"Go and sit down at that table, Pertinax. Take pen and parchment. Now then—what do you want in writing? Make haste!"
"Freedom—you may keep your money—I shall not wait to receive it.
Freedom for me and for Sextus and for all of Sextus' friends and
freedmen. An order releasing Sextus from the guard-house instantly.
Permission to leave Rome and Italy by any route we choose."
"Write, Pertinax!" said Marcia. Narcissus glanced at Galen.
"Galen," he said, "is one of Sextus' friends, so set his name down."
"Never mind me," said Galen. "They will need me."
Marcia stood over Pertinax, watching him write. She snatched the document and sanded it, then watched him write the order to the guard, releasing Sextus.
"There!" she exclaimed. "You have your price. Go in and kill him!
Give him your dagger, Pertinax."
"I hoped for heroism, not expecting it," said Galen. "I expected cunning. Is it absent, too? If he should use a dagger—many men have heard me say that Caesar has a tendency to apoplexy—"
"Strangle him!" commanded Marcia.
She thrust the palms of her hands against Narcissus' back and pushed him toward the bedroom door, now almost at the end of her reserves of self- control. Her mouth trembled. She was fighting against hysteria.