She raged at me.
Dazed, I groped my way to my litter and, once in it, lost consciousness
entirely, not in a faint, but in the sleep of total exhaustion.
As I rolled into my litter, feeling utterly unfit to enjoy a bath with any
natural associates, I had ordered my bearers to take me home.
There I rested a while, for I waked before I reached home. Then I bathed,
ate a simple dinner, alone with Agathemer, and went at once to bed.
CHAPTER VII
A RATHER GOOD DAY
I slept soundly all night but woke at the first appearance of light. I lay
abed, my mind milling over my situation, over Vedia's unexpected jealousy
of Marcia, over the absurdity of it, over her illogical but impregnable
indignation and over the equally baseless but similarly unalterable
hostility of Vedius and Satronius.
I concluded to try again to placate all three. It seemed to me I could
recall many omissions and infelicities in what I had said to both
magnates, while in dealing with Vedia I seemed to myself to have been
tongue-tied and fragmentary.
After the bit of bread and hot mulled wine which I did not crave, but
which Agathemer insisted on my taking according to Galen's orders, I held
a brief morning reception. My nine farmer-tenants were all present, all
pathetically and touchingly glad to see me again about, even old Chryseros
Philargyrus.
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