praetorian
guard, faithful to me, was unable to make headway. Then did we think of
covering ourselves with dark cloaks and of following the crowd, as if we
were one with it, until it led us to the precincts of thy house. The
storm as it broke overhead was our faithful ally; the crowd has sought
refuge against it under the arcades of the Forum, and the slopes of the
Palatine are comparatively free."

"Yet, do ye want shelter and protection from me?" asked Dea Flavia.

She had no liking for these men, all of whom she knew. Caius Nepos,
selfish and callous; Ancyrus, the elder, avaricious and self-seeking;
young Escanes whom she knew to be unscrupulous; Philippus Decius whose
ostentation and lavishness she despised. She vaguely wondered why my
lord Hortensius Martius was among them.

"Nay, gracious lady!" said Caius Nepos suavely, "'tis not thy protection
which we crave, save for a few moments whilst we lay at thy feet our
desires for the welfare of Rome."

"The welfare of Rome?" she queried vaguely. "I do not understand ye!
What hath your coming hither to do with the welfare of Rome?"

"Allow us to make the meaning clear to thee, O Augusta. But not here,
where prying eyes might be on the watch or unwelcome ears be prepared to
listen. Grant us but a brief audience in strict privacy ... the
destinies of Rome are in thy hands."

She made no immediate reply, but, as was habitual with her, she tried to
read with searching eyes all that went on behind the obsequious masks
wherewith these men sought to hide their innermost thoughts from her.

And as she peered into their smooth, humble faces, all at once she knew
why they had come. She knew it even before they put their proposals into
words; she knew why the praetorian praefect was so servile, and why my
lord Hortensius Martius, despite his obvious weakness, wore an air of
triumph.

They had come to betray the Caesar and to place the destinies of Rome in
her hands. It was strange indeed that this mealy-mouthed sycophant
should be using those very words which had stood before her eyes like
letters of fire, searing her brain ever since she had stood here--half
an hour ago--with the grovelling Caesar at her feet.

The whirl of thoughts which rushed to her brain now made her giddy.
Instinctively now, as she had done then, she looked down on her
hands--those hands which were to guide the destinies of Rome--and her
heart had a curious twinge of pain, almost of fear, for she