Chino and Lecchio looked at one another, disbelievingly. Then Chino said, "Unless, of course, they are lying."
"Ah!" said Petrucchio, thoughtfully, twirling a mustache.
"Give us back our money!" said Rowena.
"Let us make a determination on the matter," said Chino.
"How shall we do that?" asked Petrucchio.
"Give us our money" cried Rowena.
"Be silent, female," said Chino.
"Female?" she said, startled.
"Yes, 'female'," he said.
"What do you suggest?" asked Petrucchio.
"Tests," said Chino, gravely.
"What do you have in mind?" asked Petrucchio, alarmed.
"Put back your hood, take off your veil, you," said Chino to Rowena.
"My hood! My veil!" she cried.
"Yes," said Chino.
"Never!" she cried.
Chino regarded her, grimly.
"Why?" she asked.
"We wish to determine whether you are a free woman, or a slave," he said.
"A slave!" she cried, outraged. "I shall have you taken before the law for slander!"
"Do you wish to have it done for you?" inquired Chino, meaningfully.
"No!" she cried.
"Then, comply," said Chino.
"Comply!" she cried.
"Yes," said Chino, " and quickly."
"This is an outrage!" she cried. "It is an unspeakable insult! I shall have the magistrates on you for this!"
Chino took a quick step toward her, and she stepped back hastily, fumbling with the hood and veil.
"We shall now quickly see if you are a free woman or a slave," he said.
"How dare you even suggest such a thing!" she cried. "You are a slandering sleen!" But she removed her hood and veil, quickly, frightened, complying.
"There!" cried Chino, triumphantly.
"There!" cried Lecchio, triumphantly.
"That is the face of a slave, if I ever saw one!" cried Chino.
"Yes!" cried Lecchio.
"No!" cried Rowena, but, to be sure, she put down her head and almost began to laugh. Men in the audience, too, laughed. Too, there was genuine applause in the audience for her beauty. She kept her head down for a moment, appreciatively basking in this, radiantly. Only too obviously she was that beautiful, beautiful enough to be a slave. Then she lifted her head again, struggling to return to character.
"No! No!" she said, half laughing.
"Oh, but yes!" called a man from the audience.
"Yes, Master," she whispered, her lips forming the words. "Thank you, Master." Then her lips pursed a moment and sped him a kiss. I had little doubt he would call for her after the performance.
"You, there, too!" called Chino to Lady Telitsia. "And you, as well, little female," he said to Bina.
In a moment they, too, had thrust back their hoods and removed their veils.
"There!" cried Chino, triumphantly. "And, there! Those, too, are the faces of slaves!"
There was agreement shouted from the audience. They were pleased, of course, to see the girls, at last.
"No!" cried Lady Telitsia.
"No!" cried Bina, dutifully.
There was more laughter from the audience.
"You see," said Chino to Petrucchio, "they have the faces of slaves."
"Clearly," agreed Petrucchio.
The girls cried out in protest.
"It remains, of course," said Chino, "to see if they have the bodies of slaves."
"Of course," granted Petrucchio, twirling a mustache.
"No!" cried the girls.
"Strip," commanded Chino, "now, totally!"
"No!" cried the girls, but, at a menacing gesture from Chino, the meaningful lifting of his open right hand, suggesting that the least dilatoriness might be rewarded with cuffings, or worse, as though they might be mere slaves, they hastened to comply. The audience shouted its encouragement. The girls were quite lovely. Their disrobing, leaving only scarves about their necks, concealing their collars, and round, adhesive patches on their thighs, concealing their brands, was done mostly in character, but Bina, once, with a final wrap-around, sliplike garment, drew it away from her with a sensuousness, a pride and insolence, that clearly proclaimed her slave. I did not think she would have done this before having been given in to the use of the player. Indeed, she was facing the player when she did it, and I suspected that it was primarily for him that she had so slave-bared herself. He, in the audience, joined in the applause. She smiled. His slave bracelet was on her wrist. Her use was his.
Chino seized Rowena by the hair, and, lifting his arm up, held her up straight, before Petrucchio, and Lecchio took Lady Telitsia and Bina into custody, one in each hand, in exactly the same fashion, making them stand up straight, displaying them identically. "Do they have the bodies of slaves?" Chino asked the audience.
"Yes!" shouted several of the men in the audience. It was true. Their bodies had been designed by nature to be incredibly exciting and attractive to men, and to provide men with incomparable pleasures and services.
"Not the slave bodies," said Chino to Petrucchio.
"Yes," said Petrucchio, noting them well.
"And their delicious slave curves," said Chino, bending Rowena back a bit.
"Yes!" said Petrucchio.
"No! No!" cried the girls.
"But can they move as slaves?" inquired Chino.
"Never!" cried Rowena.
"Wiggle, Lana," said Chino.
"I am the Lady Rowena of Pseudopolis!" cried Rowena.
"Now," said Chino.
"Never!" she cried. "Oh!" she cried, wincing, Chino's hand in her hair, tightening and twisting, instructing her in obedience.
"See?" asked Chino of Petrucchio.
"Yes," said Petrucchio.
"Very good, Lana," said Chino. "That is enough for now, thank you. You, now, Tana. You, now, Bana." At his words, of course, Lady Telitsia and Bina, too, wiggled, and, in Lecchio's grip, having little choice, wiggled well. The girls were not dancers, of course, but they were slaves. A woman who has been in a collar and helplessly in the hands of men does this sort of thing rather differently, of course, than would a virgin or an inert free woman. They cannot help it. Still, in the comedic situation, given their characterizations, they strove, successfully, I think, to give the impression of free women being forced to move in this fashion and yet, at the same time, marvelously, managed to be sexually attractive. The movements, of course, were not, nor were they intended to be, those of an actually displayed slave in such a predicament, say, in a market or capture camp, being commanded, say to «move» before men. On the other hand, at one point, Bina did twist toward the player and, somewhat out of character, moved in such a way that there was no doubt that it was to him, he how had her current use, that she was presenting herself. He raised his hand a small way above the table, hardly more than a movement of fingers, acknowledging this. She then returned to character, still helpless, of course, in Lecchio's grip.
"Very good, girls," said Chino. "What do you think?" he asked.
"Clearly they are slaves," said Petrucchio.
"No!" protested the girls.
"Down on your hands and knees, facing that direction," said Chino to Rowena. "You, Tana, behind her identically postured, and you, Bana, behind her, same position!"
"I assure you," said Rowena, "you are making a terrible mistake. I am the Lady Rowena of Pseudopolis!"
"And I am the Lady Telitsia of Pseudopolis," said Lady Telitsia.
"And I," cried Bina, "am the Lady Bina of Pseudopolis!"
"You see?" asked Chino. "They position themselves exactly like slaves."
"Yes," said Petrucchio, considering this additional evidence.
"I assure you," protested Rowena, "our identities are exactly as we claim. Examine our documents!"
"It is a simple matter to produce forgeries," said Lecchio.
"Oh!" cried Rowena, in frustration.
"You are clever slaves, to be sure," said Chino, "but now it is all over for you. You have been caught."