The Last Days of Pompeii

by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton

  Chapter XI

  NYDIA AFFECTS THE SORCERESS.

  WHEN the Thessalian found that Arbaces returned to her no more--when shewas left, hour after hour, to all the torture of that miserable suspensewhich was rendered by blindness doubly intolerable, she began, withoutstretched arms, to feel around her prison for some channel of escape;and finding the only entrance secure, she called aloud, and with thevehemence of a temper naturally violent, and now sharpened by impatientagony.

  'Ho, girl!' said the slave in attendance, opening the door; art thou bitby a scorpion? or thinkest thou that we are dying of silence here, andonly to be preserved, like the infant Jupiter, by a hullabaloo?'

  'Where is thy master? and wherefore am I caged here? I want air andliberty: let me go forth!'

  'Alas! little one, hast thou not seen enough of Arbaces to know that hiswill is imperial! He hath ordered thee to be caged; and caged thou art,and I am thy keeper. Thou canst not have air and liberty; but thoumayst have what are much better things--food and wine.'

  'Proh Jupiter!' cried the girl, wringing her hands; 'and why am I thusimprisoned? What can the great Arbaces want with so poor a thing as Iam?'

  'That I know not, unless it be to attend on thy new mistress, who hasbeen brought hither this day.'

  'What! Ione here?'

  'Yes, poor lady; she liked it little, I fear. Yet, by the Temple ofCastor! Arbaces is a gallant man to the women. Thy lady is his ward,thou knowest.'

  'Wilt thou take me to her?'

  'She is ill--frantic with rage and spite. Besides, I have no orders todo so; and I never think for myself. When Arbaces made me slave ofthese chambers, he said, "I have but one lesson to give thee--while thouservest me, thou must have neither ears, eyes, nor thought; thou must bebut one quality--obedience."'

  'But what harm is there in seeing Ione?'

  'That I know not; but if thou wantest a companion, I am willing to talkto thee, little one, for I am solitary enough in my dull cubiculum.And, by the way, thou art Thessalian--knowest thou not some cunningamusement of knife and shears, some pretty trick of telling fortunes, asmost of thy race do, in order to pass the time.'

  'Tush, slave, hold thy peace! or, if thou wilt speak, what hast thouheard of the state of Glaucus?'

  'Why, my master has gone to the Athenian's trial; Glaucus will smart forit!'

  'For what?'

  'The murder of the priest Apaecides.'

  'Ha!' said Nydia, pressing her hands to her forehead; 'something of thisI have indeed heard, but understand not. Yet, who will dare to touch ahair of his head?'

  'That will the lion, I fear.'

  'Averting gods! what wickedness dost thou utter?'

  'Why, only that, if he be found guilty, the lion, or may be the tiger,will be his executioner.'

  Nydia leaped up, as if an arrow had entered her heart; she uttered apiercing scream; then, falling before the feet of the slave, she cried,in a tone that melted even his rude heart:

  'Ah! tell me thou jestest--thou utterest not the truth--speak, speak!'

  'Why, by my faith, blind girl, I know nothing of the law; it may not beso bad as I say. But Arbaces is his accuser, and the people desire avictim for the arena. Cheer thee! But what hath the fate of theAthenian to do with thine?'

  'No matter, no matter--he has been kind to me: thou knowest not, then,what they will do? Arbaces his accuser! O fate! The people--thepeople! Ah! they can look upon his face--who will be cruel to theAthenian!--Yet was not Love itself cruel to him?'

  So saying, her head drooped upon her bosom: she sunk into silence;scalding tears flowed down her cheeks; and all the kindly efforts of theslave were unable either to console her or distract the absorption ofher reverie.

  When his household cares obliged the ministrant to leave her room, Nydiabegan to re-collect her thoughts. Arbaces was the accuser of Glaucus;Arbaces had imprisoned her here; was not that a proof that her libertymight be serviceable to Glaucus? Yes, she was evidently inveigled intosome snare; she was contributing to the destruction of her beloved! Oh,how she panted for release! Fortunately, for her sufferings, all senseof pain became merged in the desire of escape; and as she began torevolve the possibility of deliverance, she grew calm and thoughtful.She possessed much of the craft of her sex, and it had been increased inher breast by her early servitude. What slave was ever destitute ofcunning? She resolved to practise upon her keeper; and calling suddenlyto mind his superstitious query as to her Thessalian art, she hoped bythat handle to work out some method of release. These doubts occupiedher mind during the rest of the day and the long hours of night; and,accordingly, when Sosia visited her the following morning, she hastenedto divert his garrulity into that channel in which it had before evinceda natural disposition to flow.

  She was aware, however, that her only chance of escape was at night; andaccordingly she was obliged with a bitter pang at the delay to defertill then her purposed attempt.

  'The night,' said she, 'is the sole time in which we can well decipherthe decrees of Fate--then it is thou must seek me. But what desirestthou to learn?'

  'By Pollux! I should like to know as much as my master; but that is notto be expected. Let me know, at least, whether I shall save enough topurchase my freedom, or whether this Egyptian will give it me fornothing. He does such generous things sometimes. Next, supposing thatbe true, shall I possess myself of that snug taberna among theMyropolia, which I have long had in my eye? 'Tis a genteel trade thatof a perfumer, and suits a retired slave who has something of agentleman about him!'

  'Ay! so you would have precise answers to those questions?--there arevarious ways of satisfying you. There is the Lithomanteia, orSpeaking-stone, which answers your prayer with an infant's voice; but,then, we have not that precious stone with us--costly is it and rare.Then there is the Gastromanteia, whereby the demon casts pale and deadlyimages upon the water, prophetic of the future. But this art requiresalso glasses of a peculiar fashion, to contain the consecrated liquid,which we have not. I think, therefore, that the simplest method ofsatisfying your desire would be by the Magic of Air.'

  'I trust,' said Sosia, tremulously, 'that there is nothing veryfrightful in the operation? I have no love for apparitions.'

  'Fear not; thou wilt see nothing; thou wilt only hear by the bubbling ofwater whether or not thy suit prospers. First, then, be sure, from therising of the evening star, that thou leavest the garden-gate somewhatopen, so that the demon may feel himself invited to enter therein; andplace fruits and water near the gate as a sign of hospitality; then,three hours after twilight, come here with a bowl of the coldest andpurest water, and thou shalt learn all, according to the Thessalian loremy mother taught me. But forget not the garden-gate--all rests uponthat: it must be open when you come, and for three hours previously.'

  'Trust me,' replied the unsuspecting Sosia; 'I know what a gentleman'sfeelings are when a door is shut in his face, as the cookshop's hathbeen in mine many a day; and I know, also, that a person ofrespectability, as a demon of course is, cannot but be pleased, on theother hand, with any little mark of courteous hospitality. Meanwhile,pretty one, here is thy morning's meal.'

  'But what of the trial?'

  'Oh, the lawyers are still at it--talk, talk--it will last over allto-morrow.'

  'To-morrow? You are sure of that?'

  'So I hear.'

  'And Ione?'

  'By Bacchus! she must be tolerably well, for she was strong enough tomake my master stamp and bite his lip this morning. I saw him quit herapartment with a brow like a thunderstorm.'

  'Lodges she near this?'

  'No--in the upper apartments. But I must not stay prating here longer.Vale!'