“Now,” he said: “What is your news?”
“My lord,” said Barbillus, “to begin at the beginning, it would seem that you too know of the commission with which Caesar has honored me. I am to make up for that little mishap the other evening. Well, I have discovered how to solve the problem; this note, if judiciously used, will put the coy damsel entirely in your power—by right of law, without the slightest exercise or appearance of arbitrary dealing.”
“Show me!”
The priest gave him the note. “Caius Aurelius,” he said, “gave her this note a few hours before he fled.”
Clodianus read every word slowly and thoughtfully, and muttering to himself: “The Batavian to the noble Cornelius greeting. There is danger in delay. Remember Rodumna!”
Then a ray of intelligence lighted up his features, and his eyes sparkled with sudden fire. Rodumna! as it happened, he knew the little town, and one of his clients was a native of the place. In the self-same instant it struck him, that Rodumna was not far from Lugdunum, and this was like a flash of revelation; Rodumna, of course, was the head-quarters of the conspirators.—For that a conspiracy existed, none could doubt after all that had occurred, and Cinna’s well-known connection with Gallia Lugdunensis made the choice of that province as a base of operations probable on the face of it.
Clodianus breathed hard. His keen wit took in the whole situation at once. If the contents of this note could be kept secret, if he could succeed in turning the Emperor’s suspicions in another direction, this unhoped-for discovery would be of incalculable value. It was but a point to be sure, but that point might serve as the fulcrum from which to lift the world off its hinges. If his schemes with Stephanus and the Empress should fall through, here was a new lever ready to his hand, and stronger, more reliable, more splendid than the first.
Clodianus made up his mind in an instant. He put on an expression of almost ferocious gravity.
“Barbillus,” he said with excessive sternness: “You are my prisoner!”
“You are joking!” exclaimed the priest in dismay.