‘With whom, then?’
‘Her slave was with her.’
‘And no one besides?’
‘Well——’ drawled Tucca.
‘Come, be speedy!’ cried the knight impatiently.
‘There were others, most illustrious, for certain, but——’
‘Do you dare to play at words with me? What others?’
‘Slaves!’
‘What slaves, and whose? Must I beat it out of you, wretch?’ angrily quoth Afer, taking a step toward the reluctant husbandman.
‘Caesar’s, most worshipful!’ cried Tucca, hastily retreating a corresponding step; and then he continued, in a whining tone, to bemoan the hard fate which delivered him and his house over to the anxieties and responsibilities attached to the visits of nobilities and highnesses.