‘Nothing, I grieve to say, illustrious; for you only instructed me to collect what floats from citizen’s mouth to citizen’s mouth.’
‘If you did more I would have you flung from the walls of the villa into the sea,’ observed Tiberius, with the same placidity of manner.
‘I never seek to exceed the bounds of your commands,’ replied Tigellinus hastily, giving an involuntary shudder at the same time.
‘Meanwhile I am glad to know that the Prefect is so zealous in the duties which fall to his share,’ said Tiberius, calmly spreading his fingers over the warmth of the fire.
‘What!—your highness is glad!’ exclaimed Tigellinus, betrayed into sudden surprise.
But the piercing glance of the Emperor transfixed him, and his tongue clove to the roof of his mouth. He clenched his fist in suspense and cursed his heedlessness in his heart.
‘Glad!’ repeated Tiberius, without removing his gaze—‘rejoiced, worthy Tigellinus, as every master should be at the diligence of his servant. Should it not be so?’
‘I—it should—certainly! The Prefect is most diligent. And he is happy like my humble self in having a master beyond compare.’
Tigellinus stammered in the former part of his reply, but he rolled out the latter with recovered self-possession and glib readiness.
‘May I be hurled to Hades if I permit my voice in future to show that I have an idea how the wind blows,’ he thought to himself, as he breathed freer. ‘Ugh! I seemed already to fancy myself standing on yonder cliff ready for a dive. He is a sublime hypocrite, or I am an equally sublime fool—I’ll stick to my own trade—at least as far as speaking goes!’