‘Wait!’ said the latter briefly; and without returning to his chamber, he turned aside and broke the seals of the packet. With fingers trembling, and a heart eaten with excitement, he ran his eyes over the imperial missive. The next second his eyes flashed. With exultation written on every line of his handsome face he went back into the presence of Afer.
‘Ah,—I knew it,—I was right!’ remarked the latter, at the first glimpse of the Prefect’s glowing visage. ‘I give thee joy of thy noble Livia; and I congratulate myself that I am the first to do so.’
Sejanus grasped his client’s hand, and fairly laughed out in the exuberance of his feelings.
‘Enough, my Titus! This letter hath proved thee a good prophet. The daughter of Caesar is mine indeed, for Caesar himself declares it. Nay, more—I go to Capreae in a few days to claim her. So prepare, my friend, for thou must go along with me thither.’
‘Willingly, and gladly, if you will tell me when.’
‘Return within the week,’ said the Prefect. He clapped his hands loudly, and a slave appeared.
‘Bid the courier be ready to return to-morrow! Give him wine—and this!’ he said, taking a small purse of money from the table and throwing it at the domestic’s feet.
The slave picked it up, and said, ‘There is a man without demands to see you, Prefect—a workman, by appearance.’
‘What is his business?’
‘He will not say—only that he has come from Surrentum to see you.’