“Be well, and engage Croton; otherwise they will snatch Lygia from thee a second time. When Chilonides ceases to be needful, send him to me wherever I may be. Perhaps I shall make him a second Vatinius, and consuls and senators may tremble before him yet, as they trembled before that knight Dratevka. It would be worth while to live to see such a spectacle. When thou hast found Lygia, let me know, so that I may offer for you both a pair of swans and a pair of doves in the round temple of Venus here. Once I saw Lygia in a dream, sitting on thy knee, seeking thy kisses. Try to make that dream prophetic. May there be no clouds on thy sky; or if there be, let them have the color and the odor of roses! Be in good health; and farewell!”
Chapter XIX
BARELY had Vinicius finished reading when Chilo pushed quietly into his library, unannounced by any one, for the servants had the order to admit him at every hour of the day or night.
“May the divine mother of thy magnanimous ancestor Æneas be full of favor to thee, as the son of Maia was kind to me.”
“What dost thou mean?” asked Vinicius, springing from the table at which he was sitting.
Chilo raised his head and said, “Eureka!”
The young patrician was so excited that for a long time he could not utter a word.
“Hast thou seen her?” asked he, at last.
“I have seen Ursus, lord, and have spoken with him.”