CHAPTER XXV.
CONSULTATION.
The next morning the Count invited the Imperial messenger to a private conference. His daughter and Carna were present, as was also Claudian.
“You have the latest news,” the Count began. “Pray let us have them. Here we know nothing. But tell us first how you got here. It was noticed that you did not hoist the standard till you were within the Haven. You did not, I suppose, think it a safe flag to sail under.”
“Well,” replied the messenger, “I thought it better to have no flag at all. But, to tell the truth, the Labarum is not just now exactly the best passport in the world.”
“You crossed from Gaul, I suppose?” the Count went on. “How are matters there?”
“Constantine, with the legions he brought from here, and those that have joined him since, is pretty well master of the country, and of Spain too.”
“And what is the Emperor doing? Did he let these provinces go without a struggle? Spain was the first province that Rome ever had, and Gaul was the second. None, I take it, have been so steadily profitable, and now we are to lose them.”
He rose from his seat, and walked up and down the room in an agitation which he could not conceal.