these tidings and learn his mind.”

“You will return and acquaint me with it, will you not?” asked Caleb, looking up.

“Certainly, and at once.  Our account is not yet balanced, most generous Demetrius.”

“No,” answered Caleb, “our accounts are not yet balanced.”

Two hours later the chamberlain reappeared in the office.

“Well,” said Caleb, “how does it go?”

“Ill, very ill for Marcus, and well, very well for those who hate him, as you and I do, friend.  Oh! never have I seen my Imperial master so enraged.  Indeed, when he learned that Pearl-Maiden had escaped and was drowned, so that he could have no hope of her this side the Styx, it was almost dangerous to be near to him.  He cursed Titus for the lightness of his sentence; he cursed you; he cursed me.  But I turned his wrath into the right channel.  I showed him that for all these ills Marcus, and Marcus alone, is to blame, Marcus who is to pay the price of them with a three years’ pleasant banishment from Rome, which doubtless, will be remitted presently.  I tell you that Domitian wept and gnashed his teeth at the thought of it, until I showed him a better plan—­knowing that it would please you, friend Demetrius.”

“What plan?”

Saturius rose, and having looked round to see that the door was fastened, came and whispered into Caleb’s ear.

“Look you, after sunset to-night, that is within two hours, Marcus is to be put out of his prison and conducted to the side door of his own house, that beneath the archway, where he is ordered to remain until he leaves Rome.  In this house is no one except an old man, the steward Stephanus, and a slave woman.  Well, before he gets there, certain trusty fellows, such as Domitian knows how to lay his hands upon, will have entered the house, and having secured the steward and the woman, will await the coming of Marcus beneath the archway.  You can guess the rest.  Is it not well conceived?”

“Very well,” answered Caleb.  “But may there not be suspicion?”

“None, none.  Who would dare to suspect Domitian?  A private crime, doubtless!  The rich have so many enemies.”

What Saturius did not add was that nobody would suspect Domitian because the masked bravoes were instructed to inform the steward and the slave when they had bound and gagged them, that they were hired to do the deed of blood by a certain merchant named Demetrius, otherwise Caleb the Jew, who had an ancient quarrel against Marcus, which, already, he had tried to satisfy by giving false evidence before the court-martial.