completed. In the second way the matter is initiated by Appanius himself, he himself selecting a candidate for approach, scrutiny and cultivation.'
'On what grounds initially?' I asked.
'Usually from rumors of a certain free woman's beauty,' she said.
'I see,' I said.
'Too,' she said, 'it is my understanding that information is sometimes furnished for a fee, by some of the female proprietors of women's baths in Ar. Too, in some cases, Appanius is permitted to observe the women from a secret coign of vantage.'
'In what way did you come to attention of Appanius?' I asked.
'In the first way, doubtless,' she smiled, 'as I did not frequent the public baths and I doubt very much that rumors of my beauty were abroad in the streets.'
'They might have been,' I said.
'Master is kind,' she said.
'Continue,' I said.
'Although master might regard me as having been a spoiled, pampered free woman, and although that was undoubtedly true,' she said, 'I was nonetheless too shy in the beginning even to approach one such as Milo. Certainly there must be free women richer and more beautiful than I in Ar. Accordingly, in the beginning, I only worshipped him from afar. I attended his performances. I dreamed of him. But I did not dare call myself to his attention.'
'In the beginning,' I said, 'your responses to Milo were more humble and slavelike?'
'Yes, Master,' she said. 'I even dreamed of crawling to him, putting my head down and kissing his feet.'
'Continue,' I said.
'But soon, of course, the free woman in me became outraged at such things! They were too feminine! I was not a slave!'
'And you became bolder?'
She laughed. 'Well,' she said, 'perhaps not so much bolder. But I would station myself and my attendants where he might pass, if only to catch a glimpse of him between the curtains of my palanquin.'
'In effect,' I said, 'your responses were still shy, and slavelike.'
'Yes,' she said, angrily.
'You felt you belonged at the feet of such a man?'
'Perhaps,' she said.
'But you truly belonged at the feet of any man,' I said.
'Yes, Master,' she said.
'Continue,' I said.
'Certainly he must soon note my palanquin,' she said. 'Surely it was often enough in his way, outside the great theater, on streets which he frequented, even in certain markets. At that time, perhaps he had reported to Appanius, and his agents had ascertained my identity, that of the owner of the palanquin. To be sure, such thoughts did not occur to me then. Rather I castigated myself for my timidity, and reminded myself, again and again, that it was I who was the free person. I who was in control. I who was in command. I who could have my way, as I pleased. Then I took to having the curtains of the palanquin opened, that I might be seen within, in my most beautiful robes and veils, as though I might wish fresher air and greater light, paused there perhaps in the midst of some business, waiting for some acquaintance. I even let him see me glance at him once and then turned my head away, quickly, too quickly, as I now realize. Perhaps I should have behaved more like a free woman, and had him ordered to the side of my palanquin, to kneel there and be questioned as a slave. Doubtless some women did, arrogating to themselves, as free women are free to do, the prerogative of males. I wonder how they felt when the net descended on them. At least I was not a slave. I could be forward, I could call myself to his attention, demanding it, as I wished.'
'Slaves,' said I, 'as you must now know, have many ways of calling themselves to the attention of a man, subtly, effectively, pleadingly, vulnerably, helplessly, deferentially, humbly.'
She looked up at me.
'The palms of your hands are facing upward,' I said. 'Oh!' she said, and quickly turned them downward, and clutched her thighs. The rag she wore, given her knee position, that of a pleasure slave, was high on her thighs. Her hands, her fingers on her thighs, digging into them, as though they would anchor themselves there, half covered it. He grip was partly through the cloth and partly on her thighs. Midway in her grip came the garment's frayed hem, pressed down on her fair, sweet thighs. The contrast was attractive, like slave silk against flesh, or a narrow cord sustaining such silk at the shoulder, perhaps an inch from a disrobing loop, or the metal of slave bracelets locked on small, downy wrists, a rope on a waist, snug above a sweetly, rounded belly, or a collar on the neck. 'Indeed,' I said, 'slaves in their subtle, vulnerable, helpless ways, in their beggingness, in their humbleness, in their deferentiality, in the very nature and entirety of their condition, have many better ways of calling themselves to the attention of a man than a free woman.'
'But I did not understand that at the time,' she said.
'I would suppose not,' I said.
'Free women,' she laughed,' are not likely to whimper and lick ankles.'
'They do so quickly enough after they have become slaves,' I said, 'and have experienced slave arousal, and realize their need and helplessness, and their dependence on the master.'
'Yes, Master,' she said. 'And I sense the beginning of such things in myself.'
'So what did you do?' I asked.
'Actually,' she smiled. 'I had to do very little. I have little doubt now that I had been discussed by Milo and Appanius. Milo approached my palanquin when I had the curtains back, begging for forgiveness for approaching me, proposing even that he be beaten by my bearers for his boldness, but that he could not help himself, that for days he had struggled with himself, but now, regardless of what sorry consequences might ensue, even though it might mean he be hurled to sleen, that he had at last, against his sternest will, been drawn irresistibly to my side, as though in chains by tharlarion. Then, tears in his eyes, he begged liberty only to salute my beauty, and then hurry away, in joy.'
'You were fully veiled?' I asked.
'In my most beautiful robes and veils was I bedecked,' she said.
'You did not wear your street veil,' I said.
'No,' she said.
'Then,' I said, 'I suspect that you were veiled in such a way that the lineaments of your visage might, though perhaps with some difficulty, be discerned.'
'Yes!' she said, tossing her head.
'What a slave you were!' laughed Marcus.
'And am!' she said.
'Yes, and are!' laughed he.
Now no longer need the lovely Lavinia concern herself with matters such as veiling. She was slave. Would you veil a she-tarsk, a she-sleen?
'And so he saluted your beauty?'
'Yes,' she said, 'with a beautiful gesture.'
'And did it not occur to you that he probably had numbers of sinuous little sluts in the house of Appanius who would snake about his legs and feet, and lick and kiss, and beg to serve him in any way he might desire, to his heart's content?'
'I did not think of such things,' she said.
'He then hurried away?'
'Yes,' she said. 'Obviously he was in consternation, and in terror at the affrontery he might have offered me, or so I thought.'
'And what had you said?'
'Nothing,' she said. 'I was as tongue-tied as a new slave girl thrown for the first time before her master.'
'I see,' I said.
