upon leaving phaon, beric was conducted to the room where he had left scopus. the latter at once joined him, and without asking any questions left the palace with him.

"i would ask nothing until you were outside," scopus said. "they were wondering there at the long audience you have had with nero. judging by the gravity of your face, things have not gone well with you."

"they have gone well in one sense," beric said, "though i would vastly rather that they had gone otherwise. i feel very much more fear now than when i stood awaiting the attack of the lion."

and he then related to scopus the conversation he had had with nero. the lanista inclined himself humbly to the ground.

"you are a great man now, beric, though, as you say, the place is not without its dangers. i guessed when caesar sent for you that he purposed to use your strength and courage in his service. your face is one that invites trust, and nero was wise enough to see that if he were to trust you he must trust you altogether. he has acted wisely. he deemed that, having no friends and connections in rome, he could rely upon you as he could rely upon no one who is a native here. you will be a great man, for a time at any rate."

"i would rather have remained at your ludus, scopus. i shall feel like a little dog i saw the other day in a cage of one of the lions. the beast seemed fond of it, but the little creature knew well that at any moment the lion might stretch out its paw and crush it."

scopus nodded.

"that is true enough, beric, though there are tens of thousands in rome who would gladly run the risk for the sake of the honour and profit. still, as i said to you before we started, i have faith in your good fortune and quickness, and believe that you may escape from the bars where another would lose his skin. tell to none but myself what caesar has said to you. the world will soon guess that your post as private librarian is but a pretext for caesar to have you near him. it is not by such a post that the victor of the arena would be rewarded." they now went together to a goldsmith.

"ah! scopus, i have been expecting you. i saw you in the arena with your two gladiators. afterwards i saw this tall young briton fight the lion, and when i heard that he was at your ludus i said to myself, 'scopus will be bringing him to me to dispose of some of the jewelry to which the ladies were so prodigal.'"

"that is our errand, rufus. here is the bag."

the goldsmith opened it.

"you don't expect me to name a price for all these articles, scopus? it will take me a day to examine and appraise them; and, indeed, i shall have to go to a friend or two for money, for there is enough here to stock a shop. never did i know our ladies so liberal of their gifts."

"ah!" scopus said, "and you don't often see gifts so well deserved; but, mind you, if it had been i who had fought the lion--i, who have nothing to recommend me in the way of either stature or looks--it would have been a very different thing. youth and stature and good looks go for a great deal even in the arena, i can tell you. well, beric will call in a day or two. here is the inventory of the jewels; i have got a copy at home. do you put the price you will give against each, and then he can sell or not as he pleases. he is not going to sacrifice them, rufus, for he has no need of money; caesar has just appointed him to his household."

the manner of the jeweller changed at once.

"the list shall be ready for you in two days," he said to beric respectfully. "if you have need of money on account now i can let you have as much as you will." beric shook his head.

"i have all that i require," he said. "i will return it may be in two days, it may be more--i know not precisely how much my duties may occupy me."

"you will get full value for your goods," scopus said when they left the shop--"that was why i mentioned that you had entered nero's household, for it is a great thing to have a friend at court."

"and how about yourself, scopus? you have kept me and trained me for months. now you are going to lose my services just when you might begin to get a return. moreover, i may tell you that i shall as soon as possible get boduoc with me. so you must name a sum which will amply recompense you for the trouble and expense that you have had with us."

"i shall be no loser, beric. when captives in war are sent to be trained in a ludus the lanista is paid for a year's keep and tuition for them. after that he makes what he can from those who give entertainments. therefore i received from the imperial treasury the regular amount for you and your comrades. moreover, the senator who gave the performances sent me a very handsome sum--more than he had agreed to give me for porus and lupus together--saying that, although he had not engaged you, your deeds in the arena had delighted the people beyond measure, and that as his show would be talked about for years, it was but fair he should pay your lanista a sum worthy of the performance. and now farewell! you know that i and your comrades at the ludus will always be glad to see you. we shall be back in rome as soon as my place is rebuilt."

"you may be sure that i will come, scopus. you have shown me much kindness, and if in any way i can repay you i will do so. tell boduoc i hope very shortly to have him with me, and that maybe i shall be able to find means of withdrawing the others from the arena."

as soon as they separated beric walked rapidly to the house where norbanus had taken up his abode. as he reached the door he paused, for he heard within the sounds of wailing, and felt that he had come too late.

"tell norbanus," he said to the slave at the door, "that beric is here, but that unless he wishes to see me i will leave him undisturbed, as i fear by the cries that the lady ennia is dead."

"she died early this morning," the slave said. "i will tell my master that you are here."

he returned almost directly.

"norbanus prays you to enter," he said, and led the way to the magistrate's study.

"ah, my friend," the roman said, "it is over! ennia died this morning. she passed away as if in sleep. it is a terrible grief to me. thanks to the gods i can bear that as becomes a roman; but how would it have been had i seen her torn to pieces under my eyes? ah, beric you know not from what you have saved us! we could never have lifted up our heads again had she died so. now we shall grieve for her as all men grieve for those they love; but it will be a grief without pain, for assuredly she died happy. she spoke of you once or twice, and each time she said, 'i shall see him again.' i think she was speaking her belief, that she should meet you after death. the christian belief in a future state is like yours, you know, beric, rather than like ours."

"she was a gentle creature," beric said, "and as she dared even death by the lions for her god, assuredly she will go to the happy island, though it may not be the same that the druids tell us britons of. and how are the ladies lesbia and aemilia?"

"my wife is well," the magistrate said. "she has not the consolations of philosophy as i have, but i think that she feels it is better for the child herself that she should have so died. ennia would always have remained a christian, and fresh troubles and persecutions would have come. besides, her religion would have put her apart from her mother and her family. to me, of course, it would have made no difference, holding the views that i do as to the religions of the world; but my wife sees things in a different light. aemilia is worn out with watching and grief, but i know that she will see you presently, that is, if you are not compelled to return at once to the hills."

"i return there no more. i have seen nero today, and he has appointed me an official in his household. it will seem ridiculous to you when i say that i am to be his private librarian. that, of course, is but a pretext to keep me near his person, deeming that i am strong enough to be a useful guard to him, and being a stranger am not likely to be engaged in any intrigue that may be going on. i would rather have remained at the ludus for a time; but there is no refusing the offers of an emperor, and he spoke to me fairly, and i answered him as one man should do another, frankly and openly."

"nero has done wisely," norbanus said warmly, "though for you the promotion is perilous. to be nero's friend is to be condemned beforehand to death, though for a time he may shower favours upon you. he is fickle and inconstant, and you have not learned to cringe and flatter, and are as likely as not to anger him by your outspoken utterances."

"i shall assuredly say what i think if he questions me," beric said quietly; "but if he values me as a guard, he will scarce question me when he knows that i should express an opinion contrary to his own."

"when do you enter his service, beric?"

"i am to present myself tomorrow morning."

"then you will stay with us tonight, beric. this is a house of mourning, but you are as one of ourselves. you must excuse ceremony, for i have many arrangements to make, as ennia will be buried tomorrow."

"i will go out into the garden," beric said.

"do so. i will send up word to aemilia that you are there. doubtless she would rather meet you there than before the slaves."

beric had been sitting in the shade for half an hour when he saw aemilia coming towards him. her face was swollen with crying, and the tears were still streaming down her cheeks. beric took her hand, and would have bent over it, when she grasped his with both of hers and pressed it to her lips.

"oh, beric," she cried, "what have you not done for us, and how much do we not owe you! had it not been for you, i should be mourning now, not for ennia who lies with a smile on her face in her chamber, but for ennia torn to pieces and devoured by the lion. it seemed to me that i too should die, when suddenly you stood between her and the fierce beast, seeming to my eyes as if a god had come down to save her; and when all the people gave you up as lost, standing there unarmed and calmly waiting the lion's attack, i felt that you would conquer. truly ennia's god and yours must have stood beside you, though i saw them not. how else could you have been so strong and fearless? ennia thought so too. she told me so one night when the house was asleep, and i only watching beside her. 'my god was with him,' she said. 'none other could have given him the strength to battle with the lion. he will bring him to himself in good time, and i shall meet him again.' she said something about your knowing that she was a christian. but, of course, you could not have known that."

"i did know it, aemilia;" and beric then told her of his meeting with ennia and the old slave when they were attacked by the plunderers on the way home from their place of meeting. "she promised me not to go again," he said, "without letting me know, in which case i should have escorted her and protected her from harm. but just after that there was the fire, and i had to go away with scopus to the alban hills; and so, as she knew that i could not escort her, i never heard from her. i would that i had been with her that night she was arrested, then she might not have fallen into the hands of the guard. indeed, had i been here i would have gone gladly, for it seemed to me there must be something strange in the religion that would induce a quiet gentle girl like her to go out at night unknown to her parents. now i desire even more to learn about it. her god must surely have given her the strength and courage that she showed when she chose death by lions rather than deny him."

"i, too, should like to know something about it," aemilia said. "by the way ennia spoke, when she said you knew that she was a christian, it seemed to me that, if you did know, which i thought was impossible, she thought you were angry with her for becoming a christian."

"i was angry with her not for being a christian, but for going out without your father's knowledge, and i told her so frankly. if it had been you i should not have been so much surprised, because you have high spirits and are fearless in disposition; but for her to do so seemed so strange and unnatural, that i deemed this religion of hers must be bad in that it taught a girl to deceive her parents."

"what did she say, beric?"

"i could see that she considered it her duty beyond all other duties, and so said no more, knowing nothing of her religion beyond what your father told me."

"i wish pollio had been here," the girl said; "he would have thought as i do about the loss of ennia. my father has his philosophy, and considers it rather a good thing to be out of the world. my mother was so horrified when she heard that ennia was a christian, that i am sure she is relieved at her death. i am not a philosopher, and it was nothing to me whether ennia took up with this new sect or not. so you see i have no one who can sympathize with me. you can't think how dreadful the thought is that i shall be alone in future."

"we grow accustomed to all things," beric said. "i have lost all my relations, my country, and everything, and i am here a stranger and little better than a slave, and yet life seems not so unpleasant to me. in time this grief will be healed, and you will be happy again."

"i am sure i should never have been happy, beric, if she had died in the arena. i should always have had it before my eyes--i should have dreamt of it. but why do you say that until today you have been almost a slave? why is it different today?"

beric told her of his new position.

"if i could take your position, and have your strength but for one night," aemilia said passionately, "i would slay the tyrant. he is a monster. it is to him that ennia's death is due. he has committed unheard of crimes; and he will kill you, too, beric. he kills all those whom he once favours."

"i shall be on my guard, aemilia; besides, my danger will not be great, for he will have nothing to gain by my death. i shall keep aloof from all intrigues, and he will have no reason to suspect me. the danger, if danger there be, will come from my refusing to carry out any of his cruel orders. i am ready to be a guard, but not an executioner."

"i know how it will end," the girl sighed; "but i shall hope always. you conquered the lion, maybe you will conquer nero."

"who is a very much less imposing creature," beric smiled. a slave girl at this moment summoned aemilia into the house. she waited a moment.

"remember, beric," she said, "that if trouble and danger come upon you, any such poor aid as i can give will be yours. i am a roman girl. i have not the strength to fight as you have, but have the courage to die; and as, at the risk of your life, you saved ennia for us, so would i risk my life to save yours. remember that a woman can plot and scheme, and that in dealing with nero cunning goes for as much as strength. we have many relatives and friends here, too, and ennia's death in the arena would have been viewed as a disgrace upon the whole family; so that i can rely upon help from them if need be. remember that, should the occasion arise, i shall feel your refusal of my help much more bitterly than any misfortune your acceptance of it could bring upon me." then turning, the girl went up to the house.

on arriving at nero's palace the next morning, and asking for phaon, beric was at once conducted to his chamber.

"that is well," the freedman said as he entered. "nero is in council with his architects at present. i will show you to your chamber at once, so that you will be in readiness."

the apartment to which phaon led beric was a charming one. it had no windows in the walls, which were covered with exquisitely painted designs, but light was given by an opening in the ceiling, under which, in the centre of the room, was the shallow basin into which the rain that penetrated through the opening fell. there were several elegantly carved couches round the room. some bronze statues stood on plinths, and some pots of tall aquatic plants stood in the basin; heavy hangings covered the entrance.

"here," phaon said, drawing one of them aside, "is your cubicule, and here, next to it, is another. it is meant for a friend of the occupant of the room; but i should not advise you to have anyone sleep here. nero would not sleep well did he know that any stranger was so close to his apartment. this, and the entrance at the other end of the room, lead into passages, while this," and he drew back another curtain, "is the library."

this room was about the same size as that allotted to beric, being some twenty-five feet square. short as the notice had been, a wooden framework of cedar wood, divided into partitions fifteen inches each way, had been erected round, and in each of these stood a wooden case containing rolls of manuscripts, the name of the work being indicated by a label affixed to the box. seated at a table in one of the angles was the greek chiton, who saluted beric.

"we shall be good friends, i hope," beric said, "for i shall have to rely upon you entirely for the greek books, and it is you who will be the real librarian."

chiton was a man of some thirty years of age, with a pale greek face; and looking at him earnestly beric thought that it looked an honest one. he had anticipated that the man nero had chosen would be placed as a spy over him; but he now concluded this was not so, and that nero at present trusted him entirely.

"this passage," phaon said, "leads direct to caesar's private apartment, a few steps only separate them. the passage on this side of your room also leads there, so that either from here or from it you can be summoned at once. now let us return to your room. it is from there you will generally go to nero when he summons you. that door at the end of the short passage will not be kept locked, while this one from the library cannot be opened from your side. three strokes of nero's bell will be the signal that he requires you. if after the three have sounded there is another struck smartly, you will snatch up your sword and rush in instantly by night or day."

"what are my duties to be?" beric asked when they had returned to his room, "for chiton can discharge those of librarian infinitely better than i can do."

"you will sit and read here, or pass the time as you like, until nine o'clock, at which hour nero goes to the baths. at eleven he goes out to inspect the works or to take part in public ceremonies. at three he sups, and the meal lasts sometimes till seven or eight, sometimes until midnight. your duties in the library will end when he goes to the baths, and after that you will be free, unless he summons you to attend him abroad, until supper is concluded. at night you will draw back the curtains between the passage and your room and that of your cubicule, so that you may hear his summons, or even his voice if loudly raised. you will lie down with your sword ready at hand. i should say your duties will begin at six in the morning, and it is only between that hour and nine that you will be a prisoner in the library."

"i shall not find it an imprisonment," beric said. "three hours is little enough to study, with all that wealth of books ready at hand. how about chiton?"

"he will be on duty whenever the emperor is in the palace; beyond that he is free to go where he likes, so that he be ready at all times to produce any book that nero may call for. your meals will be brought up to you by your attendant from the imperial kitchen. there are, you know, baths in the palace for the use of the officials. you will find in this chest a supply of garments of all kinds suitable for different occasions, and here, in the cubicule, ready to hand, are a sword and dagger, with a helmet, breastplate, and shield, to be worn only when caesar desires you to accompany him armed. if there is anything else that you require, you have but to give the order to your attendant, who will obtain it from the steward of the palace."

at this moment a slave drew aside the hanging: "caesar expects you, beric."

nero was standing at the top of the steps into the garden when beric entered.

"walk with me, beric," he said. "for three hours i have been going into the affairs of the city, and hearing letters read from the governors of the provinces. it will be a change to talk of other things. tell me about this britain of yours. i know about your wars, tell me of your life at home."

beric at once complied. he saw that it was not information about religion and customs that the emperor desired to hear, but talk about simple matters that would distract his thoughts from the cares of state. he talked, then, of his native village, of his mother with her maids at work around her, of hunting expeditions as a boy with boduoc, and how both had had a narrow escape of being devoured by wolves. nero listened in silence as they strolled under the deep shade of the trees. at times he hardly seemed to be listening, but occasionally he asked a question that showed he was following what beric said.

"your talk is like a breath from the snow clad mountains," he said at last, "or a cup of cold water to a thirsty traveller. the word romans never occurred in it, and yet it was in our tongue. you were brought up among us, as i heard. tell me of that."

briefly beric described his life at camalodunum.

"it is a strange mixture," nero said; "the cultivated roman and the wild briton. i understand now better than i did before, your risking your life for the christian girl in the arena. you did not love her?"

"no, caesar; we britons do not think of marriage until we are at least five-and-twenty. we hold that young marriages deteriorate a race. ennia was little more than a child, according to our notions. she was scarce sixteen, and when i saw her before, for a few days only, she was a year younger; but i think that i should have done the same had i never seen her before. we britons, like the gauls, hold women in high respect, and i think that few of my people would hesitate to risk their lives to save a helpless woman."

"i think we are all for self here," nero said; "but we can admire what we should not think of imitating. i like you, beric, because you are so different from myself and from all around me. we are products of rome, you of the forest; every man here sighs for power or wealth, or lives for pleasure--i as much as any. we suffer none to stand in our way, but trample down remorselessly all who hinder us. as to risking our lives for the sake of a woman, and that woman almost a stranger, such an idea would never so much as occur to us. this is not the only girl you have saved. i received a letter from caius muro some months ago, saying that the news had come to him in syria that beric, the young chief of the iceni, who had so long withstood suetonius, had been brought a prisoner to rome, and he besought me, should beric still be alive, to show favour to him, as he had saved his little daughter, when all others had been slain, at the sack of camalodunum, and that he had hidden her away until after the defeat of boadicea, and had then sent her safe and unharmed back to the romans. the matter escaped my mind till now, though, in truth, i bade my secretary write to him to say that i would befriend you. but it is strange that, having so much life and spirit in that great body of yours, you should yet hold life so cheaply. it was the way with our forefathers, but it is not so now, perhaps because our life is more pleasant than theirs was. tell me, has phaon done all to make you comfortable? is there aught else that you would wish? if so, speak freely."

"there is one thing i should like, caesar; i should like to have with me my follower boduoc, he who was the companion of my boyhood, who fought with me in that hut against the wolves, and was ever by my side in the struggle among our fens. i ask this partly for my own sake, and partly that i may the better do the duty you have set me of acting as your guard. the air of palaces is heavy, and men wake not from sleep as when they lie down in the forest and carry their lives in their hands. i might not hear your call; but with him with me we could keep alternate watch through the night, and the slightest sounds would reach our ears. we could even take post close to the hangings of your chamber, just as the praetorians guard all the avenues on the other side. i might even go further. there were twenty of my countrymen brought hither with me. all are picked men, not one but in strength and courage is my equal. i would say, place them in offices in the palace; make them door keepers, or place some of them here as labourers under your gardeners, then at all times you would have under your orders a body of twenty devoted men, who would escort you in safety though half rome were in tumult. they would sleep together among the slaves, where i could instantly summon them. i can answer for their fidelity, they would follow me to the death against any foe i bade them attack."

"it is an excellent idea, beric, and shall be carried out. they were all sent to the ludi, if i mistake not, and will have skill as well as strength and courage. i will bid my secretary send an order for their discharge, and that they present themselves to phaon tomorrow. he will find occupations for them, and i will myself bid him so dispose of them that they shall be well satisfied with their appointments. truly, as you say, a guard of twenty gladiators of your strength and courage might well defend me against a host. now it is time that i went to my bath."

upon the following day the british captives were all disposed as door keepers in the palace. beric was present when they presented themselves before phaon, and had afterwards a private interview with them. they were delighted at finding that they were again under his leadership. all hated as much as ever the occupation of gladiator, although only the man who had defeated lupus had as yet appeared in the arena.

"your duties will be simple and easy," beric said. "you will only have to see that no strangers pass you without authority. each of you will have one or more attendants with you, who will take the names of those who present themselves to those whom they wish to see, and will, on bringing an authorization for them to pass, escort them to the person with whom they have business. of course the orders will be different at different posts, but these you will receive from the officials of the chamberlain. you will be on duty, as i learn, for six hours each day, and will for the rest of the time be free to go where you please. i suppose by this time all of you have learned sufficient latin to converse freely. remember that at nine o'clock in the evening you must all be in the palace. phaon has arranged for an apartment that you will occupy together. there you will keep your arms, and be always ready, when you receive a message from me, to attend prepared for fighting. there is one thing more: do not mingle with the romans more than you can help; listen to no tales relating to the emperor, and let no man discuss with you any question of state. everything that is done in the palace is known, and were you seen talking with any man who afterwards fell under the suspicion of nero it might cost you your lives. remember that, whatever may be the duties assigned to you here, we are really assembled as a sort of special bodyguard to him; he is our general. it is no business of ours what his private acts may be. it may be that he is cruel to the powerful and wealthy, but on the other hand he spends his money lavishly on the people of rome, and is beloved by them. if they as romans do not resent his acts towards senators and patricians it is no business of ours, strangers and foreigners here, to meddle in the matter. it may be that in time, if we do our duty well, nero may permit us to return to britain."

there was a murmur of approval.

"nero may cut off the head of every man in rome for what i care," boduoc said. "i owe nothing to the romans. they are all our enemies, from the highest to the lowest; and if nero is disposed to be our friend he can do what he likes with them. but i do wish he had given us something more to do than to hang about his palace."

six months passed. beric stood high in favour with nero. two or three times, in order to test the vigilance of his guard, he had sounded his bell. on each occasion an armed figure had instantly entered his room, only to retire when he waved his hand; so that the slave who slept at the other door found nero alone when he entered, and brought him a cooling drink, or performed some other little office that served as an excuse for his summons, the emperor being well aware how great would be the jealousy of the praetorian guard, were report to reach them that caesar had guards save themselves.

beric often followed in the train of the emperor when he went abroad; and as it speedily became known that he was a favourite of nero, his friendship was eagerly sought by those who frequented the court, and his good offices solicited by those who had requests to make of the emperor. large sums of money had been sometimes offered him for his good offices, but he steadily refused to accept any presents whatever, or to mingle in the affairs of others, except in very occasional cases, where it seemed to him that those who sought his aid had been cruelly and unfairly dealt with by officials or venal magistrates.

the sale of his jewels had brought him in a large sum of money, which he had placed in the hands of norbanus; and the handsome appointments nero had assigned to his office were very much more than sufficient for his wants. he was always a welcome guest at the house of norbanus, and now that he was an official high in favour with nero, even lesbia received him with marked courtesy. the conversation always turned, when the ladies were present, upon general topics--the gossip of society in rome, news from the provinces, and other similar matters, for beric begged them not to speak of the serious events of the day.

"i am one of nero's guards, and i do not want to have to hate my work, or to wish well to those from whom i am bound to protect him. to me he is kind and friendly. at times when i am with him in the garden or alone in his room he talks to me as an equal, of books and art, the condition of the people, and other topics.

"it seems to me that there are two neros: the one a man such as he was when he ascended the throne--gentle; inclined to clemency; desirous of the good of his people, and of popularity; a lover of beautiful things; passionately devoted to art in all its branches; taking far greater pleasure in the society of a few intimate friends than in state pageants and ceremonies. there is another nero; of him i will not talk. i desire, above all things, not to know of him. i believe that he has been driven to this war upon many of the best and worthiest in rome, by timidity. he is suspicious. possibly he has reason for his suspicions; possibly they are unfounded. i do not wish to defend him. all this is a matter for you romans, and not for me. i wish to know nothing about it; to leave all public matters to those they may concern; to shut my eyes and my ears as much as i can to all that goes on around me. it is for that reason that i go so little to other houses save this. i meet those about the court at the baths, the gymnasium, and in the streets. but at these places men speak not of public affairs, they know not who may be listening; and certainly they would not speak before me. happily, as i am known to stand high in caesar's favour, i am the last person to whom they would say aught in his blame. thus it is that, though sometimes i come, from chance words let fall, to know that proscriptions, accusations, confiscations, and executions take place; that the christians are still exposed to horrible persecutions and tortures; that a gloom hangs over society, and that no man of wealth and high station can regard himself as safe, it is only a vague rumour of these things that i hear; and by keeping my ears sealed and refusing to learn particulars, to listen to private griefs and individual suffering, i am still able to feel that i can do my duty to caesar."

norbanus and lesbia alike agreed with beric's reasoning; the former, indeed, himself took but comparatively little interest in what passed around him. the latter was, on the other hand, absorbed in the politics of the hour. she was connected with many noble families, and knew that a member of these might fall at any moment under nero's displeasure. to have a friend, then, high in the favour of nero was a matter of great importance; and she therefore impressed upon all her intimates that when they found beric at her house they should scrupulously avoid all discussion of public affairs.