"Yes," I said. Indeed, I thought it might be interesting to see both in slave silk, hurrying about, barefoot, perhaps belled, fearing the whip, striving to serve well, hoping to found pleasing by masters.

"Thank you, Master!" she said.

"Continue," I said.

"As you recall," she said, "I had just been permitted to glimpse the beauty of the Ubara."

"Yes," I said.

"Why did she show herself to me?" asked Lavinia.

"I suppose," I said, "because she was jealous of you, and wished, in a sense, to awe you with her own beauty."

"I thought so," said Lavinia. "What a vain creature!"

"She is a female," I said.

"Yes, Master!" said Lavinia.

"Like yourself," I said.

"Yes, Master!" laughed Lavinia. "Well, I assure you, Master, she was successful in her intent for I could not even speak for a moment. This pleased the Ubara certainly. She saw that I was much impressed with her beauty."

"That your awe was genuine," I said, "was much in your interest."

"Do you truly think my beauty compares with hers?" asked Lavinia.

"Certainly," I said, "assuming, say, that you were both on the slave block, that you were both chained to a ring, that you were both serving, and so on." "Then it truly compares with hers," she said, "as female to female, as beauty to beauty?"

"Yes," I said.

" "Surely the Lady Ludmilla, I said to the Ubara, when I could gather my wits and speak, "could not begin to compare in beauty with Mistress!"

"Again you were on dangerous ground," I observed.

"Perhaps, Master," smiled the slave.

" "She is every bit as beautiful as I, she said.

"That makes sense," I said.

"Well, then, Master," she smiled, muchly pleased, and readjusted her veil, and told me that I would be admitted to her presence immediately any time of the day or night."

"Excellent!" I said.

"But I was to approach, and be exited from, an inconspicuous side gate, no more than a postern."

I nodded.

"She then clapped her hands, recalling the guards. She spoke to them briefly, primarily, I gather, pertaining to her policies with respect to my access to her presence. In a few moments, I was again in the passageways outside the audience chamber, hooded, and double leashed. I was freed of the hood and leashes outside the gate, this time the main gate, by means of which I had entered."

"Of course," I said, "as you had entered through the gate this time."

"Yes, Master," she said.

"You are now the go-between in an intrigue, my dear," I informed her.

Just then the twelfth bar rang.

She looked up, frightened.

"It is late now," I said. "We must be on our way."

I rose to my feet and indicated that she should do so, as well, She had already donned the livery intended to resemble the state livery of Ar, and I had earlier put on her neck the collar designed to resemble a state collar. Indeed, I had even a few days ago, stopped a state slave, to check her collar. "RETURN ME TO THE WHIP MASTER OF THE CENTRAL CYLINDER" read the legend on the collar. I picked up the small cloak she had worn, and put it about her shoulders. I smiled to myself. It was much like a fellow helping a young lady on with her cloak, or coat. Yet what a difference there was here. I could do what I wanted with her. I owned her. We then, I first, she following behind at an interval, left our small room, in the insula of Torbon on Demetrios street, in the Metellan district. I was pleased, for my own purposes, at any rate, that state slaves in Ar were no longer belled, a consequence of the misguided and unsuccessful policies of Cos, to devirilize, and thus make more manageable, the men of Ar. Thus that the slave, Lavinia, beneath the cloak, was in state livery, you see, would not be suggested to any in the streets outside.

22 My Plans Proceed

"The door opens, Master!" said Lavinia.

"I shall draw back," I said.

We were behind the great theater, near one of its rear entrances. Lavinia well knew the portal. There were various folks about, mostly coming and going, workmen, bearers of burdens, and such. One fellow was drawing a two-wheeled cart, loaded with basketry. There were loungers in the vicinity, as well, interestingly, among them, some free women, in habiliments suggesting diversities of caste, and one level or another of affluence. Two palanquins, too, set down, the carrying slaves about, were behind the theater, their curtains partly parted.

"It is he!" said Lavinia.

She backed against the wall, her head, clutching the note, at her breast. I walked back, casually moving away. I would stay in the vicinity, not really far away, but not so close that I might hear what transpired. I doubted that converse would flow unimpeded if one were within clear earshot.

A few yards away I turned to observe. Lavinia was where I had left her. She seemed rooted to the spot. Her heart, for whatever reason, I suspected, must be rapidly palpitating. I, could see the suggestion of agitation, if not of terror, in the heaving of her bosom. She clutched the note. I trusted that it would not be crushed and soiled in that sweet sweaty little palm of hers.

The fellow, with two others, had emerged from the rear portal.

Lavinia did not move.

I was curious to observe this small encounter, but I had come mainly to protect her, if it seemed necessary. I was not certain as to how her approach, and overture, might be received. She was, after all, even though in the seeming livery and collar of a state slave, still only a slave. Too, she might be remembered from the days of her freedom, when her person had been sacrosanct and inviolate, and her will selfish and imperious, and this might earn her some abuse, perhaps to assuage lingering resentments, accrued from formerly endured affronteries, or perhaps merely, for the agent's amusement, to remind her of her present vulnerability and station, of her change in condition, that it was not now she who was to be pleased but rather that now it was she who must please. Too, she might be recalled, as well, from her days as a house slave in the house of Appanius. There, of course, particularly as a new slave, she would have been at the mercy of the men of the house, and, I supposed, of even the higher slaves. They might have formed the habit then of treating her poorly, or venting spite and frustration upon her. Accordingly, I would stay in the vicinity. I had no objection to the fellow kicking her, or cuffing her about a bit, of course. Indeed, such things are good for a slave. But I did not wish any serious injury to be inflicted upon her. That might lower her price, for example.

But Lavinia had not moved from the spot!

Her immobility exasperated me, but, on the other hand, perhaps it was just as well. Four or five of the several free women who were about hurried forward to throng about the fellow. Others hung back. The palanquins did not move. Various veils, I thought, were not as carefully adjusted as they might have been. the hem of more than one robe was lifted up a little as the women hurried forward. Surely this was interesting, as the alley was dry. I detected, at any rate, neither mud nor puddles in their path. Doubtless they wished in their haste to avoid stirred dust, hoping to keep it from their robes. There were some lads about also. Perhaps they had come to witness what revelations might be betrayed by a subtly disarranged veil, or to see if one might not, if sufficiently alert, and if one were so fortunate, catch a glimpse, perhaps no more than a flash, of an ankle. To be sure, they might, as they wished, feast their eyes on slaves.

I growled to myself in frustration. On the other hand, it would not have done for Lavinia to rush up to the fellow, competing for his attention with free women. That would have been extremely unwise, and even dangerous. She was in a collar.