e or two afterward, Crispus turned to address this man, but he too
was gone.

In quick succession senator after senator now came up the gentle slope of
the Sacred Way, until almost all the distinguished men in Rome, whether
for good or for evil, had undergone the scrutiny of the group collected
around Caius Crispus.

But it was not till among the last that Catiline strode by, gnawing his
nether lip uneasily, with his wild sunken eyes glaring suspiciously about
him. He spoke to no one, until he came opposite the smith, on whom he
frowned darkly, exclaiming, "What do you here? Go home, sirrah, go home!"
and as Caius dropped his bold eyes, crest-fallen and abashed, he added in
a lower tone, so that, save Bassus only, none of the crowd could hear him,
"Wait for me at my house. Evil is brewing!"

Not a word more was spoken. Crispus and the old man soon extricated
themselves from the throng and went their way; and in a little time
afterward the multitude was dispersed, rather summarily, by a band of
armed men under the Praetor Pomptinus, who cleared with very little
delicacy the confines of the Palatine, whereon it was announced that the
senate were now in secret session.

CHAPTER XIII.

THE DISCLOSURE.

Maria montesque polliceri caepit,
Minari interdum ferro, nisi obnoxia foret.
SALLUST.

A woman, master.
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST.

Among all those of Senatorial rank--and they were very many--who were
participants of the intended treason, one alone was absent from the
assemblage of the Order on that eventful night.

The keen unquiet eye of the arch-traitor missed Curius from his place, as
it ran over the known faces of the conspirators, on whom he reckoned for
support.

Curius was absent.

Nor did his absence, although it might well be, although indeed it _was_,
accidental, diminish anything of Catiline's anxiety. For, though he fully
believed him trusty and faithful to the end, though he felt that the man
was linked to him indissolubly by the consciousness of common crimes, he
knew him also to be no less vain than he was daring. And, while he had no
fear of intentional betrayal, he apprehended the possibility of
involuntary disclosures, that might be perilous, if not fatal, in the
present juncture.

It has been left on record of this Curius, by one who knew him well, and
was himself no mean judge of character, that he possessed not the