'But it is your intention now to speak the truth?'
'Yes, Master!'
'Keep the angle between your knees,' I said.
'Yes, Master!' she said. Once again then, she knelt suitably.
'Is the pleasure slave whom you see in your reflection beautiful?' I asked. 'It is my hope that she is,' she said.
'She is,' I said.
'Thank you,' she said, 'a€”Master.'
'Do you think you are the only women who has been brought into bondage by means of the attractions of Milo, the slave?' I asked.
'No, Master,' she said. 'Apparently there have been several others.'
'Trapped dupes,' said Marcus.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Snared as easily as vulos,' he said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'As you were,' he said.
'Yes, Master!' she said.
'And doubtless there will be many more,' I said.
She looked up, tears in her eyes. 'Yes, Master,' she said. 'Doubtless.'
'Do you know of others?' I asked. 'Say, in the fields?'
'They were commonly sold out of the city,' she said. 'But apparently that is more difficult now, with the Cosians in power. That is probably why I am here, in the vicinity of Ar. I know of none in the fields other than myself. There are two others, however, in the house.'
'Then you have been in the house,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said. 'Only in the last few days have I been in the fields.' This did not surprise me, as her mien had suggested to me earlier that she might be new to the onus of such labors. This was also suggested to me by the condition of her skin, which had not yet browned, darkening and toughening. 'How did you get on with the other slaves in the house?' I asked.
'The three of us who owed our collars to Milo hated one another,' she said. 'The other slaves held all of us, recent free women, in contempt.'
'Interesting,' I said.
'We, too, now were only slaves, and inexperienced slaves,' she said.
'True,' I said.
'But they need not have been so cruel!' she said.
'Perhaps you behaved around them as though you might still think of yourselves as free women,' I said.
'We did that scarcely at all,' she said, 'only a little at first, I think, and then we did not do it again, for they whipped us. After that, for the most part, they ignored us.'
'They did not teach you their secrets then,' I said, 'such things as how to please men?' There are hundreds of such things, of course, ranging from the dressing and care of the hair, the application of cosmetics, such as lipstick and eye shadow, commonly thought improper for free women, and the judicious selection of jewelry, silks and perfumes, to physical and psychological subtleties, both behaviors and techniques, which can drive a master almost out of his senses with pleasure, and all this by a female totally at his disposal, one whom he can command, as it pleases him, one who is legally and literally owned by him, and in every way.
'They would not do so,' she said, 'though we begged them!'
'Did you put yourself as a slave before them?' I asked. 'Did you weep and beg, kneeling before them and licking their feet? Did you make it clear to them that your entreaties were those of one like themselves, only another slave? Did you offer to work for them? Did you do so? Did you serve them, and wait upon them, on a lengthy probationary basis, as though you might be their own slave, that they might assess your earnestness, your sincerity and zeal?'
'As a new slave, I too much feared them,' she said.
'Perhaps it is just as well,' I said. 'You might have been whipped.'
'I think so, Master,' she said.
'Perhaps, after a few months, after they had become used to you as only another slave amongst them, no more or less, things might have been different.'
'Perhaps, Master,' she said.
'You seem to me a highly intelligent woman,' I said.
'Master?' she asked.
'Surely you were aware of the couching laws?'
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'You expected to violate them with impunity?'
'I gather so, Master,' she said.
'You did not expect to be betrayed, or discovered?'
'I do not think so, Master,' she said.
'And yet,' I said, 'as a highly intelligent woman, you must have realized that some danger would be involved.'
'Perhaps,' she said. 'The matter is unclear to me now.'
'That in itself is interesting,' I said.
'Master?' she asked.
'It seems you were very careless,' I said.
'Perhaps, Master,' she said.
'That seems to me very interesting,' I said.
'Master?' she asked.
'What was your first emotion,' I asked, 'when the net descended upon you?'
'It does not matter,' she said.
'Surely you realized it was a slave net?'
'A capture net of some sort,' she said.
'What was that first emotion?' I asked.
'It does not matter!' she said. 'It was a momentary reaction, a sudden, fleeting, wild thing!'
'What was it?' I asked.
She looked up at me, agonized, miserable. She was quite lovely.
'Keep your knees widely separated,' I reminded her.
Again the whitish dust, a hort deep, was pushed to the sides, to bank against the outside of her knees.
'Consider your reply carefully,' I said. 'You have already incurred discipline.'
'Elation!' she said.
'Of course,' I said.
'Then I was terrified!' she said. 'I realized what had happened! I was caught! I had been discovered! I was trapped! I was within the toils of a net! I burned with shame, with embarrassment. It seemed I was afire! I choked with misery! I was naked! Men were moving about! They could see me! What of my reputation? I struggled! I was afraid! I was angry! I was outraged! I was miserable! I had been betrayed! I was helpless! I fought the net! I fought the net! But I could not free myself!'
'And what later,' I asked, 'in the edifice of the magistrates?'
'I was in a cell,' she said, 'naked, lying on some straw, chained by the neck to a wall.'
'And your emotions?' I asked.
She looked up at me.
'My thigh was sore,' she said. 'I had been branded.'
'Of course,' I said.
'There were two collars on my neck,' she said, 'a light, temporary collar, identifying me as a slave provisionally in the custody of magistrates, and, over it, a retaining collar, that by means of which I was fastened to the wall.'
