‘No,’ answered Nero; ‘except it be that she has ruled me from a child.’
‘It is,’ said the adventurer, ‘because Pallas abets her, and because—’
He paused.
‘Pallas? Who is Pallas?’ said the Emperor. ‘An ex-slave—nothing more. I am not afraid of him. I will dismiss him at once, and if he gives the least trouble, I will threaten him with an inquisition into his account. He shall go and end his Pallas-ship.[14] But what else were you going to say?’
‘Agrippina domineers,’ he whispered in the Emperor’s ear, ‘because Britannicus is alive.’
‘Britannicus?’ answered Nero.
He said no more, but his brow became dark as night.
CHAPTER X
PRINCE BRITANNICUS.
‘We were, fair queen,
Two lads that thought there was no more behind,