“I wanted more,” she said.
“Such greed,” he said, “is unbecoming in a free woman.”
“Yes, your honor.”
“It would be more appropriate,” he said, “in a slave girl.”
“Yes, your honor,” she said.
“Destroy the necklace,” said the praetor’s officer to the clerk.
“Your honor!” cried the Lady Constanzia.
“It is paste,” said the praetor’s officer.
We watched as the clerk struck a fire-maker, one used to melt wax for seals, and set the flame to the necklace. The flames sped from paste stone to paste stone, and the whole was then dropped to the side, flickering and smoldering.
“Such things are seldom used in ransom captures,” said the praetor’s officer. “They are usually used in luring of free women by slavers.”
We watched smoke curl upward from the necklace.
“It was kept on me until I came to this city, which I now learn, by your words, is Treve,” she said. “I thought it a joke, that I should be made to wear it, that all might see me in it, and realize how it had been used in my abduction, and that I wore it, such a rich thing, but, captive, could not profit from it.”
“The joke,” said the praetor’s officer, “was richer then you understood.”
“Yes, your honor,” she whispered.
“Do you know the identity of your redemptor?” asked the praetor’s officer.
“Yes, your honor,” she said. “They are my brothers.”
“Do you recall,” he asked, “when you were first in your house, and mistress of your enterprises, a certain matter of business, from more than three years ago, conducted with the house of William, in Harfax?”
“Your honor?” she asked.
“There was the cashing of letters of credit in Besnit, from the house of William, in Harfax, letters the House of William had drawn on the street of coins in Brundisium, to be used in the purchase of ingots in Esalinus, these to be melted down in Besnit and there, in Besnit, to be formed into the wares for which she is famous, thence to be sent to the house of William, for resale though the house of William to the shops of Harfax and elsewhere, even as far away as the Market of Semris, Corcyrus, Argentum, Torcadino, and Ar.”
The Lady Constanzia put down her head.
“The gold was fairly purchased at competitive prices,” said the praetor’s officer. “And the wares were made under the supervision of your house, and according to your specifications. But the wares were mismarked. Their gold content was not that agreed upon. The wares were muchly debased from the original agreements. Your house made an excellent profit on the matter, retaining the extra gold for your own coffers. Testimony from a metal worker, one traveling from Besnit to Brundisium, one who had been engaged in the manufacture of the wares in Besnit, seeing such articles in Harfax, and noting them marked as they were, in a way he knew false, alerted the house of William. They had not hitherto conducted tests, as the reputation of your house, prior to your accession as mistress of its enterprises, had been faultless. The wares were recalled and remarked. Much did the reputation of the house of William suffer. In time the street of coins in Brundisium demand repayment of its loans. The house of William was in jeopardy. Only two years later did it manage to recoup its losses, and to rebuild its fortunes. You may suspect that much bad blood then existed between your house and that of William, in Harfax.”
“Yes, your honor,” she said.
“Do you know now,” asked the praetor’s officer, “who your redemptor is?”
“Surely,” she said. “My brothers.”
“No,” he said.
“I do not understand,” she said, puzzled.
“It was naturally intended that your brothers, your won house, should be your redemptor,” said the praetor’s officer. “Naturally it was with such a redemption in mind that you were abducted for ransom.”
“They are not the redemptor?” she asked.
“Surely you were aware of delays in the matter of your ransom,” said the praetor’s officer.
“Yes, your honor,” she said.
“Your brothers refused to pay,” said the praetor’s officer. “Indeed, from their point of view, why should they? They were now first in their house, and master of its fortunes. If you were to return they would be reduced, again, to second.”
Lady Constanzia looked up at him.
“Their sense of honor seems to be equivalent to your own,” he said. “They would seem to be the fit brothers of such a sister, and you the fit sister of such brothers.”
“Why, then,” she asked, “is my redemptor?”
“Kneel,” said he, “prisoner.”
The Lady Constanzia knelt in the center of the scarlet circle.
“Your redemptor,” said he, “is the house of William, in Harfax.”
She looked up at him, started.
“An oath, it seems, was sworn,” said the praetor’s officer. “This oath was sworn upon the honor of the house of William, in Harfax. It was in this oath sworn that you were to be brought to the house of William as a slave, and put naked and in chains at the feet of the master of the house. Your disposition will be in accord with the provisions of this oath.”
She trembled, kneeling on the scarlet circle.
“Do you not wish to leap up, and try to escape?” asked the praetor’s officer. “Do you not wish to protest, to cry out, to beg for mercy? Do you not wish to bemoan your fate, to tear your clothing?”
“No, your honor,” she said.
“What have you to say?” he asked, puzzled.
“I will attempt to serve my master to the best of my abilities,” she said.
“I can guarantee it,” said the praetor’s officer. Then he lifted certain papers on his desk. “It is to be done in this fashion,” he said to the clerk. “She is to be stripped and branded, and put in a holding collar. She is also to be gagged, for her words, her please, her remonstrations or such, will be of no avail, nor will they be of interest to those of the house of William, in Harfax. Let them not then be disturbed by them. She is then to be placed in an outer robe of concealment, the outer robe only, but also hooded and veiled. Then, hands bound behind her, on a rope, at the tenth Ahn, she is to be brought to this place. Here she will be deliveredinto the hands not of an agent of the house of William but into the hands of one of that house itself, the youngest and least of that house, who has come to Treve for this purpose, to acquire her, to whom she is to be given as a slave.”
The clerk nodded, and, lifting his hand, summoned the guards of the court. They lifted up the Lady Constanzia who, it seemed, could scarcely rise unaided. Each guard then took one of her arms. The Lady Constanzia threw a wild glance toward me, over her shoulder, but she could do little more, as the guards held her arms. I lifted my hand to her. She was then conducted from the chamber. There were tears in my eyes. I did not rise, of course, for I had not received permission to do so.
29
I knelt to one side and back, in the shadows, inconspicuously by the wall, in the circular chamber of the court of the commercial praetor. Shafts of sunlight, like golden spears, fell through the high, narrow windows, illuminating the scarlet circle before the high desk.
I heard two of the time bars, far off, across the city, beginning to sound.
The pit master, two guards, and I, I heeling the second guard, had returned to the court but a few moments ago. The guards waited within the chamber, near the entrance.
The high desk stood untenanted before the scarlet circle. There was no need, now, for the presence of the praetor’s officer. What business was now to be done could be handled by the clerk, and diverse minions, of the court.
I counted the sounding of the bars, stroke by stroke.
Shortly before the last stroke the outer door to the chamber, that leading to the hall outside, opened. A man entered. He had sturdy legs. He walked angrily. He stopped in the vicinity of the scarlet circle. One learns quickly in the collar to be quite sensitive to the moods of men. In the first glance, a frightened glimpse, I had detected his agitation, his anger. One learns to fear such moods in men. When they are in such moods one knows that one may be kicked, or beaten, though one has done nothing. I was pleased I was back in the shadows. To be sure, I did not think that I was in danger. The entrant did not own me. It was, accordingly, highly unlikely that he would consider abusing me. Too, the pit master, who would, I was sure, protect me, was at hand. Nonetheless, I kept my head muchly down, suitably for a slave.