The slave in the door silently beckoned for her to come in.

The Vestal informed her bearers that she was likely to be absent some little time, and they must wait quietly without, and not annoy a dying man with unseemly laughter or loud conversation.

Then, without hesitancy, Fabia gathered her priestess's cloak about her, and boldly entered the strange atrium.

As she did so, the attendant noiselessly closed the door, and what was further, shot home a bolt.
[107] _Ostium_.
"There is no need for that," remarked the Vestal, who never before in her life had experienced such an unaccountable sense of disquietude.
"It is my habit always to push the bolt," said the slave, bowing, and leading the way toward the peristylium.
"You are Titus Denter's slave ?" asked Fabia.

The other nodded.