Edward Bulwer-Lytton: The Last Days of Pompeii

BOOK THE FOURTH 17. Chapter XVII (continued)

'Pardon: I meant not the praetor--it was a word that escaped me unawares: I meant quite another person--the gay Sallust.'

'Oh! and what want you with him?'

'Glaucus was my master; he purchased me from a cruel lord. He alone has been kind to me. He is to die. I shall never live happily if I cannot, in his hour of trial and doom, let him know that one heart is grateful to him. Sallust is his friend; he will convey my message.'

'I am sure he will do no such thing. Glaucus will have enough to think of between this and to-morrow without troubling his head about a blind girl.'

'Man,' said Nydia, rising, 'wilt thou become free? Thou hast the offer in thy power; to-morrow it will be too late. Never was freedom more cheaply purchased. Thou canst easily and unmissed leave home: less than half an hour will suffice for thine absence. And for such a trifle wilt thou refuse liberty?'

Sosia was greatly moved. It was true that the request was remarkably silly; but what was that to him? So much the better. He could lock the door on Nydia, and, if Arbaces should learn his absence, the offence was venial, and would merit but a reprimand. Yet, should Nydia's letter contain something more than what she had said--should it speak of her imprisonment, as he shrewdly conjectured it would do--what then! It need never be known to Arbaces that he had carried the letter. At the worst the bribe was enormous--the risk light--the temptation irresistible. He hesitated no longer--he assented to the proposal.

'Give me the trinkets, and I will take the letter. Yet stay--thou art a slave--thou hast no right to these ornaments--they are thy master's.'

'They were the gifts of Glaucus; he is my master. What chance hath he to claim them? Who else will know they are in my possession?'

'Enough--I will bring thee the papyrus.'