Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Last Days of Pompeii

BOOK THE FOURTH 15. Chapter XV (continued)

'Hang thyself, then, unhappy Sosia! I am just charged from Arbaces with a message to thee; on no account art thou to suffer her, even for a moment, from that chamber!'

'Me miserum!' exclaimed the slave. 'What can I do!--by this time she may have visited half Pompeii. But tomorrow I will undertake to catch her in her old haunts. Keep but my counsel, my dear Callias.'

'I will do all that friendship can, consistent with my own safety. But are you sure she has left the house?--she may be hiding here yet.'

'How is that possible? She could easily have gained the garden; and the door, as I told thee, was open.'

'Nay, not so; for, at that very hour thou specifiest, Arbaces was in the garden with the priest Calenus. I went there in search of some herbs for my master's bath to-morrow. I saw the table set out; but the gate I am sure was shut: depend upon it, that Calenus entered by the garden, and naturally closed the door after him.'

'But it was not locked.'

'Yes; for I myself, angry at a negligence which might expose the bronzes in the peristyle to the mercy of any robber, turned the key, took it away, and--as I did not see the proper slave to whom to give it, or I should have rated him finely--here it actually is, still in my girdle.'

'Oh, merciful Bacchus! I did not pray to thee in vain, after all. Let us not lose a moment! Let us to the garden instantly--she may yet be there!'

The good-natured Callias consented to assist the slave; and after vainly searching the chambers at hand, and the recesses of the peristyle, they entered the garden.