'Why are you here?' I asked.
'You!' he cried. 'It was you who sent me the message of this morning?'
'Yes,' I said. 'I have followed him. They meet somewhere around here. I am not sure where.'
'If that is true,' cried Appanius, 'I know where!'
'Your slave should be disciplined,' I said.
'It is your slave who should be disciplined!' he said. 'Mine is innocent!'
'Mine is only a female slave,' I said.
'Only a female slave! Only a female slave!' he exclaimed. 'That is exactly it! She is a female slave! They are all the same. They are have hot little bellies and can't help themselves. They are always licking and kissing and begging! And that Lavinia is one of the worst! She is a seductrix, I tell you. They are all seductrices!'
'I have heard that it is your slave who is a seduction slave!' I said.
'Who has said that?' he cried.
'I have heard it said secretly in the city,' I said.
'It is false!' he said. 'False!'
'Nonetheless,' I said, 'it is your slave who is at fault.'
'No,' he said. 'I know your Lavinia. It is she, the lewd little baggage, who is at fault!'
'She is only a female,' I said.
'But a female slave!' he said. 'Whip them and chain them, I say! Keep them in the kitchens and laundries, in the fields, put to labors as is fit for the little beasts! Keep them from honest men! Let honest men be protected!'
'At any rate,' I said, 'it seems they have been seeing on another.'
'It cannot be!' he said.
'Your slave, it seems, has been carrying on a shameless affair with her.'
'That cannot be,' he said.
'I have seen them,' I said. 'He is a big, handsome fellow. Why could it not be?'
'He would not betray me!' he said.
'I do not understand,' I said.
'I trust your little slut is on slave wine,' he said.
'Of course,' I said. 'I have not chosen, at least as yet, to have her mated.'
'You should keep her shackled,' she said.
'To protect her from your slaves,' I asked.
'Do you know who my slave is?' he asked.
'He is known in Ar?' I asked.
'Somewhat,' said Appanius.
'I am not from Ar,' I said.
'I gathered that,' he said. 'Were you from Ar you would know that a slave of my slave's quality could not be interested in the least in a meaningless little pot girl.'
'You are sure of it?' I asked.
'Certainly,' he said.
'Yet you have come here, with men,' I said.
'That his innocence may be proved,' he said.
'Is that why your men carry staffs and chains?' I asked.
'You are an insolent, surly fellow!' he cried.
'Beware, Appanius,' said one of his retainers. 'He is of the police.'
'We could make a clear determination on this matter,' I said, 'if we could only locate them.'
'You do not know where your slave is,' he said, scornfully.
'How should I know where she is?' I asked.
'If you kept her at home in close chains, so she could hardly wriggles, and fastened to a ring, you would know,' he said.
'And so, too,' said I, 'you would know the location of yours, if you had kept him in his cell!'
'It was your mistake,' he said, 'to let a slut like Lavinia off her chain!'
'What of you,' I asked, 'letting your fellow wander about Ar like a vulo cock?'
'My slave is innocent, honest and trustworthy!' he cried.
'And that is why you have brought men, and staffs and chains?' I asked.
'Sleen!' cried Appanius.
'Caution, Appanius,' said one of his retainers. He was not unaware, as apparently was his employer, of Marcus, behind them, his hand on his sword. Marcus, I conjectured, could probably cut through the neck vertebrae of two of them before they could break. Also he could probably apprehend at least one of them, assuming they started off in different directions, as would be in their best interest. I, on the other hand, might hope to catch up to the other one, after dropping Appanius where he stood. If I had had to wager on the matter I did not think any of them would escape. The staff, except in the hands of an expert, is not a weapon to put against the blade.
'At any rate,' I said, 'I trailed Lavinia to this area, and I saw your slave about, too, and then, somehow, it seemed they disappeared.'
'You did not actually see them together?' he asked.
'No,' I said.
'Then they are not together!' he said.
'I am sure they are together,' I said.
'No!' he said.
'It seems both just disappeared.' I said.
'Do you not think they might be, separately, of course, in nearby buildings?' asked Appanius.
'How could that be?' I asked. 'Slaves do not just walk into buildings without some business there. Too, folks do not just welcome strange slaves into their houses, greeting them and inviting them to share their kettles. And I would assume they had no money to bribe free persons for a room, for their clandestine rendezvous. Certainly Lavinia had no money.'
'Have you counted your coins lately?' asked Appanius.
'Have you counted yours?' I asked.
'My slave has spending money,' he said.
'Then they could be anywhere.' I said, angrily.
'No,' he said. 'He is too well known.'
'Where then?' I asked.
'There is only one place!' he said.
His retainers exchanged glances, and nodded.
'Where is that?' I asked. To be sure, we were within ten yards of it, though of its front entrance, not its side or back entrance.
'That is,' said Appanius, 'there is only one place where my slave might be. I do not know where your slave is. She, the baggage, the chit, the tart, the wench, the use girl, might be slutting about anywhere, clutching at someone in a doorway, writhing on a discarded mat, squirming in an alley behind garbage containers, moaning in a dark corridor, who knows?'
'I wager,' said I, 'that if we locate your slave we will also locate mine.'
'I know where mine would be,' said Appanius, defensively. 'He has gone to a place where he may study his lines in privacy.'
'His lines?' I asked.
'He is an actor,' said Appanius.
'Well,' I said, 'if he is currently studying lines, I have little doubt that they are those of my Lavinia.'
'Sleen!' said Appanius. The fellows with him shifted, restlessly. Two of them glanced back uneasily at Marcus, much as they might have at a larl behind them.
'I think they are together,' I said.
'No!' said Appanius. 'That could not be!'
I shrugged.
