“Well, then, you know that until now I have found ways and means of parrying his attacks, but now....”
The freedman turned pale.
“But now...?”
“Now certain symptoms are revealing themselves—symptoms which make me suspect, that I shall not be able much longer to elude his thrusts.”
He had spoken these words hardly above his breath. They distilled slowly into the steward’s ear like poisonous adders, and seemed to writhe in his very soul.
“Impossible!” he exclaimed in a choked voice. “You, the influential favorite of Caesar....”
“It is as I say. Why, I cannot myself altogether understand, but I am alive to the fact. The wind is blowing keenly through all the Basilicas, and if you do not keep a bright look-out you may be wrecked.”
“But, by Jupiter! why have I not heard this till to-day?”
“Because I fancied at first that I might be deceiving myself.... Splendid! First rate, Duilius! That is what I call throwing. Look, look now—Io triumphe. A winner at Olympia could not beat that!”
“I implore you,” whispered Stephanus, “tell me at once....”