"Go on," I said.
"My bracelets were checked," she said. "It was found that I was perfectly secured.
"Yes," I said. Having her back-braceleted, of course, was also a convenience to the guards. That would save them putting her in their own bracelets, before conducting her into the presence of the Ubara.
"Then I was double leashed," she said.
"A single metal collar," I said, "with chain leashes on each side?"
"Yes," she said.
There are several double leashing arrangements, sometimes with two collars, and sometimes with a single collar, with leash rings on opposite sides. The collars are usually of leather, metal or rope. The leashes, too, are of similar materials. Some collars, stocklike, are of wood. The point of double leashing is security and control. A prisoner is not likely to be able to pull away from two leashes. At least one is likely to restrain him. Similarly, by two leashes, he can easily be immobilized, kept in place, held, say, between two leash masters, unable to reach either of them, or a third person. In the case of females double leashing is primarily aesthetic. Certainly a girl would not be likely, more than once, at any rate, to attempt to attack a leash holder, say, to bite or kick. That is something she would never do again. On the other hand, in Lavinia's case, clearly the guards would not wish to risk her approaching the Ubara too closely, even back-braceleted.
"I was then conducted by five guards within the double gate of the Central Cylinder," she said. "The leader went first. Two were with me, one on each side, each holding a leash. Two followed, with spears. Inside the double gate, I was hooded, and then I was led through what seemed to be a maze of passageways, and levels, and turnings. Sometimes I was even spun about. I had no idea where I was in the Central Cylinder. Then I was told to kneel and my leashes seemed to be fastened down, on either side of me. "Bring me the message from my dear friend, Appanius," said a woman's voice.
"What was the voice like?" I asked.
"It seemed friendly, even kindly, and charming," she said, "but, somehow, underneath, cold, or cruel."
"Continue," I said.
"I felt the tube being taken in hand, and uncapped, and heard the message being removed from it. The leader of the guard, I presume, did this, and then delivered it to the woman. For a time I heard nothing. Then she spoke again. "It is nothing," she said, "this little note from my dear friend, Appanius, news of a coming play. But leave us now, alone. And before you go, unhood the slave. I would see her."
I was unhooded.
"I was kneeling in what appeared to be a private audience chamber. It must have been well within the cylinder. It was lit by lamps. The hangings were scarlet and magnificent. There was a dais a few feet before me, and on this dais, resplendent in robes of concealment, beautifully veiled, on a curule chair, there sat a regal figure. I was speechless.
"We await without," said the leader of the guard. He then, with his mem, withdrew.
"The hood which had been removed from me lay to one side. The message tube, with its cap, attached by its tiny thong, was still about my neck.
"I looked timidly to the woman on the curule chair. It seemed she did not notice me. She read the letter in her hands over and over, seemingly avidly.
"The chain leashes attached to the leash rings on the metal collar I wore were fastened to rings on each side of me. I was held in place. I could not rise to my feet."
"The woman on the curule chair looked down upon me. I put my head down to the floor. The message tube then, on its thong, was on the floor as well.
"Is that how you kneel before a free woman?" she asked.
"Forgive me, Mistress!" I wept. "The guards were about! "
"They are not about now," she said, "and even if they were, it is I who am Mistress here, not they."
"Forgive me, Mistress!" I begged.
"You will kneel before me demurely," she said.
"Yes, Mistress," I said. "You can now well imagine how modestly and humbly, and demurely, I then knelt before her."
"I warned you about that sort of thing," I reminded her.
"Am I to be beaten?" she asked.
"No," I said. "Such knee positions become almost instinctive in a female slave, and I would not wish to complicate your training by punishing you for having failed to alter them in a particular case. I do not want your dispositions to respond to become too complex, or inconsistent."
"Thank you, Master," she said.
"Too," I said, "the guards were men, and had been present."
"Yes, Master!" she said.
"But for your own sake, when you are before free women," I said, "I would advise you to be alert to such matters."
"Yes, Master!" she said.
"Continue," I said.
"The woman looked down at me. I scarcely dared look at her. Muchly did I keep my head down. I even trembled. You can well imagine how small and meaningless I felt there."
"Certainly," I said, "in such a place, in the presence of such a personage, the Ubara of Ar herself."
"Oh, yes, Master," she said, "certainly that. But it was not just that."
"Oh?" I said.
"I think it was even more that she was a free woman, and that I was before her, only a slave."
"I see," I said.
"This note does not come from Appanius," she said to me.
"No, Mistress," I said.
"Do you know from whom it comes?" she asked.
"From the beautiful Milo," I said.
"Do you know its contents?" she asked.
"No, Mistress," I said.
"Can you read?" she asked.
" "Yes, Mistress," I said.
" "But you have not read it?"
"No, Mistress," I said.
"Have you some concept of its contents," she asked, "any inkling as to its purport? "
"I fear so, Mistress, I said.
"Do you know who I am, girl?" she asked.
"The majestic and beautiful Talena," I said, "Ubara of Glorious Ar. "
"He could be slain for even thinking of writing such a letter," she said.
I was silent.
"He has eveb signed it," she said.
I was silent.
"What a fool," she said. "What a poor, mad, infatuated fool."
I was silent.
"How could he do anything so compromising, so foolish, so utterly mad?" she asked.
"Perhaps he has been driven out of his wits by some brief glimpse of the beauty of Mistress," I whispered.
"Excellent, Lavinia," I commended her.
"Speak," she commanded me.
"He has given performances in the Central Cylinder," I continued, "readings, and such. Perhaps in one of those times, due to no fault of Mistress he was charmed by her voice, as by the songs of the venminium bird, or again, by her grace and manner, the consequences of a thousand generations of elegance and breeding, or again, once more through no possible fault of Mistress, perhaps in a moment of inadvertent disarray he as so unfortunate as to glimpse a portion of her briefly unveiled features, or note a width of slender wrist betwixt cuff and glove, or even, beneath the hem of her robes, fearful to contemplate, the turn of an ankle? "
"Perhaps," she said. "And I had no doubt, Master, that the royal hussy had seen to it that such signals, such signs, such intriguing glimpses, such supposed inadvertencies, and such, had abounded!"
"In this," I said, "perhaps she was not so different from you."
"Master!" cried Lavinia, scandalized.
"At least," I said, "she never knelt at his side, in bangles and slave silk, and reached out to touch him."
"Had she been in my place, and only a slave," she said, "she might have done so!"
"Perhaps," I said.
"I think so, Master!" said Lavinia.
"And perhaps have found herself in the fields?"
"Perhaps, Master," smiled Lavinia.
The thought of the regal Talena shorn and in the fields was indeed an amusing one.
"Master?" asked the slave.