To prepare for my banquet is an excuse to the Court for my sudden departure from this place; the real object of my journey is Antonina alone.' 'Ah, now I recognise my friend again in his own character,' remarked the lady approvingly.
'You will ask me how I purpose to obtain another interview with her ?' continued Vetranio.

'I answer, that the girl's attendant has voluntarily offered himself as an instrument for the prosecution of my plans.

The very day before I departed from Rome, he suddenly presented himself to my in my garden, and proposed to introduce me into Numerian's house--having first demanded, with the air more of an equal than an inferior, whether the report that I was still a secret adherent of the old religion, of the worship of the gods, was true.

Suspicious of the fellow's motives (for he abjured all recompense as the reward of his treachery), and irritated by the girl's recent ingratitude, I treated his offer with contempt.

Now, however, that my dissatisfaction is calmed and my anxiety aroused, I am determined, at all hazards, to trust myself to this man, be his motives for aiding me what they may.
If my efforts at my expected interview--and I will not spare them--are rewarded with success, it will be necessary to obtain some refuge for Antonina that will neither be suspected nor searched.