Clotilde, and was therefore prepared for her questions.
'Malchus, is it true that you love my Gaulish slave girl?'
'It is true,' Malchus replied quietly. 'When we met in Gaul, two years since, she was the daughter of a chief, I a noble of Carthage. I loved her; but we were both young, and with so great a war in hand it was not a time to speak of marriage.'
'Would you marry her now?'
'Not as a slave,' Malchus replied; 'when I marry her it shall be before the face of all men — I as a noble of Carthage, she as a noble Gaulish maiden.'
'Hannibal is treating for your exchange now,' Flavia said. 'There are difficulties in the way, for, as you know, the senate have refused to allow its citizens who surrender to be ransomed or exchanged; but the friends of the praetor Publius are powerful and are bringing all their influence to bear to obtain the exchange of their kinsman, whom Hannibal has offered for you. I will gladly use what influence I and my family possess to aid them. I knew when you came to me that, as a prisoner of war, it was likely that you might be exchanged.'
'You have been very kind, my Lady Flavia,' Malchus said, 'and I esteem myself most fortunate in having fallen into such hands. Since you know now how it is with me and Clotilde, I can ask you at once to let me ransom her of you. Any sum that you like to name I will bind myself, on my return to the Carthaginian camp, to pay for her.'
'I will think it over,' Flavia said graciously. 'Clotilde is useful to me, but I can dispense with her services, and will ask you no exorbitant amount for her. If the negotiations for your exchange come to aught, you may rely upon it that she shall go hence with you.'
With an expression of deep gratitude Malchus retired. Flavia, in thus acceding to the wishes of Malchus, was influenced by several motives. She was sincerely shocked at Julia's conduct, and was most desirous of getting both Malchus and Clotilde away, for she knew that her daughter was headstrong as she was passionate, and the presence of Clotilde in the house would, even were Malchus absent, be a source of strife and bitterness between herself and her daughter.
In the second place, it would be a pretty story to tell her friends, and she should be able to take credit to herself for her magnanimity in parting with her favourite attendant. Lastly, in the present state of affairs it might possibly happen that it would be of no slight advantage to have a friend possessed of great power and influence in the Carthaginian camp. Her husband might be captured in fight — it was not beyond the bounds of possibility that Rome itself might fall into the hands of the Carthaginians. It was, therefore, well worth while making a friend of a man who was a near relation of Hannibal.
For some days Julia kept her own apartment. All the household knew that something had gone wrong, though none were aware of the cause. A general feeling of uneasiness existed, for Julia had from a child in her fits of temper been harsh with her slaves, venting her temper by cruelly beating and pinching them. Many a slave had been flogged by her orders at such a time, for her mother, although herself an easy mistress, seldom interfered with her caprices, and all that she did was good in the eyes of her father.
At the end of the week Flavia told Malchus that the negotiations for his release had been broken off, the Roman senate remaining inflexible in the resolve that Romans who surrendered to the enemy should not be exchanged. Malchus was much disappointed, as it had seemed that the time of his release was near; however, he had still his former plan of escape to fall back upon.
A day or two later Julia sent a slave with a message to Sempronius, and in the afternoon sallied out with a confidential attendant, who always accompanied her when she went abroad. In the Forum she met Sempronius, who saluted her.
'Sempronius,' she said coming at once to the purpose, 'will you do me a favour?'
'I would do anything to oblige you, Lady Julia, as you know.'
'That is the language of courtesy,' Julia said shortly; 'I mean would you be ready to run some risk?'
'Certainly,' Sempronius answered readily.
'You will do it the more readily, perhaps,' Julia said, 'inasmuch as it will gratify your revenge. You have reason to hate Malchus, the Carthaginian slave.'
Sempronius nodded.
'Your suspicion was true, he loves the Gaulish slave; they have been questioned and have confessed it. I want them separated.'
'But how?' Sempronius asked, rejoicing inwardly at finding that Julia's wishes agreed so nearly with his own.
'I want her carried off,' Julia said shortly. 'When once you have got her you can do with her as you will; make her your slave, kill her, do as you like with her, that is nothing to me — all I want is that she shall go. I suppose you have some place where you could take her?'
'Yes,' Sempronius said, 'I have a small estate among the Alban Hills where she would be safe enough from searchers; but how to get her there? She never goes out except with Lady Flavia.'
'She must be taken from the house,' Julia said shortly; 'pretty slaves have been carried off before now, and no suspicion need light upon you. You might find some place in the city to hide her for a few days, and then boldly carry her through the gates in a litter. None will think of questioning you.'
'The wrath of Lady Flavia would be terrible,' Sempronius said doubtfully.
'My mother would be furious at first,' Julia said coldly; 'but get her a new plaything, a monkey or a Nubian slave boy, and she will soon forget all about the matter.'
'But how do you propose it should be done?' Sempronius asked.
'My slave shall withdraw all the bolts of the back entrance to the house,' Julia said; 'do you be there at two in the morning, when all will be sound asleep; bring with you a couple of barefooted slaves. My woman will be at the door and will guide you to the chamber where the girl sleeps; you have only to gag her and carry her quietly off.'
Sempronius stood for a moment in doubt. The enterprise was certainly feasible. Wild adventures of this kind were not uncommon among the dissolute young Romans, and Sempronius saw at once that were he detected Julia's influence would prevent her mother taking the matter up hotly. Julia guessed his thoughts.
'If you are found out,' she said, 'I will take the blame upon myself, and tell my mother that you were acting solely at my request.'
'I will do it, Julia,' he agreed; 'tonight at two o'clock I will be at the back door with two slaves whom I can trust. I will have a place prepared to which I can take the girl till it is safe to carry her from the city.'
CHAPTER XXII: THE LION
Malchus was sleeping soundly that night when he was awakened by a low angry sound from the lion.
He looked up, and saw by the faint light of a lamp which burned in the hall, from which the niche like bed chambers of the principal slaves opened, that the animal had risen to its feet. Knowing that, docile as it was with those it knew, the lion objected to strangers, the thought occurred to him that some midnight thief had entered the house for the purpose of robbery. Malchus took his staff and sallied out, the lion walking beside him.
He traversed the hall and went from room to room until he entered the portion of the house inhabited by Flavia and the female slaves. Here he would have hesitated, but the lion continued its way, crouching as it walked, with its tail beating its sides with short quick strokes.
There was no one in the principal apartment. He entered the corridor, from which as he knew issued the bed chambers of the slaves. Here he stopped in sudden surprise at seeing a woman holding a light, while two men were issuing from one of the apartments bearing between them a body wrapped up in a cloak. Sempronius stood by the men directing their movements. The face of the person carried was invisible, but the light of the lamp fell upon a mass of golden brown hair, and Malchus knew at once that it was Clotilde who was being carried off.
Malchus sprang forward and with a blow of his staff levelled one of the slaves to the ground; Sempronius with a furious exclamation drew his sword and rushed at him, while the other slave, dropping his burden, closed with Malchus and threw his arms around him. For a moment Malchus felt powerless, but before Sempronius could strike there was a deep roar, a dark body sprang forward and hurled itself upon him, levelling him to the ground with a crushing blow of its paw, and then seized him by the shoulder and shook him violently. The slave who held Malchus loosed his hold and fled with a cry of affright, the female slave dropped the light and fled also. Clotilde had by this time gained her feet.
'Quick, love!' Malchus said; 'seize your disguise and join me at the back gate. Sempronius is killed; I will join you as quickly as I can.'
