"At my suggestion. Then thou canst release her at my suggestion—and if the loan sits roughly on thy conscience we shall call it a gift at this late day."
"If it please thee, good sir, we have left the discussion of the talents. It is the lady who concerns us now. I would be plain with thee; I should reproach myself did I let her proceed out of my house."
"Call the lady," Flaccus commanded. "We will lay the matter before her."
"She sleeps," Lydia said.
"I bring her more relief than sleep," was the blunt reply. "Bring her hither."
"On one promise," Lydia said.
"What?"
"That I and my servants alone shall accompany her to Rome."
Flaccus gazed straight at the alabarch's daughter. Lysimachus sat without movement. He knew that his daughter had seen at once that which he had instantly divined—that Flaccus had no intention of sending Cypros to Rome.
"Bring the lady," Flaccus insisted, "and we shall lay our plans thereafter."