The emperor spoke wearily to the grand chamberlain. “I’ve spent all morning with Entellus trying to dictate letters but I can’t make my brain work any more. He finally ordered me to take some rest. Good man, Entellus. Cares for me.”
“Quite right, too, Caesar.” Parthenius pulled a sympathetic face.
Some of Domitian’s retinue were trying to follow him into the room, but the chamberlain blocked the doorway with his great bulk. “Please, gentlemen, Caesar wants to be alone.” He shut the double door in their faces.
To Earinus’ eye the grand chamberlain was sweating more than usual this morning and breathing heavily. The emperor noticed it too.
“What’s the matter with you, then,” he said irritably. “You’re too damned fat is what you are. I order you to go on a slimming diet.”
“Yes, Caesar.”
“What time is it now? It’s the fifth hour, isn’t it? The hour that soothsayer foretold for my death this day.”
But Parthenius only smiled and pointed to the clock. “You are mistaken, Caesar. Look, why it’s already the sixth hour. The fifth hour has come and gone, and nothing at all has happened, you see? He was lying, there is nothing to fear.”
“What do you say?” Domitian crossed the room in two strides, bent over the clock. When he turned back, his eyes were suddenly alive and a slow disbelieving smile uncovered his teeth—the smile of a wolf, if wolves smiled. “By thundering Jupiter, you’re right, Parthenius! The man lied! I’m all right then? The nightmare is over! Earinus, you hear that? The danger is past. Come here, boy, let me kiss you! By the gods, I feel like a new man. Bring me wine.” Earinus fetched the flagon and a goblet. Domitian tipped the flagon down his throat and drained it. He wiped his mouth, took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. The weariness seemed to drop away from he him. He did a little dance step and laughed like a boy. “Well that’s that. All this worry, all these precautions for nothing. For nothing! Do you delight at my good fortune, Parthenius?”
“Of course, Caesar. How should I not? Soon the whole world will delight at it. And I myself will build a temple to your good fortune at my own expense.”
Domitian held the chamberlain by his shoulders, pulled him close and kissed both his fat cheeks. “Thank you, my loyal friend, thank you. And now, by Jupiter, I’d like my bath!”
“Excellent idea, my lord. Shall I summon the guards to go with you?”
“Eh? No need for that today. I’m a free man!”
“As you say, lord.”
Domitian strode out followed by the chamberlain who, with a last malignant glance at Earinus, shut the doors behind him.
Alone in the room, Earinus went over to the clock and watched the water dripping from its pipe into the cylinder. Presently, it struck him that the gears which turned the column had not moved even a little in all the time he’d been staring at them. It was water from the outflow pipe that operated them. He looked more closely and saw that there was no water running from it. Someone had stuck a plug of wool into the pipe so that water couldn’t escape from the cylinder. The float and the little man with his pointer were rising too fast! Earinus scratched his small head and worked his small brain and wondered. What could it mean? He must tell his master.
As he stood pondering this discovery, he heard the sound of footsteps and whispered words outside the door. The door opened, admitting a dark-haired man with an injured arm. “Wait for him here,” he heard the sentry say. But it was more of a whisper than the sentry’s usual bark. Something about this made Earinus take fright and he ran to hide himself in the alcove before he was seen. From his hiding place he could not see the man directly but by looking up at one of the polished moonstone mirrors that were fixed near the ceiling in each corner of the room he saw his reflection.
He watched as the man sat down on a nearby chair and felt along his bandaged left arm with the fingertips of his right hand. Earinus held his breath.
Minutes passed and then again the door opened. And this time it was the emperor, wearing a loose bathing robe and sandals, dripping water on the marble floor.
“What is this about?” he demanded. “Why have I been dragged from my bath?”
The man with the injured arm jumped to his feet. “Caesar, I have an urgent message for you. The Praetorian commandant has uncovered a new conspiracy against your sacred person. Read this.” He held out a pair of wax tablets.
The emperor tried to laugh. “Another conspiracy? There can’t be another one. I’ve escaped my fate, don’t you see.” He looked the messenger up and down. “Who are you? Haven’t I seen you around here before?”