‘Taken. Come in, slaves?’
And Hypocorisma entered, pouting.
‘That Jewish fury is outside with a letter, and has the impudence to say she won’t let me bring it in!’
‘Bring her in then. Quick!’
‘I wonder what I am here for, if people have secrets that I am not to know,’ grumbled the spoilt youth.
‘Do you want a blue ribbon round those white sides of yours, you monkey?’ answered Orestes. ‘Because, if you do, the hippopotamus hide hangs ready outside.’
‘Let us make him kneel down here for a couple of hours, and use him as a dice-board,’ said Raphael, ‘as you used to do to the girls in Armenia.’
‘Ah, you recollect that?—and how the barbarian papas used to grumble, till I had to crucify one or two, eh? That was something like life! I love those out-of-the-way stations, where nobody asks questions: but here one might as well live among the monks in Nitria. Here comes Canidia! Ah, the answer? Hand it here, my queen of go-betweens!’
Orestes read it—and his countenance fell.
‘I have won?’