“Keep calm,” replied Clodianus. “The Baths are not the place for such a discussion. Where do you dine?”
“With Lycoris.”
“Good, I will excuse myself to Furius, and go with you. After supper, in the park, we shall easily secure a few minutes.... Bravo, Septimius! bravo! What wonderful muscles! Praxiteles[55] ought to have had you for a model! By Castor, but you will break every bone in Sempronius’ body, sturdy as he is! Well, then,” he went on, turning to Stephanus again, “we shall meet at the fair Massilian’s table.”
He rose with a friendly nod, and passed through the great door in the inner wall into the frigidarium.[56] There he tossed his woollen wrapper over the head of a slave, and descended in all the dignity of stalwart corpulence into the vast bath. More than a hundred bathers were already sitting in it, up to their shoulders in the transparent water. Only a few swimmers were disporting themselves at the farther end.
Clodianus sat down too, thinking contentedly, and his gaze wandered round the noble hall. The light, which poured in from above through a circular opening, sparkled and twinkled so gaily on the dancing ripples—the splashing from the shells, through which the pipes were led which constantly renewed the water, sounded so soothing—the graceful forms of the nymphs in the fresco painting, and of the marble goddesses on their tall pedestals smiled so seductively, that any one might have supposed that the radiant expression on the adjutant’s features was nothing more than a reflection from these bright and rosy surroundings.
But Clodianus saw much more with the mind’s eye, than with the eye of the senses. Elaborate schemes were disentangling themselves in his restless, brooding brain; incredible events rose before his fancy in vivid colors.
And Clodianus looked better pleased than ever, when the tall figure of Stephanus appeared on the threshold. Sternly as the wily steward strove to conceal his feelings, Clodianus saw at a glance what an effect his revelation had had upon him, and he laughed, like a hunter who has had good sport in the field.
“You are as radiant as the sun-god!” said a little man, who went down the steps at this instant. “It is horribly cold this morning—pure snow-water.”
His teeth chattered, and he shrugged his shoulders up to his ears.
“Ah! Sextus Furius!” cried Clodianus, a little startled. “I am glad to meet you. I wanted to let you know, as soon as I quitted the bath, that I am prevented dining with you to-day. Important business....”